I was looking forward to a show depicting Freud develop his theories, but instead it is 100% fiction and other than a passing nod at psychoanalisis, what it is really about is a supernatural murder mystery. Which is not bad in and of itself, I'm quite a fan of both supernatural and murder mystery stories. The problem with this show is that it seems that the creators just randomly decided to throw whatever was handy at it in a sort of "the more, the merrier" mindset: hypnosis, steamy scenes, traumatized people of varying sorts, rebellion and politics, crime solving, séances and mediums, cult-like gatherings, power plays, dysfunctional family relationships, ghosts... and none of it coalesces into a coherent whole.
I think the major flaw is that the show fails to make one care about the characters and their motivations. Not even Freud is particularly likeable, and the whole sub-plot with the Hungarian royalty left me absolutely indifferent. I fail to see how one ruler or another would have made any difference at all to the overall story, and the show doesn't lead one to really care one way or another, so the entire thread is superfluous. The characters and their motivations are so obscure and poorly thought out that ultimately, it's easier and more natural to just shrug them off and leave them to whatever their fate may be.
It also fails to explain just what is going on with young Fleur and her time-stopping superpowers, or what was the purpose of cutting off the other poor kid's toes, and the ludicrous scene where we get to graphically "explore" Freud's Oedipus complex made me snort at the gratuitousness of even including it at all. Same goes for the "satanic cult" bloodbath. What was the point of that, if the same result could have been achieved with the hypnosis techniques that were already ubiquitously peppered throughout the story?
I'm giving it 4 stars because the scenes are pretty to look at and because there's one or two characters that actually engage the viewer. Personally, I enjoyed the housekeeper and the inspector's sidekick. So if you've really got nothing better to do, Freud will pass the time, but there are probably better choices out there.
I think the major flaw is that the show fails to make one care about the characters and their motivations. Not even Freud is particularly likeable, and the whole sub-plot with the Hungarian royalty left me absolutely indifferent. I fail to see how one ruler or another would have made any difference at all to the overall story, and the show doesn't lead one to really care one way or another, so the entire thread is superfluous. The characters and their motivations are so obscure and poorly thought out that ultimately, it's easier and more natural to just shrug them off and leave them to whatever their fate may be.
It also fails to explain just what is going on with young Fleur and her time-stopping superpowers, or what was the purpose of cutting off the other poor kid's toes, and the ludicrous scene where we get to graphically "explore" Freud's Oedipus complex made me snort at the gratuitousness of even including it at all. Same goes for the "satanic cult" bloodbath. What was the point of that, if the same result could have been achieved with the hypnosis techniques that were already ubiquitously peppered throughout the story?
I'm giving it 4 stars because the scenes are pretty to look at and because there's one or two characters that actually engage the viewer. Personally, I enjoyed the housekeeper and the inspector's sidekick. So if you've really got nothing better to do, Freud will pass the time, but there are probably better choices out there.