The Collection

Sumptuous settings and solid acting make this period drama worth a look, but viewers may wish it was both less complicated and more fun. There's drama enough in a single episode to power the storylines of a whole season of a soap opera or telenovela and so many characters that viewers will have a job just telling one from the other, much less cueing into their stories emotionally. Wait, this one's angry at that one because of -- what now? Who is that? What did he just say, and what did it mean? There are plenty of ensemble dramas that work, but it's confusing to throw all the characters and storylines at us at once; it prevents us from connecting with any one in particular. 

But the far bigger crime of this drama set in a fashion world? A decided lack of fashion. Though scenes are set in the Sabine atelier, the garments are only a backdrop to characters talking (and talking, and talking). In the entire first episode, there's only one dress that we see at length or that plays a part in the goings-on. Otherwise, ladies in gorgeous dresses rush by or take them off as quickly as possibly to stand in something drab while delivering lines. It's hard to see why this fashion house, or the Parisian fashion milieu in particular, was so enchanting as to change history or to convince a rich man to spend his money supporting it. Fashion should be enchanting, heady, breath-stealing -- and so should The Collection. Unfortunately, it's just not.