by rublev » Thu Dec 17, 2015 7:56 pm
What i've been watching the last few months....
Homeland Season 5 - distinctly average though a few high quality episodes. Overall story arch a bit primary school. Potential was high for Cold War era like snooping / wire taping visits to niche wholefood supermarkets / Russians doing something with mirrors / leather jackets cold breath POV camera of people being chased through Alexanderplatz / "vee 'ave to be vevy quiet" / maybe throw in an American drone for something contemporary. Instead it was all a bit Carrie cry face and reliance on rehashed Islamist ("will they won't they") plot.
Fargo season 2 - quite frankly, honestly, the best show this year. Of the last few years? Glorious, wacky, gratuitous, audacious, moving? “It’s just a flying saucer, hon, we got to go.” felt pretty ordinary. Glimpses of original Coen ideas but entirely new and fresh, and the references haven't stopped there (most recent episode called The Castle). Clash of the mundane with the extraordinary. I cannot put it into words! Also... the music... best. soundtrack. ever.
The Last Panthers season 1 - hmmmmm... turned out to be a bit of a wet blanket. Disappointing. Started well... fast moving tense heist, something about panthers, flicking between grim Marseille and even grimmer Belgrade (just who isn't a sucker for Balkan crime gangs). The UN mission side plot did leave a pang of concern (not misjudged, on reflection), but all in all, promising. I had hoped for a style minimal dialogue cat and mouse type 'contemp. thrill', but the story soon moved on, past the heist, the panthers, the trackers, out the station and away to something different entirely. It was 'okay', but a missed opportunity. Tahar Rahim is excellent. Plays a great 'my life is crumbling around me' urban city cop.
Other recent highlights - Dan Cruickshank: Resurrecting History: Warsaw (good), Blood and Gold: The Making of Spain with Simon Sebag Montefiore (good), The Bridge (recorded it, only one episode in, but good), Michael Portillo's Great Continental Railway Journeys (i'm sorry but i love this programme...).
[youtube]?v=Eb0yFr2jVAU[/youtube]
this comes to C4 in January and i can't wait... finally a programme about one of my top 5 fave periods of historical significance (early 80s Germany, preferably involving the Stasi)