Yahoo News White Lines review: Line of Duty and The Capture-led Netflix series is a surefire hit
If we had to take a stab at what was to become the next breakthrough Netflix hit, we'd bet 10,000 pesetas that we've found it in White Lines.
From the creators of La Casa De Papel (Money Heist) – which just so happens to be Netflix's most-watched non-English language show to date – it stood a pretty strong chance from the off, and if it's possible to find a winning formula, they seem to have cracked it.
When the body of her brother – a renowned and somewhat maverick Manchester DJ – is discovered buried in the sand 20 years after he mysteriously disappeared in Ibiza, Zoe is determined to get to the bottom of what actually happened to him.
In a bid to get to the truth and work out who to trust, she soon finds herself sucked into the relentless and chaotic underbelly of the Spanish island – a far cry from her responsible family life back home, and one that pushes her beliefs about who she really is to their limits.
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Nothing is quite what it seems – or is it? – and, by flicking between flashback scenes and the present day, a fuller picture of the brother she loved starts to come into sharp, sometimes blinding, focus.
While this all might sound brooding and weighty, White Lines is anything but. With notes of a Sexy Beast-era gangster movie, the show leans into its larger-than-life characters and mobster cliches, all in a sickeningly sun-drenched setting. The show does, at times, push its concept so far to the limit that we're left wondering whether it is actually attempting to do something profoundly outside of itself, but then it will snap right back again in the next frame.
All of this is precisely what will keep you wanting more and more – this humble writer is only a teeny bit ashamed to admit that she binged all 10 episodes in one sitting, pausing only to rustle up a curry for dinner and grab some snacks for later. With each and every episode drawing you closer into its ever-thickening plot, you'll be left unable to pull yourself away (even if against your better judgement).
Throwing up all sorts of unlikely faces, the cast includes Line of Duty's Daniel Mays (who is having a real moment, it seems), The Capture and Guardians of the Galaxy star Laura Haddock and Coronation Street's Angela Griffin: a true ensemble, almost as mishmash as the show itself.
Marta Milans (Shazam), Juan Diego Botto (Good Behavior) and Belén López also star. It's just a shame that the presence of controversial actor Laurence Fox may overshadow some audiences' enjoyment of it.
White Lines is a genre-bending, raucous and downright bananas ride, and one that you won't want to get off in a hurry. Just make sure you go with it, and don't try to take it too seriously.
White Lines will launch globally on Netflix on May 15.
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