If you buy the premise, The Fall is an intelligent, engaging series

Props to Allan Cubbitt, writer and director of the Netflix series The Fall, which had us captivated throughout Season 2 - this one of the rare series that improves as it moves along. There are a lot of plot developments along the way, but, unlike so many police procedurals, most of them do make sense and they're not dependent on fortuitous events or odd coincidences to move the narrative along. Gillian Anderson is fine in the lead as a British detective sent to Belfast to lead the search for a serial killer, and the supporting cast carries its weight as well. My quibbles from the outset still do hold, however: It's really not possible for me to believe that the serial killer (we know his ID from the first episode - this isn't a traditional "whodunit") - could pass as a good citizen, husband, dad, family man, that he could lead a double-life for years, almost a decade, without his wife having even a hint that he is deeply disturbed. If you can put that aside, however, and just go with the premise, and if you have the stomach to watch some of the killer's brutal attacks on women (and one man), it's an engaging series through Season 2 - honestly not sure where it's headed in Season 3, as it seems most of the plot lines are tied up pretty tightly at the end of Season 2.