Series Review: "White Lines" (2020).

"Some nights are so big, you'll never recover." This is White Lines. This British-Spanish mystery thriller series created by Álex Pina. The body of a legendary Manchester DJ is discovered twenty years after his mysterious disappearance from Ibiza. When his sister returns to the beautiful Spanish island to find out what happened, her investigation leads her through a thrilling world of dance clubs, lies and cover-ups, forcing her to confront the darker sides of her own character in a place where people live life on the edge.

In October 2016, it was announced that Netflix had ordered a series created by Pina. By late June 2019, Laura Haddock, Nuno Lopes, Marta Milans, Daniel Mays, Laurence Fox, Angela Griffin, Juan Diego Botto, Francis Magee, and Tom Rhys Harries. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in mid October. Filming took place throughout Balearic Islands, Almería, Andalucía and Manchester, England.

The series stars Haddock, Lopes, Milans, Mays, Fox, Griffin, Botto, Magee, and Harries. The all-star cast is more than capable of delivering the goods. Yet the lack of chemistry between the romantic partners hinders, rather than enhances the plot. Here’s hoping that the second season will focus more on the backstories of the thieves.

This show tries to be silly in one scene and then covers a really serious murder investigation in another. As a result, it just feels jarring. Far from tremendous. This ten-episode saga of drug-dealing and death in Ibiza alienated me from the start, with Haddock more a fashion plate than a character. Considering the cheesy and unsubtle melodrama peddled by the show, it's amazing that it takes until midway through its fourth episode before someone explains its metaphorical title. I am baffled to report that somehow, from these promising elements, and Pina has created a lumpy, leaden first episode that contrives to be, of all things, dull. It’s disappointing to see that this show is what comes from the mind of one of the most inventive creatives in film and TV right now. The biggest struggle comes from seeing the mind behind Money Heist attempting to top his own previous show that had become a global phenomenon. The quality storytelling is there, but it will be interesting to see how it continues to distinguish itself. Basically, it reuses everything that gave personality to every other Spanish and drug-related series and presents us with a copy instead of with an adaptation. With a great core cast and a fast-paced, twisty plot, it's an entertaining series that has the potential to become more than just a cheap thrill. The show isn't any kind of social-realist drama, and it doesn't make sense to judge it as such. It's pulp-very good pulp-and its modest achievement is making heroes out of characters too often reduced to window dressing. If you're wondering whether the show will keep you entertained and hooked for a weekend or two while you try to figure out what happened to Axel and how things will end up for Boxer and Zoe, the answer is no.

Simon says White Lines receives: