The Hour episode 2 and an award
I am really, really enjoying The Hour now. I noticed on Twitter that a few people don't like it so much, but I think it depends on what you like in a programme – it's not purely a drama. There's the 'starting a new news programme' aspect, which is a drama, with personality clashes, corporate politics and potential for torrid affairs, and then there's the thriller aspect, with Freddie trying to discover why an academic was killed and why the murder of his friend is being written off as a suicide.
I make no secret of loving thrillers, and for me it's fabulous finally to get a show which has a 'slow burn' thriller at its heart. No stupid gadgets, no fast car chases, no 'sexpionage' (thank you, Undercovers, for that horrible notion, you steaming pile of dwang), just the slow uncovering of facts and the realisation that whatever's going on, it's big, and it's scary and there's now no way out. I think this is currently the best thriller I've watched in years, and this is in the year when we've also had The Shadow Line.
The news programme side of things is of less interest to me, although I am pleased that so far no-one's having sex. Honestly, if aliens landed and had based their knowledge of our culture on TV dramas, they'd probably be quite startled to discover that two humans can actually be in the same room as one another for more than two days without throwing panties to the wind and doing it on the photocopier. I'd like to see some genuine human relationships on the box – y'know, that 'friendship' thing? Family relationships that aren't affairs?
There seemed to be two themes in yesterday's episode running under the Suez Crisis main element: 'Everyone Has Awful Relatives' and 'The Phones Are Behaving Oddly'. (The latter was very crudely done; short of having a high-kicking chorus line dressed as operators dancing through singing "Your phones are tapped!" they couldn't have made it more obvious.) I doubt we'll escape seeing more of either Hector's wife, Marnie, or Bel's awful mother, although Marnie has the potential to be interesting. I can't wait for next week's episode.
And in a complete change of subject Wendy from The Butterfly Balcony has given me a bloggy award :D Check out her blog if you love vintage or crafts, and if you love both you'll want to follow it. I'm rubbish at webby things so can't put up the little squares with the awards in, but wanted so say thank you. (And if Wendy or anyone wants to find me on Ravelry, I'm 'idontlikecricket'!)
I make no secret of loving thrillers, and for me it's fabulous finally to get a show which has a 'slow burn' thriller at its heart. No stupid gadgets, no fast car chases, no 'sexpionage' (thank you, Undercovers, for that horrible notion, you steaming pile of dwang), just the slow uncovering of facts and the realisation that whatever's going on, it's big, and it's scary and there's now no way out. I think this is currently the best thriller I've watched in years, and this is in the year when we've also had The Shadow Line.
The news programme side of things is of less interest to me, although I am pleased that so far no-one's having sex. Honestly, if aliens landed and had based their knowledge of our culture on TV dramas, they'd probably be quite startled to discover that two humans can actually be in the same room as one another for more than two days without throwing panties to the wind and doing it on the photocopier. I'd like to see some genuine human relationships on the box – y'know, that 'friendship' thing? Family relationships that aren't affairs?
There seemed to be two themes in yesterday's episode running under the Suez Crisis main element: 'Everyone Has Awful Relatives' and 'The Phones Are Behaving Oddly'. (The latter was very crudely done; short of having a high-kicking chorus line dressed as operators dancing through singing "Your phones are tapped!" they couldn't have made it more obvious.) I doubt we'll escape seeing more of either Hector's wife, Marnie, or Bel's awful mother, although Marnie has the potential to be interesting. I can't wait for next week's episode.
And in a complete change of subject Wendy from The Butterfly Balcony has given me a bloggy award :D Check out her blog if you love vintage or crafts, and if you love both you'll want to follow it. I'm rubbish at webby things so can't put up the little squares with the awards in, but wanted so say thank you. (And if Wendy or anyone wants to find me on Ravelry, I'm 'idontlikecricket'!)
You more than welcome, I always enjoy reading your posts:) I'm off to find you on ravelry....
ReplyDeleteHa ah! That made me laugh a lot. Specifically the photocopier and phone tapping bits :D
ReplyDeleteI think episode 2 was better than episode 1, it has a lot of promise, lets hope it keeps it up! Still don't really like the styling though....
Retro Chick, I wasn't sure if I wasn't being too crude. Meh, maybe I should let my inner guttersnipe out more on the blog, I'm just worried that people who read the stuff I do for my day job will find the blog and be horribly offended and then I'll get into trouble at work!
ReplyDeleteWhen you meet me in person, I have a gob like Nanny Ogg in a swearing contest with a sailor...
What did you think of ep 3 then? And there's seemingly more heavy breathing in 4. Though I too would rather see other types relationships than the bonking kind, I'd rather they just did *it* instead of all that bloody staring that was going on.
ReplyDeleteAs for the show in general: I finally started watching it after recording the first three episodes and not watching any of them... then, I gave one a chance and had seen them all by the following day! So yeah, I quite like it.