XIII: The Series (2011–2012) User Reviews

The story so far...

[rhi-chable · 5/10 · 5 January 2013]

***Contains spoilers***

I found that the mini-series and season 1 were great. I enjoyed the action sequences and the storyline, which, for a TV series, I thought was fast-paced. Sometimes I found the storyline a little hard to follow, insomuch as that if I broke concentration I'd lose important information. I think that the way all of the main plot characters died, though, did not have much of a build up and their deaths happened both too quickly and hugely unexpected. There were a lot of gaps in the information that was given to the viewer that, I think, the writers thought we'd either accept or figure out along the way. Season 1 gets an 8/10 from me.

Then came season 2, which I still believe was just a dream. I couldn't tell reality from fiction as Carrington had become schizophrenic and Harriet was, in my opinion, a power hungry psycho... There is no way that either characters would make it very far in the presidents position in the real world! With the introduction of the dream world early in the season, I had no idea if everything from then on was real or that dream world. In fact, I don't even know what to make of the final episode of season 2. I only kept watching it because I wanted to find out what was real and what was not. This was not answered. However, season 2 was left on a real cliffhanger, just like season 1, but I'm not sure if the series will be continued. I believe what fans the show had might have only became confused and annoyed (like me) and hence the ratings, I think, will have dropped. It's a shame really because I really enjoyed it up until season 2, so season 2 gets a 3/10 from me.

What A Mess

[mydknyght21 · 5/10 · 18 May 2014]

Season 1 good acting, fairly plausible story line. Season 2 was an OMG,WTF moment after moment. One scene to the next was confusing, the missions just stupid we never get a clear idea of how many XIII agents there are, we never understand who XIII is. One moment it's 24 then sliders then the walking dead with a little fight club mixed in, the writers of season 2 should never work again, Aisha Tyler is lucky she got out when she did, poor Stewart why would you put your name on this after reading the script I would walk. The would be storyline is just random dialogue thrown together, there is so many unanswered questions, but truthfully all story lines are incomplete per episode. As a live TV series I would have stopped watching season 2 start. How the producers financed this is truly amazing?

Good, but production needs work

[Shutterbug1018 · 7/10 · 7 July 2014]

I have just started the 2nd season, and I like what I have seen of the series so far, but the production quality leaves much to be desired.

For example, in the 1st season, a character that is supposed to be Russian has a French accent. In the 2nd season, a character that has a French accent has a brother, but the brother doesn't have a French accent. Another character has a doppelganger, and in one scene this person has the gray hair stripe on the wrong side of his head, but in the next scene it's on the correct side. Lots of mistakes like this throughout the series. Things like this make it very difficult to become immersed in the show.

Not that bad

[jpilo086 · 8/10 · 26 March 2012]

I kind of liked watching that show. OK, I admit that it wasn't the best I've seen, but it wasn't that boring and Stuart acting was believable (I admit that at first I just watched it for Stuart). I was kind of lost in the first episode because I didn't know it was a follow up from another mini-series. But even if you haven't seen the first one, you catch up real quickly. The conspiracy theory could have been better, but I've seen worse. I think that even if some part of the show aren't that credible enough, it is quite enjoyable. But I must say that for a Canadian TV Show it is quite good. It has a storyline at least, not like others show of my country that I've seen and It has captured my attention, which is a difficult thing to do. The end of the first season was really great and it left me wanting to see the second one. But in all, I give it a 7 out of 10.

Good series but many questions

[redsleeknight · 4/10 · 25 April 2014]

Season 1 was very good with good actors and a good story line. However Season 2 left many questions unanswered and took a very different story line. Very hard to understand and keep up with. I lost it. Unanswered questions regarding Carrington's grandson, Sheridan, and some of the actors vanished with no info where they went. Storyline hard to follow in Season 2. Not satisfied with this believe I will not continue to watch.Season 1 was a great show and really enjoyed the actors and great martial action. Season 2 was pretty good with the action but left so many unanswered questions. I loved 24 and thought this would be a close action movie to see but I was wrong wrong. Believe I will look elsewhere for a more understandable series.

i thought it was very good..little confused but good

[theuetzs · 8/10 · 10 January 2013]

not sure why the negativity here. It kept me going from one show to the next....a little messed up by whats really going on as far as dreaming or reality.....kinda didn't understand once he looked at the beam and suddenly hes in a dream again..or not?...lol..but most things were pretty cool...i wouldn't have watched it all if it didn't leave me wanting to watch the next show...and it did....kinda wondering if there will be a 3rd season or not....really liked the president character...hes ..well was..the reverend in Haven....the female president to be was a bit of a tool...anyhow i hope there's another season...still like to see the president come back and the dummy with the gay bow tie get killed.....enjoy everyone!!

