Zen (TV Mini Series) Cabal (2011) User Reviews

I thoroughly enjoyed this.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 12 November 2020]

I liked the first episode, I loved the second. I'm not sure if it was just a more engaging mystery, or if the characters had somehow settled, and that small amount of familiarity had set in, but this was excellent.

A pretty simple plot, did he fall, or was he pushed? A quite simple case for Aurelio you would think, but be has to tackle corruption, hitmen, and of course a Political cabal.

It's quite amusing how attractive the cast is, it really is an episode full of the beautiful people, it's flirtatious and sexy, it's shameless in showing us how glorious Italy is.

Such a shame we only had the one series, a good first episode, an excellent second, I look forward to the third and final. 9/10.

Disappointing adaptation

[sagrat · 5/10 · 19 June 2015]

I am a fan of the Aurelio Zen series of detective novels by Michael Dibdin. The voice in these captivating and compelling novels is fresh. Sadly, the BBC, which usually does a pretty good job with producing such crime and mystery dramas, really dropped the ball on this one, so it is no surprise that the series was canceled after only the first three episodes. Rufus Sewell tries to give us a sardonic Zen, but is lacking in the real zen of Zen - surprising to me, as he is one actor whom I usually quite enjoy. Also, for some reason the BBC decided to shift a large focus on to only one of Zen's love interests ... yet she first appears in this, the second book in the Zen series and sticks around for only 3 more. Also, lots of "atmospheric" filler padding out the time, when more of the book could have been added to much better satisfaction. Disappointingly, what was so brilliantly done with Val McDermid's Tony Hill series did not make it to Michael Didbin's Aurelio Zen. Questions one might ask is why didn't/couldn't they find an English- speaking Italian actor, or an Italian-British actor, for the role of Zen? Why was Zen's mother cast as so young and sexy? Why did this seem more like a travelogue or vacation bureau promotion than a serious drama? I guess what I am really saying is this : Read the novels and get into the mind and Italian locations of Aurelio Zen yourself. One thing I did while reading these novels was to have my Google Earth booted up, so that I could virtually walk around the places Zen went ... and he gets around to many fascinating Italian cities.