pops
Jane Asher
Posts: 227
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Post by pops on Feb 17, 2013 16:15:46 GMT
I was going to post this in Weekly Wipe, but didn't want to spoiler it for anyone.
What did everyone think of the first ep? I liked it a lot and thought Hayley Atwell was great, but wish in a way that Charlie Brooker had kept the software idea going, rather than bringing in the clone - the whole idea of reconstructing your personality from your social media presence seemed so much spookier and more original when it was a disembodied voice (although the bit when she was waiting for him to get out of the bath was genuinely tense.) But that maybe because for me Truly Madly Deeply will always be the pinacle of the I Thought I Wanted My Boyfriend To Come Back From The Dead, But Now All He Does Is Hang Around The House Getting On My Tits genre.
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Post by Rad on Feb 17, 2013 18:20:10 GMT
I thought it was good for the most part, but the ending was all a bit weak - I read one review saying that maybe he really liked the concept but hadn't quite figured out how to make it work beyond the initial shocks and it did feel a bit like that
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Post by Muinimula on Feb 17, 2013 23:36:53 GMT
Same - I thought it was good overall, but didn't quite feel the full article. I kept thinking they were going to explore a secret the boyfriend might have hidden online, or another aspect to his personality which the girlfriend wasn't aware of when he was alive.
Did I read somewhere that one of the first series' episodes is being made into a film?
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Post by Steven on Feb 18, 2013 23:04:39 GMT
Well, I'm going to hear Lenora Crichlow screaming whenever I shut my eyes tonight. Shudder.
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Post by coxy1979 on Feb 19, 2013 10:35:14 GMT
It was bloody grim last night wasn't it? I think it suffered a little from trying to cover too many things (cameraphones, baying mobs, Hunger Games style entertainment), but I did like it.
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Post by Steven on Feb 19, 2013 14:03:48 GMT
I wasn't sure about it until the very end - I felt a bit like the relentlessness of the terror in it was too much, and the constant screaming and panic from Lenora Crichlow's character needed to be a bit more nuanced, but then they had that second twist where it turned out that they were planning to make her go through all of that terror indefinitely, and that really sold the concept to me. Just the idea of having to live the rest of your life in a constant state of abject terror was really unsettling, and that made sense of why they'd really slathered on how terrified she was.
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pops
Jane Asher
Posts: 227
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Post by pops on Feb 19, 2013 17:40:11 GMT
The weird thing is, I was thinking during the first two thirds that it reminded me of a Derren Brown-stunt (something about the masks and the same symbols recurring), and I still didn't see the twist coming. I agree that Lenora Crichlow was a bit too one note - I was actually getting a bit bored with it until the big reveal - but the ending made it clear that there wasn't really another way for her to play it.
Apparently, the epsiode getting the film treatment is the replaying-your-memory-one from the first series - the one Charlie Brooker didn't actually write. Robert Downey Jr has bought the rights. Maybe another one of the Avengers will have a go at the Pig Sex episode.
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Chris
Jane Asher
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Posts: 244
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Post by Chris on Feb 19, 2013 18:23:51 GMT
It's going to be a lot less fun when she reaches 60 and pops her hip trying to roll around that BP garage.
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Post by Rad on Feb 25, 2013 23:21:13 GMT
Tonight's episode was OK-ish but it didn't feel like it had enough to sustain the idea - in fact, the series in general would probably make better 45 minute episodes (inc ads) than 60 minute ones.
The coda was not necessary and kind of undermined the whole thing by just going too over-the-top. It was all a bit overdone, really.
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fused
Su Pollard
Posts: 405
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Post by fused on Feb 26, 2013 11:10:21 GMT
Apparently, the epsiode getting the film treatment is the replaying-your-memory-one from the first series - the one Charlie Brooker didn't actually write. I still think that's the best episode of all the Black Mirror episodes to date. Maybe it's because Jesse Armstrong has more experience with writing for TV drama than Charlie Brooker does, but in that one I found the characters a bit more believable, and I thought it all flowed a bit smoother than the other episodes. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a show like Black Mirror existing, and I in no way think it's "bad TV" or that Charlie Brooker is a bad writer. But with the ones Charlie Brooker has written, they all seem to have lots of black comedy and a feeling of really trying to hammer home a "point". Which is great for newspaper articles or something like Screenwipe, but personally I've always found it a little distracting in Black Mirror. That said, I didn't think that way with Dead Set, I was able to go along with that easier for some reason.
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Post by Bungle on Feb 26, 2013 12:32:50 GMT
Tonight's episode was OK-ish but it didn't feel like it had enough to sustain the idea - in fact, the series in general would probably make better 45 minute episodes (inc ads) than 60 minute ones. The coda was not necessary and kind of undermined the whole thing by just going too over-the-top. It was all a bit overdone, really. I'd need to double check my recording but I think the 65-70 minute slot allows them one extra ad break (four, rather than the usual three in a 60m show), and consequently the money that it brings with it (especially as, even with its relatively small audience, its demographic is in demand with advertisers).
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