Yes, what you hear it's true: it's a story about a murder and it has been told a million times. But NEVER like this, let me assure you. This is pure art. This show tells you the details about the story, builts up fantastic characters, and invites you to follow the story in a very slow and fulfilling pace. You know what's going to happen from the first episode, but what they have created here makes you sit down in front of your TV for 8 episodes to see HOW they get there. It's raw, it's real, it's perfectly written and directed, with a cast that blew my mind. It's a true pleasure to see HBO creating shows like this, the only pity here it's that it's a limited series, and I won't get to see any more from them.

I came to this series on a recommendation, not knowing it was a remake of 2008's criminal justice starring Ben Whishaw. I got all the way to the second episode before I started noticing the same story elements, in the prison scenes. I almost stopped watching but I was very impressed by how the characters were rendered, the dialog was real, the characters were real and interesting, the cinematography was out standing, bring attention to small details like the worn corner of a desk or a window caked in age and dust. This series surpassed the original by miles, and presented phenomenal acting well beyond what we expect from American drama. The character arcs of the leads are exceptional and insightful, John Turturro turns in a nuanced and understated performance of a life time, and Riz Ahmed's was heart breaking perfection. The small parts were also exceptional, the sarcastic chemist, the racist witness, the over worked cops, the prison inmates, often with short screen time but enough to filly render deeper dimensions. The show make serious comments on the American judicial system, while offering no answers, it paints a dark picture, with moments and rays of light.

This movie gives you a very accurate depiction of the criminal legal system. Some reviewers have criticized the story for being unrealistic and "not real world" in particular as to how the defendant meets the victim. I have to disagree. I thought the story was very believable, what I liked about the story is how they show what happens to the defendant when they are incarcerated pending trial. I am only on episode 3 but I intend to watch the entire series because it is so good.I am very rarely disappointed by HBO productions and this one was no exception.

I am not sure why the pace is so slow and majority of dialog and scenes don't advance the story an iota. I can appreciate the character development phase but too many distraction and irrelevant scenes. The prison drama seems like a filler for lack of strong mystery development elements; And what's up with so many shots of John Stone's feet? I don't know how it ends but I can tell you if it is anything like how it is progressing, it will be a yawn. I quit after the third episode even though I kept forwarding 5 to 10 minutes at the time. I can tell you the entire three episodes could have easily be nicely done in 45 minutes. You can fast forward 30 minutes and barely miss a point. I just don't know how and why these TV mini series get done this way. I guess it's good for the crew and director to drag the hell out of it.All in all, great acting, nice dramatic moments but weak plot, major gaffs (no blood on the defendant which no one mentions)(the important cut in his hand is not checked against the blood on the broken window to dispute DA), too many holes in to mention. Instead the story keeps shedding light on various potential suspects that could have done this. still i think fans of pure drama would enjoy the acting and the main character acting is superb in his transformation albeit unrealistic.