Black-out

Flemish political thriller Black-Out is about a sabotage at a nuclear power plant, causing a blackout though Western Europe. We follow the prime-minister and the chief of anti-terrorism to see how they handle the situation.

Despite having a strong cast, the show never lifts itself to a level we've seen in other Flemish shows such as De Twaalf or Tabula Rasa.

The scenario is often unbelievable, the dialogues forced and a lot of characters miss depth and proper motivation. The actors can only do so much to make up for that. As a result, they all played better roles in other series. For instance, if you compare the colorful depth Ruth Becquart gave to character Sandy in Chaussée d'Amour, with the one-dimensional detective Natalie Maes she performs in Blackout, it's hard to believe we're talking about the same actress. Yet, her performance is among the better ones this show has to offer.

On top of that it's hard to make sense out of the actions of the perpetrators and the prime-minister. This makes you look at the show from a distance instead of being absorbed by it.

There are some missed opportunities, we never really see how the population is dealing with the crisis. There's certainly no apocalypse happening, it's all business as usual. A minister even throws a fancy garden party during the first night of the blackout. People apparently have big stashes of candles, food and patience. This scream for a satirical "100 things I learned from"-list.

Black-Out does offer the occasional thrill, a particular late night pursuit is well executed and can be considered the highlight of the show, but at its best Black-Out is only mildly entertaining.