Years And Years (Episode 6 Review)

Either by sheer coincidence or clever plotting, BBC schedulers made it a dystopian Tuesday evening by putting Our Next Prime Minister and Years And Years next to each other. Imperfect bedfellows to say the least. The awkward political wranglings of the quest for our next leader had many of the hallmarks Russell T Davies has covered in this spectacular series but at least this finale had one thing the previous hour couldn’t offer.. hope.

It’s 2029 and our future Prime Minister Viv Rook has killed the BBC, closed food banks and banned reporters from asking questions. The seeds sown in our  present day real life is reaping magnificent, thought provoking  drama. Over the top? Maybe. Overly sentimental? To some certainly, but the message that we must choose love over hate is the epicentre of Years And Years. It’s the loving heart ticking away in a cynical, twisted body.

Anne Reid, who charms and intimidates in equal measure is the shining light as Muriel who has gradually become the main character. Her “It’s your fault” speech is more stirring than any national anthem and the wake up call her family needed. This is what great dialogue and impeccable acting does – it turns the mundanity of people sat around a table into essential viewing.

Edith gets the gang together and goes out with a bang as part of a revolution. Saving Viktor was simply an added bonus to overthrowing the government. While she is blocked by men with guns, Rosie is trapped behind gates once more. It’s an obvious metaphor but their escape is symbolic of everyone breaking free of their chains. In a show that’s mostly portrayed technology as an evil, the erstwhile refugees use their phones to connect to the world and tell it their truth. They are scenes that felt close to Doctor Who in tone but Years And Years has earned itself a dose of overindulgence.

Redemption is another through-line and the Lyons family stick by Stephen despite everything, even if it means going behind his back to support him. His guilty conscience needed them but he ultimately ends up in prison for possession of a firearm but that seems very harsh considering it was only Woody who took the bullet.

Everyone gets an end to their story but Vivienne is not afforded a full stop. It seems a waste that her, until now, malevolent presence fades into thin air at the crucial moment. Sure, it’s not her story but we got no reaction from her as the revolution was kicking off and there’s no scene once her actions are exposed. We see her twice briefly and one of those was a body double. Perhaps Emma Thompson was filming an Oscar nominated film that week.

An increasingly ill Edith does get her full stop and in a twist no one saw coming (don’t pretend you did) she’s having her memories uploaded to the cloud. Again, this was essentially sci-fi but there’s that heart again, now digitally clicking away in the dying embers of a soul. It’s a long, calm scene that ends a chaotic series. The release could be construed as a bid for freedom. It’s an ending that will jar with many but it’s all down to how you interpret it. When Edith says “You’re wrong. Everything you’ve stored, all those downloads, bits of me that you’ve copied onto water. You’ve got no idea what we really are. I’m not a piece of code. I’m not information, all these memories. They’re not just facts. They’re so much more than that” is it her fighting the cloud or accepting it? Was she there? Are we there? What the heck are we anyway?

It’s probably best to leave the last words to Muriel. Believe her when she says “Beware those men, the jokers and the tricksters and the clowns. They will laugh us into Hell.” Next month we’ll have a new Prime Minister and then what will we have in 2029? Maybe, just maybe it’ll be some love, hope and redemption.. 

Peaky Blinders: ‘The Company’ (Series 4, Episode 6 Review)

“Big fucks small”

So it turns out the ominous shadow of Alfie Solomons was not being followed by further shady characters. Not directly anyway. He just wants a chat and chats with Alfie are always a one sided affair, he regales Tommy of his plans to move to Margate and intentionally(?) offers some cryptic advice.

Meanwhile, back out in the boxing ring “gypsy boy” is taking a bit of a battering but it’s all for show. The ladies are getting merry and Arthur’s drug induced paranoia proves correct. In a dark corner of the venue he is jumped on, strangled and left for dead. Tommy arrives too late but fires shots in the ring out of fury. For what is essentially the second billing character to be killed off is a shocker and for the first time in a few episodes makes real the threat of the Mafia. Finn even comes of age in true Peaky fashion by taking the eyes out of a “wop”, glee covering his face as he does so. Welcome to the dark side, Finn. It’s exactly the sort of exhilarating set piece the show thrives off. Violence and intrigue matched perfectly.

