Homeland
We did at least get a belated explanation in the second episode about Carrie's condition: she gets medication off the record from her doctor sister's 'samples cupboard'. Says a lot about the CIA. As does the fact that the surveillance team have missed a blind spot - the garage - which just happens to be where Brody stashes his prayer mat. When Grace is said at table, he is distinctly uncomfortable, and refuses alcohol, but they haven't yet picked up on his changed habits.
Elsewhere there is more gratuitous nudity, so no mainstream network restraints here, and a distinct lack of any kind of therapy for Brody. In times when you can be diagnosed with PTSD after being shut in a lift for half an hour, it seems unlikely that he would be left unsupported.
The other problem is that there are still a trillion episodes to go. While it's not boring, watching Carrie's clutching at straws is already beginning to tire us out, and the only plausible (as opposed to wildly implausible, so ruling nothing out here) truth is that Brody is either a terrorist agent, a double agent or a peaceful Muslim. Which leaves at least half a trillion episodes devoted to painfully slow plot development or twists and turns that turn out to be red herrings. Hmm. We're clinging on for dear life, but we may yet give up the fight.
Prisoners' Wives
The penultimate episode this week was well-structured drama with some great ensemble acting from Polly Walker, Emma Rigby, Pippa Haywood and Natalie Gavin (so impressive in 'The Arbor' and equally good here). Wonderful to have characters and plots that don't feel forced, and can't wait for the finale. We hear there's no word on a second series. C'mon Beeb, back your quality output!
Showing posts with label Prisoners' Wives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prisoners' Wives. Show all posts
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Saturday, 11 February 2012
Continuations...
Eternal Law
Series One ended with a cliffhanger, almost literally, with Zac and Hannah embracing among the crenellations of York Cathedral's roof. Sadly there may not be a second series, owing to viewing figures as low as two million. Reviews have been mixed, but we're fans. Like Pharoah's 'Life on Mars', it took an element of fantasy and a staple TV genre and shook them up together for a fun cocktail with a serious twist. So why didn't this take flight (deliberate pun, sorry) in the way that LoM did?
The only reasons we can come up with would make Mr Mountjoy groan. Legal dramas aren't as cool as cop dramas, and angels and devils aren't as cool as Gene Hunt eating Hoops and driving a Cortina. Yes, folks, a decent script and acting alone gets you nowhere on the darkling plain known as modern England. As a legal drama it was perhaps twee and peremptory, but there are few legal dramas that can claim otherwise. We watched for the angels, who were more human than... well, most characters in legal dramas. When 'Hustle', with its cartoon villains and dubious plots, can run for eight series, it looks like the fallen angels are winning.
Whitechapel
A copycat Jack the Ripper was an intriguing premise. Secret twinned offspring of the Kray twins was ludicrously off-the-wall. Now we have a killer who happens to have mimicked the Ratcliffe Highway murders, but unintentionally. The history has gone from being the mainspring of the drama to a few incidental add-ons. This series inhabits the same laughs-to-gorefest limbo as 'Midsomer Murders' and leaves the viewer as nonplussed, like watching a car crash of muppets.
We can deal with this, provided the stories cohere, but here we were expected to accept a man who killed innocent people to make one selfish one suffer. This is presumably in a parallel universe where selfish people are extremely sensitive to losing their work colleagues or lazy student housemates? And then there was the inspired casting of Dave Schneider as a genuinely scary type, who managed to talk his way out of a prison cell, but wasn't the murderer and disappeared into 'thin air'. Clearly the killer managed to do this, too, having built some kind of labyrinth within suburban houses that enabled him to be everywhere at once. If you're going to build something up with visual darkness and twanging strings, make the payoff pay off and tie up those loose ends. Please.
Prisoners' Wives
Rattling along in an agreeable way, though realism has already been sacrificed to drama. The bailiffs remove all the furniture and threaten Francesca with eviction, but what did her drug dealer husband owe? It's hard to believe he was given a mortgage, even if he needed one. Or that, if he owed criminals, they'd have called in legal bailiffs. If it was down to the Proceeds of Crime Act, why would it take them six years after the conviction to confiscate the goods?
Gemma meanwhile raids her mother-in-law's caravan again to recover her husband's gun, which the police still haven't managed to find. At this point, they are apparently following her, so they aren't up to much if they don't follow her to a caravan park in the middle of the night.
Inside Men
Rattling along in an even more agreeable way, though we're not quite convinced by John's sudden transformation from straight-down-the-line grey suit to ruthless gang leader and convincing liar. In January he reluctantly sacked an employee for stealing £20. In March he's prepared to fake his wife being taken as hostage - unknown to her.
Series One ended with a cliffhanger, almost literally, with Zac and Hannah embracing among the crenellations of York Cathedral's roof. Sadly there may not be a second series, owing to viewing figures as low as two million. Reviews have been mixed, but we're fans. Like Pharoah's 'Life on Mars', it took an element of fantasy and a staple TV genre and shook them up together for a fun cocktail with a serious twist. So why didn't this take flight (deliberate pun, sorry) in the way that LoM did?
The only reasons we can come up with would make Mr Mountjoy groan. Legal dramas aren't as cool as cop dramas, and angels and devils aren't as cool as Gene Hunt eating Hoops and driving a Cortina. Yes, folks, a decent script and acting alone gets you nowhere on the darkling plain known as modern England. As a legal drama it was perhaps twee and peremptory, but there are few legal dramas that can claim otherwise. We watched for the angels, who were more human than... well, most characters in legal dramas. When 'Hustle', with its cartoon villains and dubious plots, can run for eight series, it looks like the fallen angels are winning.
Whitechapel
A copycat Jack the Ripper was an intriguing premise. Secret twinned offspring of the Kray twins was ludicrously off-the-wall. Now we have a killer who happens to have mimicked the Ratcliffe Highway murders, but unintentionally. The history has gone from being the mainspring of the drama to a few incidental add-ons. This series inhabits the same laughs-to-gorefest limbo as 'Midsomer Murders' and leaves the viewer as nonplussed, like watching a car crash of muppets.
We can deal with this, provided the stories cohere, but here we were expected to accept a man who killed innocent people to make one selfish one suffer. This is presumably in a parallel universe where selfish people are extremely sensitive to losing their work colleagues or lazy student housemates? And then there was the inspired casting of Dave Schneider as a genuinely scary type, who managed to talk his way out of a prison cell, but wasn't the murderer and disappeared into 'thin air'. Clearly the killer managed to do this, too, having built some kind of labyrinth within suburban houses that enabled him to be everywhere at once. If you're going to build something up with visual darkness and twanging strings, make the payoff pay off and tie up those loose ends. Please.
Prisoners' Wives
Rattling along in an agreeable way, though realism has already been sacrificed to drama. The bailiffs remove all the furniture and threaten Francesca with eviction, but what did her drug dealer husband owe? It's hard to believe he was given a mortgage, even if he needed one. Or that, if he owed criminals, they'd have called in legal bailiffs. If it was down to the Proceeds of Crime Act, why would it take them six years after the conviction to confiscate the goods?
Gemma meanwhile raids her mother-in-law's caravan again to recover her husband's gun, which the police still haven't managed to find. At this point, they are apparently following her, so they aren't up to much if they don't follow her to a caravan park in the middle of the night.
Inside Men
Rattling along in an even more agreeable way, though we're not quite convinced by John's sudden transformation from straight-down-the-line grey suit to ruthless gang leader and convincing liar. In January he reluctantly sacked an employee for stealing £20. In March he's prepared to fake his wife being taken as hostage - unknown to her.
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