The People Next Door (2016)
This Channel 4 drama is from the makers of ‘Blackout’. A couple expecting a baby move to a new house only to realise they have loud, unpleasant, unfriendly neighbours. The couple become convinced that the neighbours are abusive to their unseen youngest child, this belief leads to the couple being questioned by cops as serious umbrage is taken.
The husband doesn’t want to be a dad. The wife calls social services who don’t do anything. So they film the sounds, install CCTV and film the neighbours as part of an evidence blog. They spy on the neighbours and go through their trash. Are they being paranoid nutjobs or is something going on with the never seen child? The police don’t seem interested but the wife is determined to overcome resistance and plants a spy cam in the neighbours house.
Things go darker as the spectre of contemporaneous fears is raised. This comes to an ambiguous ending and this unambiguously titled drama was good. The couple find the chav neighbours have hostility and contempt for them as the spy-cam reveals disturbing footage. The situation isn’t defused which precipitates a home invasion. The neighbours are seen as reprehensible scumbags and the wife is crazed and near-histrionic. I liked this, far better than ‘Blackout’.
Best Lines:
“It’s discloseable when you sell the property.”
“I can hear crying coming through the wall from the room.”
“We can’t afford to be wrong.”
“Whatever we’re in trouble for.”
~
Anything To Win (2006)
Tonya Harding
This is a short documentary which was part of a short lived series. This episode centres on Tonya Harding and the raw power she had. She was the first female skater to do a triple Axel but was white trash with a terrible mother and screwed herself. This was very good. Harding is bitter and seems to be a pathological liar. Yet she was treated with paternalising derision. Skaters are judged on their hair, make-up, clothes and how polished their skates are. Harding had bad hair, too much make-up, garish clothes and garish skates and her boot-laces and blades kept breaking. Nothing makes sense in Harding’s account. This was very satisfying as a mopey Harding recalls the media blitz that earned her a lifetime ban from the sport she was so very good at. Harding ended up doing ‘Celebrity Boxing’ and won’t admit that her life peaked in Lillehammer.
Best Lines:
“My ending spin.”
“I knew I was the best.”
“Her fall from grace was inevitable.”
“Triple lutz, double toe.”
“Two Olympic games had come and gone.”
“Skating is all I had.”
“Why? Why? Why? Why?”
“Before OJ.”
“I am embarrassed and ashamed.”
“Left without a future.”
“Wasn’t supposed to be a fight fight.”
~
Helter Skelter (2004)
This mini-series stars Clea DuVall as Linda Kasabian who was part of Charles Manson’s cult and testified against them at their trials. The future ‘Lost’ star playing Manson is miscast and comes across as a twitching pompous prat not a thoroughly malign individual.
~
The Flash 2x15
King Shark
Earth 2 is cut off. So Harry and Jesse are stuck on Earth 1. Jay is dead. Jesse is a badly dressed snotty hinderer. Cisco is afraid Snow will turn into Killer Frost. Harry gives advice that is ignored. Diggle and Lyla show up to annoy. King Shark re-emerges. Wally annoys and funeral heaviness hangs over everyone. King Shark causes surprise and violent chagrin. Barry and Wally have issues, which is not a really validating moment.
Nautilus labs is mentioned. Cisco patronises Snow. Does anybody but her care that Jay is dead? Barry flaps his arms. Cisco is comically petty and doesn’t seem to recall he was evil on Earth 2. Barry and Wally have envy. Cisco accuses Snow of presumptuous sinister practices. Snow is unmoored and nobody treats her in a thoughtful way. Cisco seems to have sensory processing disorder and skewed perceptions.
Jesse whines, I am already sick of her. King Shark smashes up Joe’s house. There are no massive issues in terms of emotional risk. TPTB do not explore riskier darker territory. Barry has no cool-headedness. Nobody is bluntly honest and this ep was not a worthy representation of this show. Barry spuriously invokes melodrama. Joe says Barry isn’t favoured over his own kids - yes he is. Cisco is a moron. This ep was moronic and Zoom’s true identity is revealed and it makes no damn sense.
Best Lines:
“This isn’t happening again.”
“All the breaches are closed.”
“In ways it should not be influenced.”
“They’re not your people.”
“Bigger and weirder ones.”
“Let him come.”
“Get over it.”
“Never.”
“Mobility behaviours.”
“Weirder than a talking shark wearing pants?”
“One tonne walking shark.”
“Killer Frost will never exist on this earth.”
“That choice had a lot of consequences.”
“Well, this is a complication.”
~
Blindspot 1x14
Rules In Defiance
There is mumbling about the ITB. Kurt shags the US Marshal and a death sentence case is looked into. The Innocence Clinic is mentioned. The shrink Dr Borden talks. Does he ever interact with anyone besides Jane? There are glamorised abused women. Jane works out in her pants. Jane wants out of the FBI until the death sentence case leads to a sex trafficking ring and she changes her mind. A shotgun blast of crazy takes place. Reed closes in on Jane’s gang and Jane’s gang make threats. An undercover operation goes awry, there is a screw-up and the angry agent was in peril. This was good.
Best Lines:
“Something very very wrong is going on.”
“Some by virtue fell.”
“I don’t trust her either.”
“Let me drive away.”
“Call me his special helper.”
“Much riskier measures.”
“No one else was coming for them.”
“She’s moved from victim to accomplice.”
~
Person Of Interest 4x22
YHWH
Season 4 ends. Dominic and Elias the rubbish gangsters bore. WTF was the point of their plot this season? Why did the no-account psychos and their quest for shabby twisted power get so much screen time? Control and her preconceived notions bore. Samaritan creates its utopia as Greer and co have unquestioning adoration for it. There are annoying people, old faces and a self-sustaining cycle of stupid. The machine is saved, mostly. There is death and peril. This was okay but tired.
Best Lines:
“Are you out of your mind?”
“Since when is that relevant?”
“The insane rant I just heard.”
“So dark and deep.”
“Gaudy displays of violence.”
~
Murdered By My Father (2016)
A gentle caring father turns out to have a ruthless killer’s heart and becomes a source of pain and tears. This BBC III true-story follow up to ‘Murdered By My Boyfriend’ wasn’t as good. Gentle Shahzad is father to Salma and Hassan. He loves his children but is bound by tradition and ritual. Salma is promised to a man but is in love with charmer Imi.
As mad obsessions with honour and manhood grow, her dad has a low joy ceiling and cracks. Salma isn’t very smart and her behaviour is judged to be culturally inappropriate and her father murders her on the kitchen floor. Salma was judged by her fiancée, brother and father to be no longer a worthy representative of her family. Havoc has been wreaked by everyday expectations and people not tolerating deviations. This was OTT in places with deceitful embraces, a bratty little brother, yelling and Imi was no help.
Best Lines:
“Someone’s always watching.”
“I’ll call you.”
“You better bloody not.”
“Take care of your filth!”