I got four episodes into the Apple TV series Cape Fear before I decided I’d had enough.

I admired the production, I admired the performances, the show featured some wonderful actors, and I was a huge fan of the Scorcese version with Robert de Niro in 1991.

This new tv adaptation had a wonderful pedigree. Executive Producers were Martin Scorcese and Steven Spielberg – the director and producer of the earlier film. And according to a podcast I heard, Scorcese was hands-on with this new work.

With actors of the calibre of Javier Bardem (who could ever forget him in No Country for Old Men?) and Amy Adams, I was hoping for a quality television experience.

And that’s what I got.
It was as creepy and scary as all get out.
So why did I stop watching halfway through the series?

Because I didn’t want that darkness infecting my being.

I love dark material. No Country for Old Men I regard as a true masterpiece. The original 1962 Cape Fear with Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck became, justifiably, a classic. As did the later Scorcese version. Fritz Lang’s M, The Night of the Hunter, The Shining, The Exorcist – I could go on. These are amongst my favourite films.

I believe you can learn a huge amount about the human condition by watching shows that put people under extreme duress. I’ve got no problem with that.

So why did I turn this show off halfway through?

The books weren’t balancing.
I was getting too much suffering and not enough insight.
The filmmakers were taking me into dark crevices and I didn’t want that level of vibration tainting my field. My field’s already grubby enough, thank you very much!

It’ll probably win a bunch of awards, the show.
It deserves to.
But for me it lacked that deeper layer that made the fear meaningful.

Maybe I just ask too much of what I culturally ingest….