User Reviews

Would have been a great series if not for the major plot hole. Dad kills himself for fear his daughter wil be wrongfully incriminated in the first death. But we have seen them together as a family in the car in the woods at that exact time!. So she has a perfect alibi! Plus the accuser would not have been credible even if she hadn't had that. Apparently dad and the writer and director forgot???

Overall it was very good and was heading for an 8 until the last episode which was a real anticlimax for me. Great cast and acting and story builds well until the denouement in episode 6.

As other reviewers have noted there are plot holes and the ending could have been so much better but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

This series was really great for five and a half episodes but oh the ending. Are we supposed to believe an experienced police officer would accept the word of an accused person just like that and kill himself for it? Shame because as previously stated this was well entertaining.

This was an interesting mini series and I thought the format of the two timelines worked quite well (even if the younger Sarah looked nothing like the older one). There was some great cinematography and the whole production was fairly atmospheric with above average acting performances.

But there were some inconsistencies. As already mentioned, would the father really kill himself over such an accusation, especially as he would have known his daughter couldn't have been involved? It did feel like it was stretching credibility.

In addition, some of the actions of the lead policewoman were just all over the place: sleeping with a possible suspect, randomly just investigating stuff without consulting anyone, having that stroppy manner that means she rubs colleagues up the wrong way. As a result, you just don't seem to warm to her at all (this appears quite common in European police dramas - see also the Italian "Thou Shalt Not Kill). Unfortunately , a lot of the plot and situations were fairly cliche - "oddball" accused of something in the past, detective with incredible artistic skills leaving "clues" in notebooks etc.

I'll be honest in that the ending was a bit of a let down and at times borderline comical. It felt that the writers almost let Anais off the hook by making it out to be an accident. If it was all about revenge, and trying to pin everything on Tony, what was with the weird princess/fairy stuff at the end?

But, the cherry on the cake, has to be the final sequence seeing her father smiling at her in the chair. It felt like the end of Return of the Jedi - he only needed a shimmering blue glow to complete the look.

I appreciate that Spiral was built over many, many years - but it did have realistic character development and great writing. If you'd told me beforehand that it was done by the same people I wouldn't have believed you.

Like another reviewer pointed out, the dad would have never believed his daughter was with Anáis when Charlotte was killed.

The whole family were in the car together and stuck in that muddy field.

Doesn't make any sense. How could no one making the show realise?

Other than that and a few cliches, like the car not starting and having no mobile coverage, I did enjoy it and it killed an afternoon.

Largely very good but huge unexplained bits, suggesting room for a sequel; (just to get my one complaint out of the way, the ultra-sentimental ending was sickly). But why did Ainis want to kidnap & kill the little girl? It could not just have been continuing jealousy. How did she afford her big house - she must have been a greater criminal than suggested. Why were the silver boots at the old suspect's house. It's OK to have misleading pointers to keep up suspense, but they must make sense.

So a top cop believes the word of a wee girl over the fact he was in a car with the girl she accused at the time of the offence? Could have been much better if somebody had paid attention to the screenplay.

I found it very involving up until it unravelled at the end. Folks here have pointed out the major plot hole but I also don't think we are ever told why the original suspect, Tony, was released?

I didn't hate this show and I liked it enough to finish all 6 episodes. I usually love European crime shows and don't mind slow but tense drama, but this one was a bit boring. I found it hard to concentrate at times. I wasn't a fan of the ending either, it all became a little silly toward the end. Are you telling me that the sniffer dogs didn't find her body in the forest 20 years ago? And for 29 years through more storms and people walking their dogs and all the searches no one found her, so close to her home?

This is weightless drifting overlong character posing from the start. So, so drawn out. Could of been watchable and engaging neat and tidy in 2 episodes.

Watched this based on the constant references to "..from the creators of 'Spiral'," well you could have fooled me. Spiral was committed to authenticity, depth of character , developing and engaging storyline and interwoven plot lines. The Promise gave me lazy posing, cliche after cliche ( including lots of wavy forest skies ) and lashings of cheese, so much so I half expected Obe one and Anakin to appear at the end of the table in the final scene!

Disappointing.