Book of the Fallen

Like last year's "The Last Ship," the first seasons of "Berlin Station" were excellent. Subtle, clever, nuanced. Made you think, made you live with ambiguity. Suddenly, this season has turned into cheap, below-average spy writing. Cliches. No subtlety. Five episodes of story crammed into one. Cartoon villains. Predictable "twists and turns." I guess they changed the director and changed the script writers. Not the show it used to be, not even close.

"The Last Ship" bounced back from a terrible penultimate season to close with a bang. Here's hoping "Berlin Station" can do the same.

It is so mind-boggling to me.

I liked both of the first two seasons, especially the first, but the second was still in keeping with what I feel was a subtle, i.e., nuanced, approach to international politics, domestic politics, differences in cultures and societies.

Within no time at all, into the beginning of the third season the propoganda nonsense hit the dialogue and the story.

In fact, this is the second time I have watched this series. And the first two seasons were good enough that I managed to forget how bad the third season is. I will continue to watch - I think - and maybe I'll get a sense this time of why they decided to dumb-down.

Was it new writers? Producers? Pressure from 'above'? What a shame.

I love these types of movies. This one did not disappoint.