I've only ever seen one other true modern tragedy in 'dancer in the dark'. This series is exceptional in that it does not pander to your indulgence in a character. They remain outside you throughout and all perish. this is the best TV i have ever seen, the wire was good but its blue collar sentiment annoyed me, this has none. The sopranos depiction of power was good but again involved comedy (small time crooks). The characters here are not comic. There are moments where the display of their power is a little out of the writers depth, but it would have taken poetry to fully realise these moments and that I think would alienate a TV audience. Regardless of this there are no complaints from me. After watching this you will finally feel like you have seen something that was not made for the faint hearted and something that did not do this by shock violence, something that used the actions of characters alone to achieve its truly dramatic effect. brilliant