While the action and character development took a little while to unroll I found myself thinking on several occasions, "That's a Game of Thrones twist right there." After watching the first episode I ended up binge watching the remaining following three episodes in one sitting. The characters enter into the ISIS death cult with the best of intentions and soon discover that their idealized, romantic vision of an Islamic paradise on Earth is in actuality a corrupt, power-obsessed regime bent on creating a uniform group think with an apocalyptic vision of the future, reinforced by heinous acts of savagery and barbarity. There are other reviews that outline the story line but in general, if you like the convoluted political machinations and character awakenings of Game of Thrones, you will really like The State.

I am so amazed with this amount of details from a show portraying lives in ISIS. Personally I have been to the Middle East several times and spent months traveling along, I truly am impressed of the detail and some cultural differences displayed. The ISIS has been marked as evil from all over the news worldwide, however, this show provides a fresh eye simply telling stories on each character's angle. People do need to understand, despite general impression ISIS is bad, every single person living the lives has their story to tell, I like how it is staying out of accusation but simply display some doubts ISIS caused on ppl. A show is a show, and it is a great show and the plots are so delicate and neatly illustrated. If all you want is political accusation, then you should only read what news is feeding you and write your comments on forums instead of a TV series review.

Many of the negative reviews of this film, complain it wasn't graphic enough,it was on channel four, public broadcast television, not cable or in the cinema, so their are strict rules on what can or cannot be shown, I think they did a good job, of showing exactly how awful ISIS really are, And how living in that society would be impossible for sane people. the four protagonists were naive in joining, which is shown with one of them bringing a pink wheeled suitcase in stead of a black backpack.I think it was well paced,.dealt with each character equally, i never felt sorry for any of them, but i could see the predicament they were in. There was quite a lot of inferred violence which was enough, there was no need for slasher style violence, a la game of thrones,as other reviewers seemed to want,this film may go along way to deterring other fools from joining. There really haven't been enough programs or films about this subject, hopefully more will follow this

So on one channel I'm watching the news, seeing chaos and death on the streets of some of the most beautiful cities on the planet and it breaks my heart.I then turn the channel over to find a show which almost glorifies these acts of violence and tries to make us feel pity for the sheep who travel land and sea to join their evil world and it disgusts me.I decided to finish the series, and where I appreciate the characters (and actors) I just couldn't relate or connect to the overall point in the show.To conclude, it shocks me that this drama was created when there are currently people all over the world being selflessly murdered by this organisation.