I awaited the first episode with high hopes after seeing Paquin knock it out of the park in True Blood, but was very disappointed to say the least. "Annie Ryder" plays just like "Sookie Stackhouse" on a bad day, minus the southern accent. Same facial expressions and body language, same use of words, vocal tones and speech pauses. It doesn't look like Paquin has a real handle on the character, or that she put a lot of effort into really finding that character in herself.
The writing and the other actors (except for Shawn Doyle) did not impress either. The characters feel wooden, the dialogue doesn't flow and it seems like the writers tried to cram way too much plot background and backstory into the first episode. None the characters appears to actually care about any of the other characters, except, again, for Doyle's character Peter Welland.
And for what it's worth, while I had read that the creators found the giant slag heaps at the filming location picturesque and beautiful, all I could think about when they came into view was that some mining company should be sued for creating such a hideous mess of the landscape.
All in all, not one of CBC's finer efforts so far. I'll watch a few more episodes to see how it goes, but my expectations have now hit bottom.