“You can sign them on your knees”

Tommy has a new plan and it looks a lot like the white flag of surrender Changretta’s mother was just waving at him. In a move that gives an impression the series is going to end on a whimper, he agrees to sell over his businesses to Luca. The moment Tommy gets to his knees and starts reeling off a speech after minutes of silence is when you realise we’ve been deceived. Deception has played such a big role in series five, it really should have its own credit on IMDB. Heeding Alfie’s “advice”, they find someone bigger and turn the just thrown tables round onto Luca. The gunmen that have been trained on the Blinders now turn to their enemy.

That’s not all, though is it? From being redundant and then dead of all things, Arthur suddenly turns up to be the one who shoots Luca with his own bullet. We’ve been conned again but it’s all worth it for the shock value. Welcome back Arthur, though we didn’t get the chance to miss you.

“Alfie, stop talking!”

In a more gory and unromantic version of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Tommy meets Alfie on Margate beach. No ice creams, no seaside reminiscing, just penance for treachery. Even with death encroaching, Solomons still babbles on and only a bullet to the face stops him. Is he even dead? Even if the dog gave him mouth to mouth his chances aren’t looking good, frankly. Women might not fancy Tom Hardy so much with half a face.

“Distilled for the eradication of seemingly incuarable sadness”

Arthur’s words that the “war is over” don’t ring true though. The Mafia may be gone but the much bigger war still is playing on Tommy’s mind. On a self-imposed break he retreats back into the PTSD and no amount of gin is going to put a smile on his face. No matter how bad he felt, his strop at golf was perfectly justified. So, who do you call when you’ve got a really depressing montage to soundtrack? Radiohead, of course.

“Your cause is now my cause”

Tommy and Jessie reunite, get naked and fight for socialism together. Which sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it? In a political twist more surprising than Jeremy Corbyn’s first Labour leadership victory, our main man runs for office and soon becomes the representative for Birmingham South. How much is for personal gain and how much is actually for social justice is up for debate and will surely be explored in the next series. It’d be great to see more of Jessie (we saw quite a lot of her tonight to be fair, nudge nudge) with a more substantial storyline.

Did the set up six weeks ago live up to its own billing? Probably not. The threat was never quite as bad as was made out. However, Peaky Blinders always serves up unexpected twists and thrills through the lens of incredibly shot, brilliantly acted television. If series five is the last, let’s cherish every minute because we won’t see its like again. 9/10

 

 

Bang (S4C) Episode 6 Review

Just when you think Sam couldn’t dig himself deeper into a pit named trouble things escalate further than ever before. Surely it’s only a matter of time before big sis finds out the truth. Ela may have unwittingly saved him from brandishing his gun at the club but on the run home he’s pointing it into the back of Luke’s head. Not only that, but due to everyone waving mobile phones about, Ela is spotted in photos and that brings Gina back to Sam’s door. Honestly, it was so much easier committing armed robbery before smart phones were invented. Apparently.

The loved up pair escape to a hotel with their “earnings”, frollick in the bed and the pool and soon find another victim in the form of a creepy guy in the restaurant but true to form things start going tits up quicker than you can say Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Creepy guy catches them on the take and sexually assaults Ela which means only one thing, Sam goes all Reservoir Dogs again. The gun is out and it’s the closest he’s come to killing yet. His relationship with the weapon is so serious he might as well propose to it and put it in a wedding dress. An alarmed Ela gives an ultimatum but he chooses it over her and she strolls away. Probably out of his life for good.

An interesting side story is Luke’s trauma after being held at gun point. He suffers flashbacks and struggles to tell anyone through shame. His bottled anger whipping up a frenzy at a teen catcalling Gina. He does eventually say but the boss isn’t happy and he’s sent home pending a disciplinary. It’s a topic rarely covered in crime dramas and great to see it be touched upon. Indeed, another fallout from the effects of the job are shown as Layla is signed off with stress. There are no alcoholic cops coming back for one last case cliches here, just a more raw, honest take on police work.

