the bletchley circle: san francisco
starring: rachel stirling, julie graham, crystal blaint, and chanelle peloso
REVIEWER: lyall carter
★★★
Two female British code breakers team with American cryptographers to solve a series of murders in San Francisco.
I love a good British WWII TV mystery. But unfortunately The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco doesn't quite capture the brilliance of the first series or other similar shows of recent memory.
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Years after secretly serving during WWII as code-breakers tasked with penetrating the Axis Powers' secret communications, four women turn their skills to solving murders overlooked by police. In the process they are plunged into fascinating corners of the city, forge powerful relationships, and rediscover their own powers and potential.
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Unfortunately this murder mystery is a little more far fetched than the one in the series before. It uses similar story techniques of your classic British TV murder mystery, but the new setting of San Francisco and the growing movement of civil rights doesn't really seem to fit particularly well.
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Rachel Stirling and Julie Graham return from the first series and are great as are newcomers Crystal Blaint and Chanelle Peloso, but despite the quality of their performances it still feels like a painting by numbers murder mystery.
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Not quite as impressive as its predecessor, The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco feels more like a painting by numbers murder mystery.