The Little Drummer Girl

As brilliant as you'd expect anything by Chan-Wook Park to be. Florence Pugh and Charif Ghattas are brilliant, as is the music, and Alexander Skarsgard has his head hanging forward in a 45° angle most of the time, as usual.

Well cast, well executed. Shannon is excellent and so is Pugh. Quality television.

Great atmosphere and momentum. All the characters are spot on, even those who only have a few minutes of screen time. Probably the best adaptation of the book that can ever exist.

Like every Le Carre movie or book I've tried, I couldn't finish this either. There are so many incredible aspects here (the cinematography is outstanding, the casting is amazing, Park Chan-Wook is a boss as usual) but they all make an intense and hard to follow experience. I think it's because the story is supposed to be captivating and with high stakes but it's actually hollow and overpolished.

With a less talented cast and director, I don't know if I would've found this particular story all that engaging. Luckily there's no shortage in the talent department.

Despite the more stellar names in the cast list, this is a mini series where Pugh hogs the limelight with a truly amazing performance; real, quirky, mysterious, tough yet vulnerable. She plays the central role with such conviction that the remaining cast, particularly Skarsgard, look like bloodless ciphers. The subject of the story lends itself to "is she?, isnt she?" questions throughout and it is only the denouement which is a little predictable in a throughly breath holding adaptation.

The standard of the show is really high, but it was so complex that I sometimes lost track of what was going on. For instance, Kurtz used four different names for his primary agent. I read one should look forward to the last episodes, but I most liked the first four episodes, perhaps because I became tired of having to think so much.

A slow burning period thriller from Chan-Wook Park. Florence Pugh and Michael Shannon deliver great performances. It's Alexander Skarsgård as an Israeli handler that looks pretty but is unrealistic. He's aSwedish blond with blue eyes and his even with a black dyed hair doesn't look the part.

Well played classic le Carré story. Pugh is good in the role but the rest of the is a bit bland. Biggest drawback for me is however the ending which I found really weak paired with a somewhat unbelievable storyline.