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Spoilers What's on TV?
- Thread starter Huntn
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'Wolf Hall', episode five of six, on BBC 2.
Stunning, superlative, disturbing (even though you know the story); the kind of slow, riveting, gripping TV that has you almost holding your breath. Ooooof. Brilliant.
Stunning, superlative, disturbing (even though you know the story); the kind of slow, riveting, gripping TV that has you almost holding your breath. Ooooof. Brilliant.
Are you tormenting me?
Yes, I suppose that I am to a certain extent, but not nearly as much as I am tormenting myself.
The series is scheduled to reach its conclusion this coming Wednesday, leaving me bereft, (although the cast seem to have expressed an interest in taking the tale further when Hilary Mantel has written the third book in the series, as yet unpublished).
However, it is seriously, seriously good. And comes, as you may already have gathered, very highly recommended on my part…...
I figured that out a while back. All that gushing is hard to miss.
And, I'll add to that, I am extremely hard to please where TV is concerned. My standards are impossibly high, and I become extraordinarily critical of a series (that purports to be based on fact) which, in fact, plus fast and loose with history.
Such praise is rare for me, - especially for a TV series; normally, I confine myself to watches the news, or documentaries, or nature programmes. I hardly ever watch TV for entertainment (Star Trek being a rare exception to that rule).
Anyway, I think you'll not just enjoy the series, but that you will savour and relish this. My brothers and friends know better than to even think of calling me while 'Wolf Hall' is on ...
Looking forward to it.
Allegiance- The Americans rip off, I'm done with this.
Better Call Saul- holding up well. I think it can be agreed he's a Slimey lawyer. Still deciding if Saul has any significant redeeming qualities, he did warn a family who he inadvertently put into danger.
Me too, ehh so far. Grand Budapest Hotel, ok for costumes and hair style/makeup. Note I'm playing on my iPad.
Agreed with both. I fell asleep during the last episode of Allegiance, and deleted it instead of rewinding/rewatching.
Better Call Saul is pretty good so far.
Some of the other new shows:
Fresh Off the Boat is funnier than I expected. I don't know if it'll make it, but the parents are hilarious. The kids, I could do without.
The Odd Couple remake's pilot episode was disappointing. It's unfortunate, but I don't think Matthew Perry can carry a show on his own.
The Slap... *Eye-roll* Goes overboard (as expected from a show about a slap), but it'll probably get a rise out of some people. Zachary Quinto is great, but the other big actors (Uma Thurman, Thandie Newton, Peter Skarsgard) are awful. Thank goodness it's just a mini-series.
Season 3 of House of Cards comes out this week on Netflix. Finally!
Agreed with both. I fell asleep during the last episode of Allegiance, and deleted it instead of rewinding/rewatching.
Better Call Saul is pretty good so far.
Some of the other new shows:
Fresh Off the Boat is funnier than I expected. I don't know if it'll make it, but the parents are hilarious. The kids, I could do without.
The Odd Couple remake's pilot episode was disappointing. It's unfortunate, but I don't think Matthew Perry can carry a show on his own.
The Slap... *Eye-roll* Goes overboard (as expected from a show about a slap), but it'll probably get a rise out of some people. Zachary Quinto is great, but the other big actors (Uma Thurman, Thandie Newton, Peter Skarsgard) are awful. Thank goodness it's just a mini-series.
Season 3 of House of Cards comes out this week on Netflix. Finally!
The problem with Allegiance was not so much its parallels with The Americans but of its general vibe and charicatures. On some shows, characters feel real, like for example Homeland. If they don't feel real then usually I don't last.
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The final episode (of six) of 'Wolf Hall' on BBC 2. Brilliant, bitter, bleak and utterly, compellingly gripping.
Better Call Saul
*Possible Spoilers*
After watching the first four episodes of Better Call Saul, I'm struck with how making great TV has a lot of parallels with making fine wine: You can't rush it, you need great raw material, and the best take years to mature.
Better Call Saul has a couple of built-in constraints: We all know where Jimmy/Saul ends up. We literally know how the story ends. We've met Tuco Salamanca and Mike Ermentraut. And being a prequel, using the same actors, the producers (and makeup artists, set dressers, etc.) have some not-inconsiderable challenges.
So far, I think Gilligan and crew have done a great job. Young Jimmy, roaming the streets of Cicero, Illinois (in a scene stolen wholesale from The Sting) seems entirely believable as a 20-year younger version of the same guy we meet in an Albuquerque strip mall. Mike Ermentraut has one of those faces that were probably born old and grizzled. For me, the big question is how many years does Better Call Saul have in it?
So far there have been flashes of brilliance. But nothing, so far, to match the compelling story arc of Breaking Bad. Maybe thats just going to take time. (The first four episodes of BB seemed weirdly dull.) But Breaking Bad started with that (now classic) scene of Walt driving the Bounder through the New Mexico desert in his underpants. Leaving the viewer with the screaming question: How the heck did we get here? And a similar mechanism repeated itself through every subsequent BB season.
So far, Better Call Saul hasn't used any similar plot devices. Maybe thats because (as I noted earlier) we already know where we're going.
Better Call Saul is off to a good, solid start. Its got good raw material (the actors, writers, characters, and cinematographers.) Here's hoping it ends up like the great vintage wine Breaking Bad became.
*Possible Spoilers*
After watching the first four episodes of Better Call Saul, I'm struck with how making great TV has a lot of parallels with making fine wine: You can't rush it, you need great raw material, and the best take years to mature.
Better Call Saul has a couple of built-in constraints: We all know where Jimmy/Saul ends up. We literally know how the story ends. We've met Tuco Salamanca and Mike Ermentraut. And being a prequel, using the same actors, the producers (and makeup artists, set dressers, etc.) have some not-inconsiderable challenges.
So far, I think Gilligan and crew have done a great job. Young Jimmy, roaming the streets of Cicero, Illinois (in a scene stolen wholesale from The Sting) seems entirely believable as a 20-year younger version of the same guy we meet in an Albuquerque strip mall. Mike Ermentraut has one of those faces that were probably born old and grizzled. For me, the big question is how many years does Better Call Saul have in it?
So far there have been flashes of brilliance. But nothing, so far, to match the compelling story arc of Breaking Bad. Maybe thats just going to take time. (The first four episodes of BB seemed weirdly dull.) But Breaking Bad started with that (now classic) scene of Walt driving the Bounder through the New Mexico desert in his underpants. Leaving the viewer with the screaming question: How the heck did we get here? And a similar mechanism repeated itself through every subsequent BB season.
So far, Better Call Saul hasn't used any similar plot devices. Maybe thats because (as I noted earlier) we already know where we're going.
Better Call Saul is off to a good, solid start. Its got good raw material (the actors, writers, characters, and cinematographers.) Here's hoping it ends up like the great vintage wine Breaking Bad became.
Unfortunately I have mostly burned out on crime dramas as we have 3 CSIs and a couple of Law & Orders and my wife regularily binges on English crime dramas like Rosemary and Tyme and Midsummer Murders. Unless it's something super special, I'm less inclined in having to read my shows.
It only took me 6 episodes, brought home by Episode 6 is realizing the attraction of Grantchester is a character study of Sidney Chambers, the Anglican Vicar, haunted by the war (WWII) and navigating his personal relationships. Some juggling going on. The character is very human.
And Downton Abbey- sometimes I'm amazed at how much emotion they can ring out of this story. Next week is the Season 5 final!
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