It better change

[brandon-259-874707 · 1/10 · 19 April 2013]

Season one was great. I was disappointed at first with the main character change, but fine with it after a little while. The face change made sense based on how the first two movies ended.

My problem is with season 2. The ONLY way this show will survive is if XIII wakes up after being shot by Jones and realize that the entire season was imagined by him. It really is that bad.

They need to bring back Jones as well as the hacker that was helping them out. They completely changed the show in the 2nd season and it even made my wife mad to the point that she wasn't excited to watch episodes anymore.

poor 3 out of 13

[andrewbrennan60 · 11 August 2011]

sorry this series is just not worth the effort. fight scenes that make a jean claude van damme film look realistic. terrible scripts and even worse actors. i,m sure the producers thought it was a great idea but hey heres a thought get actors that don't make a log seem like an Oscar contender, don't stretch a clichéd idea already done to death about a CIA/dark ops guy seeking 'the truth'. its been done before and much better than this half assed effort. just having a conspiracy idea doesn't make an interesting series. i lost the will to live by episode 3 but i tried to make it to the end, giving up by episode 10 by which time i was seeing suicide as a less painful alternative. you know its bad when there isn't one memorable scene or one good quote you can use in a conversation with your mates in the bar.

Great show!

[up-23256 · 10/10 · 2 July 2018]

I love this show. I wish there were more than 2 seasons.

Went from good to insufferable

[silentsong981 · 3/10 · 16 April 2013]

It started out as an interesting plot although the acting was a bit below the par.But the story was fast paced with a climax at every turn. Then they started killing off main cast one by one. I thought they were about to introduce better & more interesting characters, but that wasn't the case. Season 2 turned into a very confusing & dull show that's just grasping at straws to keep going. It feels like even the writers don't know which direction to go in. It still shows glimmer of hope at some points but nothing memorable. There are no witty dialogs or humor .The actors aren't believable & the plot shaky at best. There are far better shows out there with much better plot & actors.

Only the 2 first episodes are worthy

[zedeco2010 · 27 May 2012]

This review contains some spoilers. This show goes downhill at the end of the 3rd episode, killing main characters is never a good idea unless they want to end the show, killing Samantha was just dumb and stupid, trying to rip off 24 last episodes of season 8 and failed so hard, i didn't liked but that was main stream in 24, while in here she got killed even after he said what he wanted to know. She die for no good damn reason and didn't oppose any threat to them not at this stage seriously just for the sake of killing a character, no i didn't read the books are played the game. I just lost interest in watching show this after the end of the 3rd episode. Is like the writers couldn't come up whit a better idea that could all keep the cast they built in the first 2 episodes.

Great Movie

[cliwatte · 8/10 · 17 February 2018]

No review except, Great Movie and can't wait for season 3.

Confusing, annoying and poor casting.

[dond-68909 · 1/10 · 18 April 2015]

I saw the original XIII Mini-series and thoroughly enjoyed it. This series started out fairly well, but the acting by many of the individuals was atrocious. The actress(?) portraying Betty is the perfect example. She seems to be a Jr. High School teenie bopper who is trying to act 'grown up'. Totally unrealistic in every aspect.

The series gets so confusing in the second season that I finally gave up and stopped watching. XIII/Victor goes back and forth so much, it's difficult or impossible to keep track and the end result is uninteresting.

Whoever did the casting for the parts was in training or just flipped a coin to decide who got what part.

Expected more from Canada

[jwroyal-62865 · 3/10 · 15 May 2015]

I got hooked with the first series which was gripping, interesting, provocative, etc. As the season continued things got more and more preposterous and unbelievable, but, okay, I went along with it... Drama, SciFi, Action, etc. Then came the second season. It started out okay (you know, willing suspension of disbelief and all that) but as the season continued the writing gradually became some of the most trite, banal, and "Terrence this is stupid stuff". Good guys becoming bad guys, becoming good guys, becoming bad guys, becoming good guys. Total confusion among characters and the Harriet Traymore character, while I suppose is channeling Sarah Palin, is the most obnoxious character I've seen on TV in years and her Southern accent (why are Southerners always depicted as idiots?) has to be the worst ever. The only possible defense for this obnoxious writing/directing is that the whole thing is intended to be camp. Didn't work for me.

