May TV shows

[dolorosa_12]

Just four shows this month (which I think reflects the changing seasons: more time spent outdoors, more time outside our own four walls, doing things with other people), but as always a broad range of genres:

Baby Reindeer, the Netflix sleeper hit of the moment, a semi-fictionalised account of a (male) wannabe comedian's experiences of stalking and sexual violence. This is quite a divisive show — almost everyone who's watched it seems to come away with a strong opinion — but in my case my reaction was positive. It's an extremely powerful depiction of trauma, well written and acted, but unfortunately was created and aired without much expectation of it gaining a large audience. This has caused predictable results — the real people it depicts (beyond the writer, who based in on his own experiences and was upfront about that) were easily identified by internet sleuths, and the whole thing became a bit of a media circus, which is unfortunate.

Blue Lights, the second season of a BBC crime drama about police recruits in contemporary Belfast, as well as the communities within which they work. In this season, the corrosive effects of fifteen years of austerity were at the heart of the show, with devastating consequences, and perhaps everything wrapped up slightly too neatly at the end, with everyone getting exactly what they deserved in a manner that slightly stretched credulity.

Shardlake, a miniseries adaptation of a historical mystery series set in Tudor England, in which the title character is sent by Thomas Cromwell to investigate the murder of another of Cromwell's agents in a monastery. The aim is not so much to find the truth, but rather to find a justification for closing the monastery and appropriating its wealth, and the murky cynicism of the early days of the Reformation is depicted brilliantly. As a murder mystery it's less compelling (I figured out the identity of the killer about halfway through the second episode), but as a portrait of the destabilising, disorienting uncertainty of that specific historical period, it does very well.

The Gathering — a Channel 4 teen drama set equally in the tower blocks and spacious upper middle class homes of Liverpool — is definitely my show of the month. Set against a backdrop of elite competitive gymnastics and the more anarchic world of parkour and freerunning, it appears initially to be a mystery show: the story of an attack on a teenage girl at a beach rave. But it's really about the relationships between parents and their teenage children, and the variety of different circumstances which can lead these teenagers to take on adult responsibilities far earlier than they should (and the mistakes and character flaws of their parents that lead them to impose such responsibilities on their children, and the damage done by the weight of parental expectation). The acting and writing is superb, Liverpool itself shines as the show's setting, and to top it all off, the soundtrack is excellent. The only small flaw is the depiction of elite gymnastics, which is just slightly off in a way that is obvious to current and former gymnasts, but probably not noticeable to others.

All good shows, all of which I'd recommend (depending on your tastes and TV viewing preferences).

Comments

[isis]

I'm looking forward to watching Shardlake! I've read the first four books.

[dolorosa_12]

I haven't read the books, so I have no idea how well it works as an adaptation, but for show-only viewers it seems to work fine.

[author_by_night]

Just a full disclosure that I have not seen Baby Reindeer. With that being said, the fact that real people were identified makes me wonder whether it should have been fictionalized a little more. It seems this happens a lot, people write quasi-memoirs or series, and that can create problems.* Going completely fiction was probably the way to go, maybe pull from similar stories to create a completely new narrative that still spoke to what he'd been through.

ETA: I wanted to note that I do realize it may have been trickier said than done, given the nature of the things that happened to him. Maybe he considered fictionalizing it further, but understandably didn't want to create a whole other story. I don't know. It's complicated. I do hope that whatever the fallout may be, he at least found some comfort in telling his story.

*Especially now that things can be googled. I think the bigger risk used to be that someone would link themselves to the novel. Now there's a possibility anyone can google and figure it out for themselves, as we saw with Baby Reindeer.

[dolorosa_12]

It's mindboggling to me how little attempt was made to obscure people's identities, given this was a fictionalised account of a) a serial stalker and sexual abuser who had done prison time for her behaviour and who had stalked high profile individuals (so there were accounts of it in the press) and b) a serial sexual abuser who appears to be well known (and the subject of a whisper campaign) within a notoriously gossipy industry, made by a showrunner who attached his own name to the project and made it clear it was about his own experiences. This is what leads me to think that Netflix really thought no one would watch it, which is astonishing.

