It's a paradox of 21st century Hollywood that the genre we call action becomes more and more boring every year. Superheroes, endless franchises, virtual production, rapidly evolving VFX technology – it all results in a plethora of formulaic series and films, peppered with CGI fight scenes and fake explosions that not only undermine character development but also the coherence of nature of the characters, which increasingly suppresses the action. . Today, any proposed measure that deviates from this standard deserves consideration. But who is Erin Carter on Netflix? It's not just a reminder of the genre's analog past. It also tells the human story of one woman's attempt to give her daughter the stability she never had.
The central mystery of the seven-part series , which arrives on August 24, says the title. One morning, Erin Carter (Evin Ahmad) wakes her daughter Harper (Indica Watson) at dawn to catch a boat in the harbor of Folkestone, in the south-east of England. Five years later, they live in a picturesque suburb of Barcelona, where Erin, a substitute teacher, is married to friendly nurse Jordi (Sean Teale). A belligerent teenager, Harper is kicked out of the school musical for stalking a classmate. “We don't solve our problems with violence,” Erin says. But the warning is undermined a bit by the advice he gives to the girl at the beginning of the same scene: "For your information, when you throw a punch, you need to keep your fist closed."
Erin's knowledge of hand-to-hand combat isn't just theoretical. She and Harper soon become involved in a supermarket robbery. While the boy hides, his mother hits a masked man in the face with a glass bottle, stabs him with a kitchen utensil and throws the gun directly into his chest. “It's you,” she says hoarsely and is about to bleed. She's not the only person from Erin's past who recognizes her, as the little professor's heroism makes headlines for her. Suddenly, the normal life she's worked so hard to build for Harper is in danger of falling apart.
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Erin Carter has all the elements of a gripping old school action drama. A collaboration between the British company Left Bank Pictures, best known for The Crown, and the Spanish company Palma Pictures, the series' production values are high without being pretentious. The fight scenes have a refreshing minimalism and make clever use of the suburban setting. Erin faces her enemies in an empty classroom, a seaside mansion, and a well-equipped kitchen, where a cast-iron skillet that home cooks would covet makes an ideal makeshift bulletproof shield. The individual episodes, as well as the short season as a whole, are effectively written and intelligently paced; Writer, executive producer and showrunner Jack Lothian knows exactly when to stop joking and immerse himself in Erin's story. And while there is real pathos to this story, Lothian balances it with humor. Erin's battle with the snooty queen bee of her neighborhood, Penelope (Charlotte Vega), provides the absurdities of "Big Little Lies" and "Desperate Housewives."
The show gets too silly for its own good at times. While the characters are well-developed (a wonderfully likable antagonist appears in a few episodes of the season), the plot is held together by some coincidences that test credibility. Erin’s identity, background, intentions and, yes, her literal name are questioned so frequently and violently that I wondered if Lothian was afraid viewers would forget the title “Who is Erin Carter? " No, the show actually asks the question at least three times per episode: Who is this woman?
Fortunately, Ahmad makes sure the audience constantly sees new sides of the story. life. this charming woman Check out the figure. . The Kurdish-Swedish actress is a familiar face on Netflix thanks to her starring roles in the Danish sci-fi thriller The Rain and the Swedish film noir Snabba Cash. She captivates as an antihero whose experiences make her an ideal figure for crime, but who she wants to help troubled kids avoid it. the traps that still catch them. In a performance that complements Lothian's subtle treatment of Erin's gender and flips the script on the familiar story of a once-violent man settling down and seeking redemption, Ahmad avoids tough-girl action clichés, emphasizing the sadness and the fallibility of the character. Who is Erin Carter? A tormented woman whose dreams and regrets make her an outsider in a genre dominated by interchangeable superheroes and superspies.
