I had really high hopes, no pun intended, for Alta Mar [High Seas in English] on Netflix. The tagline from IMDB.com: Two sisters discover disturbing family secrets after a string of mysterious deaths occur on a luxury ship traveling from Spain to Brazil in the 1940s. That’s a good way of putting it.

I was excited about watching because of a few things. I love period pieces, we’ve talked about this before, but the 1940’s was a great time, from a fashion perspective and the show did not disappoint. The women wore skirts and dresses, but they also wore pants and playsuits, which was of that time, along with wearing dresses with bobby socks, mainly because their silk stockings were needed to make parachutes and waterproof maps, fascinating! The hair, the makeup, all of it was done just so.

I was also excited because watching the preview, it looked like fun, my kind of show. Murder, mystery, intrigue, mayhem, what more could you want?! Apparently, a lot more…

It started out with some intrigue right away, the two sisters, on their way to the ship had a slight mishap and accidentally hit a woman, who claimed if she was caught by her husband, he would kill her, which spoke to the sisters and they stowed her away in their trunk. They were accompanied by their maid, I think that would be the term, she helped raise them and still takes care of them, like a ladies maid, I guess. They are also accompanied by her daughter. The two women don’t really want to go along wtih this scheme, but what choice do they have, they have to do what their employers say.

One of the reasons they are going on the boat is so that Carolina can marry Fernando, who owns the ship, along with his sister and her husband. Their mother passed away when they were young and their father was killed in the last year or two. They are joined by their uncle, who was in business with their father, and another partner, who is also a doctor, which comes in handy during the voyage. There is romance above deck, and below, between different classes, officers and passengers, it goes all over the place. Almost like The Love Boat but definitely with better costumes!

Then, the intrigue, murder, or so we thought, passengers in disguise, distrust, anger, fear, valiance, strength, dismay, dirty cops, abuse, murder, disappointment, shock, surprise, happiness, and a wedding, but not the way it was supposed to be. Is that enough? And this is only the first season!

Season two has ghosts, betrayal, con artists, sadness, loss, fear, loathing, murder, discovery, disappointment, suicide, frustration, that one was mostly from me. Season two starts with a continuation of the season one story, bridging a new storyline that tied into season one, but going down an entirely new path, sort of, well, maybe not really. See how frustrated I am?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like it when good characters turn out bad and that’s what happened, I can’t tell you more, but it was someone protecting someone they loved, doing what they thought was right, see where that got them…

Then…we move on to Seaons 3. It’s been a few months since the sisters have seen each other and they get ready to set sail again, oh, I should mention that one of the sisters is a writer and these adventures, let’s call them that, are great material for her books. Before they get ready to sail, there’s more intrigue…espionage this time, and a deadly virus, shootings, disguises, betrayal, torture, drugs, or keeping someone drugged and captive, spies, mutiny, sneakiness, abandonment, I think that’s it.

Here’s where the issues come in…With one of the story lines, even though there is an answer, there is no consequence for something that happened and in another, one of the bad guys gets away. With another story line, even though there is an answer, there is no sense of peace, even with the one who was searching for answers. With the last story line, love is lost, people are dead, lines are crossed, loyalties are tested and crushed and the one good guy, well, no happy ending for him and overall, no happy ending period. I walked away from the last episode wondering why I started. Hence…the Dramamine.

All of this, as you know, is strictly my opinion, I would never stop you from watching it, my dad, I stopped, ha ha. We have similar tastes and when one of us tries a show, if we’re not trying it at the same time, we tell each other what we thought and that either encourages or discourages the other. Now, this is when it comes to mysteries mostly, some comedies, some dramadies, as it were, period pieces, sci fi, wait, I take back the mostly statement, ha ha! We’ve recommended things to each other and told the other to run screaming, which is quite nice! He started to watch High Seas and lost interest and when I told him I was watching it, he said maybe he’d try it again, whenever he was finished what he was watching. When I finished the series, I told him not to bother! I knew he would definitely not enjoy it, I know where he stopped, which was just before one of the bad dudes got his just desserts, but it wasn’t worth watching the entire show. Again, my opinion. Take it or leave it.

I, personally, am going to leave it, right there, where it lies, at the bottom of the ocean floor.