"Now it has finally come to our screens, thanks in part to Jamie Lee Curtis, who is both an executive producer and one of its stars, with Nicole Kidman in the title role, continuing her run as TV's hardest-working A-lister. What a shame, then, after such a long wait, that it is so dire: a boilerplate mess that insists on stripping the original work for parts and putting a cynical techy spin on proceedings to boot."
"The idea that Scarpetta and her colleague and brother-in-law Pete Marino (played by Bobby Cannavale) may have got the wrong man in the 90s when DNA evidence was still in its infancy could have been the basis for a smart whodunnit. Instead, we get a sluggish procedural that barely bothers to build tension."
"Moments of gore come out of left field; major revelations in the case come to Scarpetta as sudden, deus ex machina revelations; and the dead women are mere plot fodder in a way that feels positively retro and grubby."
After decades of development with various actresses attached, the Scarpetta television series finally premiered with Nicole Kidman in the title role and Jamie Lee Curtis as executive producer. The adaptation follows forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta investigating a crime involving a handless victim, with dual timelines spanning the present day and 1990s. The narrative explores whether Scarpetta and colleague Pete Marino wrongly convicted someone when DNA evidence was nascent. However, the series fails to capitalize on this premise, instead delivering a sluggish procedural lacking tension. Gore appears unexpectedly, major case revelations arrive as convenient plot devices, and victims function merely as narrative fodder, creating a tone that oscillates awkwardly between thriller styles.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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