March TV shows

[dolorosa_12]

Four shows finished this month, as always a mixture of quality and genre.

Escaping Utopia, a documentary about the New Zealand-based Gloriavale fundamentalist Christian cult. Like almost all cults, the arc of this one's existence (founded in the 1960s by idealists seeking utopian communal living, a beacon for vulnerable drifters, the inevitable sharp turn towards physical and sexual abuse and financial exploitation) is familiar, with the usual threats against those wishing to leave that they will be blocked from any contact with their families. The documentary truly succeeds in the emphasis it places on the network of people — both ex-cult members, and univolved individuals (such as the middle-aged couple who live in the farm next door) — working diligently to help convince people to leave Gloriavale, and provide safe haven once they've made the decision to do so. I found their dedication to this long, difficult task truly impressive.

Towards Zero, a three-part adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel. I haven't seen the original, but judging from comments by people who have, it took massive liberties, to the detriment of the story. While the basic shape of the narrative — a murder takes place in a stately home on the southwest coast of England, with a collection of guests who each have plausible motives for being the murderer — is solid enough, some of the characterisation felt unearned or implausible, as if it had been carried over from a preexisting series of books/shows about the same characters and audiences were expected to have seen/read them. All in all, not a strong adaptation in my opinion.

Dope Girls, a miniseries set in the seedy underbelly of London's Soho in the aftermath of World War I, with various bar owners, nightclub dancers, gang leaders, and corrupt police struggling to get by, and to navigate the labyrinthine interpersonal politics of their circumscribed world. The magnitude of the post-war death and trauma hovers, unacknowledged, over all proceedings. To me, this felt as if it occupied the overlapping centre of the Venn diagram of Peaky Blinders and Babylon Berlin, while never quite reaching the heights of either. It was still very enjoyable, however.

Adolescence, the Netflix miniseries about a 13-year-old boy accused of a classmate's murder. I'm always dubious going into something with so much hype, but in this case, the hype is well and truly justified — this is an early contender for my best TV show of the year. Each of the show's four episodes consists of a single shot, and they follow the progress of the case into three institutional settings (police station when the boy is arrested and charged, secondary school where the police attempt to interview classmates and teachers, secure facility where the boy is held before trial and interviewed by a psychologist) and one domestic (the boy's family home and local town, where his parents and older sister are trying to deal with the fallout of the accusation). It reminded me a bit of Line of Duty, in that there is a lot of focus and detail on institutional rules and procedures, and it's very tightly focused on a small handful of characters, with the plot and emotional developments moved along by verbose, almost theatre-style, dialogue-heavy interactions. We learn in the first episode that the boy definitely committed the murder, so there's no mystery there, but — as the psychologist sent to interview him in the third episode says, we're not here to uncover the truth, we're here to understand what he and the other characters believe to be the truth, and how they feel about it. I've seen criticism bubbling up in various places (ranging from a review in the New Yorker to discussions in fannish spaces) that the show tells us who committed the murder, but not why, and I have to wonder at the media literacy informing such criticisms. The show shows us at least four different, interwoven reasons why a teenage boy became radicalised to the point that he murdered this girl, but it trusts the viewer to infer this as the story meanderingly unfolds, rather than spelling it out in unambiguous exposition put in the mouth of a character perceived as morally pure. I like TV that doesn't treat me with condescension, and trusts me to draw my own conclusions, especially when this requires paying close attention not only to dialogue, but also to actors' body language, and visual cues in the set. (The second episode in particular, set in the secondary school, is just a masterclass in devastating visual storytelling: the school facilities themselves are modern, clean, and extensive, including things like tennis courts, a well stocked library, IT suites and so on, and it's plastered with motivational posters with worthy sentiments as to every student's value and potential — and then it's basically a holding pen, with non-existent discipline and teachers who are barely capable of maintaining an environment of calm, let alone facilitating learning.) The writing is exquisitely good, and the cast is fantastic, in particular the child actor playing the accused teenage boy — everything hinges on him, and the success or failure of this kind of show was dependent on the strength of the actor in this role, which he plays with extraordinary talent and perception. I cannot recommend this series highly enough, although it's not a cheerful topic.

Comments

[falena]

Yeah, as a parent it was kinda harrowing. But totally worth it. I think it'd make uncomfortable but necessary viewing material for anyone. as you say, we should be worried about these issue as a society as a whole, not only on a personal level.

I work in a school which serves severely underprivileged students, so it's not like I don't know how bad things can be even here, but maybe because my students are older it is less shocking in a way. What I found hard to watch (and would like an opinion on by people who experience the English school system firsthand) is the way most teachers seemed disaffected or disillusioned and powerless in the show. I definitely feel very powerless in my school too, mind you. Of you happen to read articles or essays or newsletters that touch on the problems of the school system I'd be really happy if you could post me towards them, btw.