Thankfully Bang is not full of crazy plot twists just for the sake of plot twists. It goes in unexpected directions without resorting to silly shock tactics, it intrigues without having the need to shout at you. This was the most exciting and absorbing episode to date and with only two more to go, everything stands on a precipice. Sam needs a miracle to escape the fall. 9/10

Bullet points:

• Yes, Ela was a bit crazy but she seemed to have a good heart. Sam is nuts to ditch her. Not just because she looked good in a swimming costume.
• Will Ela be the one that dobs him in to the police? Unlikely given the crimes she carried out with him
• We still don’t know what connection Sam and Gina’s dad had to Douglas Rose?
• What is Patricia playing at? Who was she on the phone to?
• Mel is back. Uh oh

Liar (Episode 6 Review)

There’s a moment just a few minutes into this finale where the words “three months later” flash up on the screen and it plays like an instant mood killer. Until that point things had been bubbling up nicely. Andrew’s confident facade about not being caught soon fades as he tearfully crawls to his son, begging for an alibi and he dutifully promises to give one. It’s needed as the very next scene Andrew is walking into work only to be confronted by police officers, only for us to be confronted by those three words.

The momentum feels lost. There’s palpable fear that so many questions will remain unanswered. That Andrew has been locked up off screen and the remaining time we have with Laura will be her moving on and getting on with her life, which is great for her but from a dramatic viewpoint, televisual deadwood. We’re transported to a date between Laura and her mysterious man from the Edinburgh hotel and the staples such a meeting that entails, like awkward small talk and gentle flirting. It feels flat but Harry and Jack Williams have thankfully lulled matters into false sense of security. Befitting of his sinister omnipresence, Earlham is spotted outside with another woman and we soon learn that the charges didn’t stick second time round either. While Ian is a gentleman and kisses Laura goodnight before heading to his hotel bed alone, Andrew is using that trademark creepy charm on a lady named Charlotte.

With regards to the side stories, there are some unresolved issues. Katy steals Andrew’s phone from his locker because Laura asks her to but a reconciliation seems far away. That’s not the only thing that’s still up in the air for her. Liam is in their house with her kids and it’s not looking like he wants to give the relationship another chance. These are the little loose ends that don’t really have a conclusion but it’s not a major issue either way because Liar will ultimately be judged on how the Laura versus Andrew story is resolved because that has been the selling point all along.

In the middle of the night, Andrew not only phones Laura but does it while loitering outside her home saying totally unreassuring things like “you sound scared. Don’t be, because if I wanted to have you again don’t you think I could have you whenever I wanted”. But in a rare moment of guard dropping let’s slip his knowledge obscure details about her bedroom, declaring “I play that back whenever I get the chance” about the night in question.  It’s enough to raise the suspicion he has recorded his crimes and Laura returns to undercover police officer mode and that’s why she requires Andrew’s phone from her sister.

In a very sudden twist (considering we were only introduced to her two short scenes ago), Charlotte is actually an over cover police officer and is working on the case against the villain of the piece. The next phase of her plan being a dinner date at his house. What could possibly go wrong? As it turns out, lots could and does. The finale ramps up the tension in spectacular style from this scene onwards as her attempts to take a sample from the wine glass are foiled. At least Laura never gets found out when searching for information by nefarious means. Speaking of which, she has hacked his mobile with help from Tom, the “I’m sorry about shagging your sister” ex-boyfriend. They find a text from his mum’s carer Mia about picking up his things which leads Laura to the shed of iniquity and all the evidence she’s needed is in her hands. There are heart stopping moments hoping she can get out of the house with the goods as we fully expect Earlham to be walking up the garden path as she does so.