+st series is great, second is bad

[Simoncu · 4/10 · 21 November 2015]

I'm a French speaking guy, and I have the whole comic series of XIII in French (!) and the scenario was just great (comic speaking) So I watched the 2 first episodes, and they were very good, loved them ! THen I watched the first series(s?) , that even if it was not very following the original script was good as well. But when I started looking at series 2, I was so disappointed ! First it has nothing to do with the books whatsoever, the characters are totally different, even from the 1st series, and like some other reviewer said, some of the acting is very bad. So I would put a 8 for the 1st series, and a 2 for the second. It looks like they had to come out with something to continue the series, and they had no idea whatsoever. I stopped watching after 2 episodes. So unbelievable. One can smell the $$$ that needed to be made after a good 1st one.... :-(

Don't watch season 2

[accfews-592-813153 · 2/10 · 12 February 2022]

I liked the movie and first season was ok. I can rate it a 7/10. But on the other hand Season 2 was a total disappointment.

Season 1 was being produced after a story plot is defined and everything was in place. There was no loose ends, or irrelevant characters in the story. Despite not being perfect everything happened served the main plot. Despite being sometimes annoying characters was consistent with what they were doing.

On the other hand Season 2 was a total disaster. It was like "let's do something without putting much effort into it and ahead of planning.

The cast OMG - The Make up Artisrt OMG ??

[kbarnett2017 · 3/10 · 6 May 2015]

Bad acting from the cast - wow ! Really bad acting -- The Make up artists - OMG - Wow - ?? Bad Cuts to fake blood and spill packs and wow just really really bad ?? How can this sow get good reviews , well the accurate attention to detail from GETAC Computers to Nikola Tesla and the history of the writing seems to be nice, the Acting from Most of the main characters are good !! But the casts, but the bad acting from the cast is really bad - and so is some of the camera angles in some shows , almost like they are trying to copy other directors , ?? mmmmm Save money on casting, save money on Make up , but spend tons on Getac computers and other items in the show -- ??? I am sorry but after the 9th show it gets bad , really stretching this thing... well I do fast forward now thanks to Netflix if I did not have the fast forward button I sure would hit the OFF switch thats for sure !!

bad try for "resurrect" and continue a great mini series

[eirebet · 4/10 · 24 February 2013]

having watch the first two episodes (mini series) back in 2008 i was thrilled to learn that they actually did give a chance to "resurrect" xiii, as they gave us a lead-in in the final 2 minutes back then.

my hopes for a decent spy/advntr series died after the first episode and i quit trying to find a bit of interest in the first 20 minutes of the second one. Then, i just closed the "chapter" and delete it from my watch-list.

awful "resurrection" of a well promised two episodes "pilot", terrible action, and most of all, it was more predictable than a two years' child's effort to sing Pavarotti...

too bad

[ricferr · 2/10 · 18 March 2015]

I got in touch with this series following Virginie Ledoyen. It was so bad I could even watch the full pilot episode.

The half an hour I watched wasn't more than a sequence of the typical clichés: tough guy gets beaten almost to death after kicking some ass, tough guy is the best and recovers miraculously, tough guy is a poor mistreated puppy who finds two cute chicks, etc...

The phony fighting sequence on the second meeting with Ledoyen's character was the drop that tipped the glass. They punch each other's face constantly, but no marks can be seen and, when he hits her with the pipe, she only gets a small cut on her eyebrow!?!? That's when I had to stop watching this nonsense.

I enjoy a good action series or movie, but it has to have a bit more than just the action, the chicks and the cars.

One star for each of the pretty ladies, and that's it.

Location Errors

[rkmann-402-740507 · 3/10 · 20 June 2012]

I like the characters and lots of action. But I clicked the show off when they headed to "Bethesda" (from a biblical reference clue).

Problem is, I lived in Bethesda and its nothing like the one in the show. And if you're going to use real places, they must seem accurate or it's a real turnoff.

FYI: Bethesda is a "town" within the greater Washington DC area - yes, located in Maryland. It has its own red line metro stop (2 stops if you include Navel Medical, and more if you include North Bethesda). Its not outside the greater city - there are no rural gaps.

It has its own urban downtown and looks like its own little city. But technically, it really isn't and is basically administered by Montgomery County. It does not have a town hall (made up in the show), just some govt. offices scattered in various office buildings!!!! There are a lot of good venues for action there, but clearly the show creators never bothered to actually check it out.

Maybe you can get away with this in Europe, but Bethesda is actually fairly well known in the states for several reasons, and I'm sure a lot of people here know.

I suggest you hire a US consultant for US locations, or at least do a little research!!!!

Season 2 disaster.

[techmovieg · 3/10 · 9 July 2022]

Season 2 completely falls off the plot completely from season 1 only same actors and to be honest somethings can't even begin to understand. Not worth the time for the season 2. Looks like a very cheap production and writing in the second season.