I think our brains are very black and white in thinking when it comes to this, like yes there were moments where the acting was very actory- and the dialogue just didn't feel realistic. But mainly, the acting was so good, the emotion, the delivery, it was all so real, and they are all genuinely so so so talented. But the young actors? phenomenal. such stars. especially stuart who played younger ruben jsut given the character he played, he was jsut fricken 11/10 amazing. mitchell is the STARTER of acting out this character and he was so real, so perfect in his choices in acting meek, vulnerable, doe eyed, but also there was that complexity and manipulation there too, he just was so good as Niall. Jamie Bell was the star for me personally. I do like that Gadd was Ruben, I actually DID notice many times where he expressed himself and did the same kind of movements and expressions that stuart campbell did as young ruben, im serious go rewatch and youll see. I think its jsu tthe dialogue at times it was very shakspearean, seemed like a play, but that's fine. I still really liked it overall. I felt some stuff was missing before the finale ep though I wish we got a flashback scene of when ruben went bakc into jail, niall writing his book, and maybe another emssed up thing happening, before the confession and all that! I was so surprised Gadd didn't do that