Cycling Related

It's a Netflix "limited series". Eight episodes. It's a story about sexual assault, focussing on two police offices and one of the victims. It's very good, intense, believable, heartbreaking at times. A lot of the time. It seems a realistic description of old fashioned police work, boring detailed work when forensics can't help. It has an interesting structure, alternating between two related stories, 3 years apart.

Here's a thing: it nearly fails the distaff Bechdel test, with there are very few scenes with men talking to each other, and maybe only one where the conversation does not involve a woman. There was one promised scene towards the end where two men are going to be alone, but we don't see that directly, but on a screen being watched by the two detectives.

Recommended.

(it reminded me of some personal experiences, but I did not find it triggering. However, I would suggest caution as there are some non-explicit but very effective moments of sexual assault)

OMG, it's nearly a documentary!

It's based on this propublica story. But with incredible fidelity, down to the interwoven stories, and a similar or same font used to change time and location.

If you want to watch the series I'd suggest not reading the article first as it covers almost every beat of the drama series, and will probably ruin it. But if you want to save 6 hours of your life, the article will be a quicker read.

There was in the last episode a particularly positive outcome for one character, that I thought was amazing, but unrealistic. Turns out that if anything, they minimised how well things worked out.

The article has made me love the series even more.

Interesting fact: the two leads look very much like the real life detectives, but they switched the casting.
In real life, the younger, less experienced and reactive detective is the taller, skinnier one. In the series, it was reversed. But I think Toni Colette and Merritt Weaver are amazing, but Merritt is much younger than Toni. I don't think there is anything sinister in that casting choice.

Can I take the tone of the thread down - again?

If you haven't seen Taskmaster, look for it. Greg Davies is the eponymous Taskmaster, giving a panel of 5 comedians absurd tasks, aided and abetted by Alex Horne. He's also the brains behind the show. It's one of the few things that regularly makes me laugh out loud. A number of the panellists - I'm thinking of Rob Beckett, Noel Fielding and Bob Mortimer - are people whose comedy I'd never got, but the format makes them funny.

The current series 9 is on Dave on Wednesday nights at 9, and is shaping up to be an excellent one. Our Virgin Media box has the whole of every series available, and UKTV Play often has old episodes online.

I'm sure there's a lot to be written about why I'm recommending light entertainment rather than serious drama...

Iris wrote: ↑

4 years ago

I'm sure there's a lot to be written about why I'm recommending light entertainment rather than serious drama...

I'm just enjoying the thought of you tuning into a channel called 'Dave', TBH!

Sonic Budgie wrote: ↑

4 years ago

State of the Nation, all available on iplayer. There's 9 (or maybe 10?) episodes, they're only 10 minutes long. It's about a couple going to marriage counselling, they meet in the pub before each session and they talk. It's billed as a comedy, but it's not belly laughs, it's smart, clever. Give it a go.

Ah. Thank you! I was back at my cat sitting gig today, so binged the entire series on iPlayer (10 episodes, so just under 2 hours). It's very good, as you say. Which is a surprise, obviously because I would not expect Rosamund Pike, Chris O'Dowd, Nick Hornby and Stephen fucking Frears to produce work of any quality. /s

It made me think of Posh Nosh, the brilliant series from the early aughts of similar format, that revealed 2 people in a fraught marriage who find their way to ending.

The Real Ravenhurst wrote: ↑

4 years ago

I'm just enjoying the thought of you tuning into a channel called 'Dave', TBH!

I've asked it nicely, and it's happy for me to call it "David".

Speaking of light entz for which I'm not the target demographic, I see from the Metro wrapper that there's a new series of Plebs starting tonight on ITV2. It's "Up Pompeii" for the millennial generation with enough historical accuracy to keep the grumpy classicist happy. The first two series sang, the third tried a bit too hard. Let's hope the fourth series goes back to form properly.

Joan wrote: ↑

4 years ago

OMG, it's nearly a documentary!

Well, after all my ravings about this, it seems I have encountered the story in full before. I haven't missed an episode of this This American Life in a decade or so, and it turns out the Propublica article was co-written with this episode of This American Life, which they just repeated.

Also, Netflix's AI is really stupid:

Or Engrengages as the French has it. BBC4, Saturday nights. A policier set in Paris and the banlieues.

There's a rather good article about the slang in the series: https://www.theguardian.com/media/mind- ... iral-slang
which has some informed and engaged comments. As well as the inevitable internet bore who first tries to damn the author, then describes the article as "excellent", then makes a basic howler showing that he* knows nothing - he claims Latin has five grammatical genders.

*Statistically likely...

Engrenages, if we're talking howlers.

I've only watched the first season or 2 a long time ago.

I liked it. I am pleased it is on Netflix, where I can catch up.

Rutabaga wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Engrenages, if we're talking howlers.

Bugger. Don't come to me for proofreading.

El Camino (Breaking Bad film) was slightly disappointing.

I rather enjoyed the first episode of the remake of 'The Name of the Rose' on BBC2. Rupert Everett is good as the malevolent Bernard Gui, although I do find John Tururro a little strange as William of Baskerville. The eye candy is provided by Damian Hardung.



Lucy Mangan didn't particularly rate it in the Grauniad - but then I think she's being overly picky.

Since Lucy Mangan trashed 'Chernobyl' after the first episode she has become a below-the-line figure of fun, so I'd take that as a sign it's going to be a good series (I quite enjoyed it too).

Lucy Mangan's at it again, disparaging Giri/Haji, which started last night. I enjoyed it very much. Elsewhere though, the Guardian heartily recommends the new (!) series of Still Open All Hours, so I think I might stop looking at their review section altogether for a bit.