I have a friend who got a publishing deal to write a memoir, and she was paid a lot of money and given a huge marketing push — blurbs from well-known literary fiction authors, etc (the kind of money and marketing that's only offered when the publisher expects the book to do well). She basically liveblogged (on Facebook) the process of writing, editing and promoting this book, and a huge component was getting all the various friends, exes, and family members (she has difficult relationships with her birth mother and at least one of her brothers) to sign off on how she had portrayed them in the book. This involved lawyers, legal documents, requests from people to change the wording or take stuff out — and even so a lot of what she says is just alluded to rather than spelt out in detail.

So I know how these things usually go, which is why the whole situation with Baby Reindeer really surprised me.

[author_by_night]

s. This is what leads me to think that Netflix really thought no one would watch it, which is astonishing.

A more cynical part of me wonders if Netflix knew the risks, and actually took advantage of what they knew was a cash cow. But I like to think someone in the chain would've had the integrity to be like "hey, just so you know, if this gets big..."

But they also may have been naive. I don't know. For all of the reasons you listed, I'm not sure why the showrrunner wasn't more careful.


I have a friend who got a publishing deal to write a memoir, and she was paid a lot of money and given a huge marketing push — blurbs from well-known literary fiction authors, etc (the kind of money and marketing that's only offered when the publisher expects the book to do well). S

Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking. People are usually so careful for legal reasons. Or they're not careful, and just let the chips fall where they may, but do so knowingly.


I actually knew someone who was writing a story based on an old friend's life. It was unclear whether or not she had that person's express permission. AFAIK she never finished anyway, so no harm done, but she could have been sued big time. (It also showed that she had no idea what she was trying to portray. Way out of her depth. Probably because it didn't even happen to her. And I'm not saying you have to only write about your experiences, but you have to at least understand the very basics. I'd never experienced the things she portrayed, and even I knew it was incredibly cartoonish and unrealistic.)

I think it's better to either just write a proper memoir, and do everything your friend did, OR create a completely fictional narrative. You can still draw from anecdotes and experiences, writers do that all the time, but I think the halfway point may actually be riskier than just taking the plunge one way or another.

[dolorosa_12]

I mean, Netflix seems to have form with this — they're being sued by one of the people whose experiences were fictionalised in their drama about the scammer Anna Delvey.

[wearing_tearing]

Going to add The Gathering to my watchlist! I haven't decided yet if I want to give Baby Reindeer a chance, but it's good to know you enjoyed it <3

[dolorosa_12]

I think you'll like The Gathering! I thought Baby Reindeer was great, but it is quite heavy going — basically about the messiness of trauma recovery, and how surviving abuse doesn't result in the survivor being a perfect person.

[jesse_the_k]

The Gathering sounds grand — is it gory or does “teen drama” mean slightly less grim action in BBC production

[dolorosa_12]

It's not gory at all. There is some implied sexual coercion (in a context where a character has had her drink spiked and is consequently high), but beyond that the attack on the teenage girl that I mentioned involves someone holding her under water at the beach while she struggles to come up for air. The show is more about emotional cruelty than physical.

Also, I made a mistake — it's a Channel 4 show rather than BBC.

[jesse_the_k]

Thanks for the good news. It’s on my (practically infinite) to-watch list.

Now I just have to wait for some streamer to offer it in the UK.

[dolorosa_12]

If you're in the UK you should be able to watch it for free via Channel 4 on demand — although commiserations about the endless to-watch list!

Brains? Nope, don't have any

[jesse_the_k]

I can see why that comment is confusing -- I'm in the U.S.

Re: Brains? Nope, don't have any

[dolorosa_12]

Ah, right, now I understand!

[scintilla10]

I just watched Shardlake this week, and enjoyed it a lot!

I haven't heard of The Gathering, but I'm intrigued.

[dolorosa_12]

Shardlake was perfect Sunday night TV viewing — even though it was all released at once, we saved it up as if it were episodic and watched one episode a week.

I hope you enjoy The Gathering, if you decide to watch it.