After six weeks of allegations and heartache, we finally have the happy ending within our reach. The SD cards are with the police and “the tech guys” have seen evidence of seventeen rapes, which surely isn’t in the job description at Currys. Andrew Earlham is going down and against his consent, which is rather ironic. It’s all too good to be true though as all those previous aerial shots of marshlands take a darker twist as we float from the sky and down towards the cold, seemingly dead body of Andrew Earlham.

Killing off the bad guy could be further commentary on the ineptitude of the criminal process. Had justice not been so slow and surrounded by red tape, Andrew would be behind bars and rightfully suffering for his actions (sadly chopping rapist’s balls off isn’t legal). It also vindicates the extreme actions Laura has undertaken in her quest for the truth to come out. But it also leaves a void where satisfaction should be, not only in the fact that he won’t serving time for his crimes but in the assumption that he had enough remorse and shame to go through with suicide, if indeed that is what happened.  Since the reveal, Earlham has only shown disregard for the law, constant belittling of his victims and a joy at getting away with it. He felt invincible. The man that has been shown to us would take his day in court and get locked up fighting his corner. It seems an about turn that could prove to be genius or a mistake. It sure as heck makes a second series more difficult to imagine unless his eyes burst wide open in the very first scene before shouting “I’M BACK BITCHES!”. Let’s not rule it out, eh? 8/10

hh

 

 

 

Reviews Of ‘Victoria’ By A Jenna Coleman Fan Who Hates Period Dramas AND The Monarchy – Series 2, Episode 6

Actual title: Faith, Hope and Charity

What it should have been named:  Carbs, craps and STD’s

While last week was a jolly jaunt over the sea, a ‘Victoria Abroad’ if you will, the subject matter here is a much more bleak spectacle. The Irish potato famine is no laughing matter and is covered with great sensitivity and a subtle approach not usually associated with the show.

The sort of subtle approach this blog has I’m sure you’ll agree. Anyway, Robert Peel (who seems to live at Buckingham Palace) speaks of the “time war” to set us up. Hang on, the time war? What if there was some sort of massive button that if pressed can stop people dying of hunger?

Oh wait, it’s the tithe war. Sorry.

Elsewhere in Ireland we meet the Reverend Robert Traill who is battling his own religion and country in trying to get help for the starving. He soon gets an audience with the Queen, the lucky bastard.

Peel won’t budge from his usual stubborn mindset and when Victoria tells him to “come with me” and storms off to the bedroom he probably thought he was well in there. Sadly it just turned out that she wanted to guilt trip the Prime Minister into helping the Irish. He takes a little persuading by stating that “principles are a luxury” which made me wonder if the man was a surprising fan of two album noise makers Kinesis.

Alas, the chances are unlikley because the band formed in the year 2000, long after Peel’s death. Though what if he had access to some sort of box that could travel through time?

Tonight is all about doing the right thing. Francatelli offers his expensive swag to Miss Cleary so she can send money back to her family in Ireland. Victoria offers help too and even Peel stands up for his principles in parliament. And looks very smug about it. As the stats acknowledge at the end in a moving funeral scene, it was nowhere near enough.

Albert was not initially concerned with the lack of food of people in a different country and much more interested in food after it’s been digested by the people living in his country. It’s the circle of life.

The Palace was built on a sewer system apparently (make your own jokes) and installing new thrones with flushing capabilities is his piss de resistance.

Hygiene is less of an issue for E(a)rnest who pops up like a bad rash again. Ironic given he’s caught something nasty off one of his conquests. It’s not all bad news though as the husband of his lost love, the Lady of Sutherland has died in a freak accident. This paves the way for him to get his wicked way with the woman of his dreams at last. Just as long as he has a wash first. And wears protection.

Faith, Hope and Charity felt like the most cohesive work of the run to date and shows just what Victoria as a show is capable of when remaining focused. Not an easy watch by any stretch of the imagination but it deftly translated a time of huge human suffering onto the screen AND had a toilet joke.

Lame of thrones:

• Was anyone else expecting Ted Hastings to pop up and mumble about bent coppers?
• Is the Skerrett / Francatelli love story over and done with? They don’t seem that bothered by each other anymore.
• I can’t get that bloody Elton John song out of my head now.