Shetland's S8 Finale Makes Fans Happy It's Finally Over

Summary:

• Shetland is a Scottish crime drama produced by ITV Studios.
• Although the main concern about series 8 was the departure of Douglas Henshall, it didn't end up being the biggest complaint.
• However, the whole arc was found to be too confusing for viewers and ended in an underwhelming finale.

It's always hard for big TV shows to deal with the exits of their main characters. Although the series that can continue after such events usually don't depend so much on one particular character, viewers tend to have already formed their attachments. The loss of someone the audience adores can result in a slow and painful death for the show as a whole.

To make the change less devastating, or to hide the consequences of the change, writers often choose to be bold with upcoming storylines. While sometimes this is the best course of action, giving viewers a much-needed distraction, other times it just leads to confusion. And that is exactly what happened with series 8 of Shetland.

The show stoically survived the departure of its heart and soul, Douglas Henshall, who portrayed the beloved Detective Jimmy Pérez. Viewers also appreciated his replacement, Ashley Jensen as Ruth Calder. But everything that happened plot-wise was an obvious overkill.

What Went Wrong With Shetland Series 8

While you obviously don't want a thrilling crime drama to become boring and uninteresting to watch, there is a fine line between an entertaining show and an overwhelming one, and Shetland seems to have crossed it a few times during series 8.

Not only were fans shocked by the number of crimes that took place on the supposedly peaceful islands, but they were also somewhat disappointed when half of those storylines didn't even make sense.

With such a long list of characters, the series was supposed to circle back to them, but many felt that names were added for the sole purpose of creating more confusion.

“So glad that series is over. Such a convoluted story with too many useless characters. Not the least is Harry. I never sussed out what his role was. Always in a suit and only in the Police Station. He had a few lines and then left the room. Achieving nothing,” said X user holmbush.

The convoluted storyline has been the subject of many reviews. Fans tend to agree with the Telegraph's Anita Singh that the show has far too many red herrings to follow the plot. The interpersonal drama has only made things worse.

“#Shetland has turned into another drama where the entire show is about people not telling each other vital information while choosing to show select conversations/scenes exclusively with the antagonists. Lazy writing and a convoluted story,” X (formerly known as Twitter) user K3vReilly said.

If you are still interested in watching the Shetland series 8 finale and judging for yourself, you can watch it for free on the BBC iPlayer.

Source: Telegraph