277. Web-Series Reviews – 110

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Vera Season 12 – Came out in 2023.  With her caustic wit and singular charm, DCI Vera Stanhope leads her team as they face a series of captivating murder mysteries set against the breathtaking Northumberland landscape.

One of the reviews from John C Adams...

We Brits do a great line in creating TV programmes set in places you’d just love to visit on holiday.

This isn’t an accident, given how much of our national income comes from tourism.

I live in Berwick upon Tweed, at the northern end of Northumberland, so I’m hooked on Vera, a crime drama featuring Brenda Blethyn set in the county.

Season 12 was shown on ITV during the early months of 2023, and with the miracle of Amazon Vera is already available to buy on DVD mere weeks after the last episode aired.

There are four episodes. In the opener, ‘Against the Tide’, I was delighted to see the lighthouse at Berwick feature as a filming location.

Episode two, ‘For the Grace of God’, took us back down to Newcastle.

This beautiful city often features as the location for episodes of Vera, and my daughter Midnight and I stumbled on them filming an episode in a city-centre florist a few years back.

She’s now studying for a degree in film directing, so naturally we took every opportunity to hang around and watch the filming.

‘For the Grace of God’ focuses on the serious problems of homelessness in the veterans’ community.

Lance Corporal Conn Burns (Mark Armstrong) has been living rough since losing his job and his family. He amassed heavy debts and his estranged wife Kate had to take them on.

Conn is found murdered in central Newcastle, having previously been attacked in a separate incident that left him unable to defend himself.

Vera (Brenda Blethyn) and DS Healy (Kenny Doughty) visit a local charity supporting the homeless, The Civvy Centre, and learn more about Conn’s life from its founder Steve (Paul Thornley) and his cousin Mandy (Rachel Denning). They also meet Kate and her new partner, a nightclub security officer.

Interest centres on Conn’s failed attempt to rent a flat using money he was supposed to have received from the MOD as a personal-injury payout which has apparently disappeared.

Kate’s new partner is fed up with Conn’s unreliability and simply wants Kate to move on at last.

Vera and Healy are left to investigate Conn’s murder, the original assault and the theft of his money.

I found ‘For the Grace of God’ intensely moving. We don’t hear enough about the struggles that veterans face with housing, work and personal lives after they leave the service.

Police corruption is always a fertile topic for crime dramas, and episode 3, ‘Blue’ centres around the murder of a serving police officer, Joel Kingston (Wolfe Miller).

Joel is found floating in a pond in a local park. The park warden pulled him out, but his wallet and phone are missing.

Joel came from a police family, so his father Phil (Matthew Marsh) quickly oversteps the mark and pushes himself into the investigation.

The question of police corruption comes up almost immediately. Other officers attempt to bad-mouth Joel, but Vera quickly gets to the truth. Joel was a decent officer whose ethics mean that he would report even those closest to him if necessary.

Police corruption and the death of a serving officer are traumatic for any investigation, but Vera applies her usual dogged determination to get to the truth.

The final episode focuses on a child abduction during a storm inspired by Storm Arwen, which battered the UK a few years back and took down most of the trees in Northumberland (or so it feels even now driving around the county), including the woodland opposite my house.

The filming locations were inland up towards the moors, a remote part of the lovely county I call home.

Vera is a great piece of crime drama that still produces inspiring stories set in this unique part of the UK even after twelve seasons. Vera herself is determined, often gruff and as deeply flawed as any onscreen detective. But she cares passionately in her quiet way about justice and this is always reflected in the narrative.

It’s easy when you live somewhere, especially after many decades, to take it for granted. Whenever I watch Vera, I am always struck by the variety of Northumberland and also just how strikingly cinematographic it is.

My Take – Worth a watch!

 

Killing Eve – Came out in 2018.  My cousin Kannan had recommended this series a couple of year ago.  I didn't see it earlier as I had tons of thing to watch😊!  However, I saw this series now.  Eve is a bored, whip-smart security services operative whose desk-bound job doesn't fulfill her fantasies of being a spy. Villanelle is a talented killer, who clings to the luxuries her violent job affords her. These two fierce women, equally obsessed with each other, will go head to head in an epic game of cat and mouse, toppling the typical spy-action thriller.

A total of 4 seasons spread across 32 episodes.

One of the reviews from IMDB...

'Killing Eve' was very highly recommended by close friends and family (most with very similar taste to me), and the way it was advertised was so attention grabbing with the real potential to be binge watch worthy. Decided to watch it during lockdown when looking for new shows to get into and binge watch, and hopefully something consistently compelling and not one of those "not sure whether to continue" sort of shows (which has been known to happen).

For the first two seasons, 'Killing Eve' was hugely compelling and compulsive viewing and very quickly became one of the most addictive shows watched during lockdown. Had not been as addicted to a show since 'Gilmore Girls' and Showtimes' 'The Borgias' the previous year. Did enjoy Season 3 more than most, despite it being not being anywhere near as good as the previous two. Do agree that Season 4 was a massive disappointment, especially the final episode.

Starting with the positives, the acting was consistently good to wonderful even in the show's decline. Especially from the revelation that is Jodie Comer, incredibly chilling and showing real chameleon-like versatility as one of the most fascinating characters of any show in recent years. Sandra Oh shouldn't be overlooked though, she is commanding and committed and shows no signs of being taxed. She and Comer have wonderful chemistry together, sizzling at its best. Kim Bodnia steals every scene he's in and Fiona Shaw, one of the better things about Season 3, brings nuanced authority to her role. Adrian Scarborough and Harriet Walter make memorable contributions.

It is a very slick and stylish looking show, loved the thriller film like photography. The music is suitably haunting. The writing at its best was full of intrigue and entertained, chilled and moved. The storylines were extremely compelling and clever in the first half of 'Killing Eve's' run, especially in the excellent first season, with some great suspense, genuine creepiness and unexpected turns.

The characters were interesting, with Villanelle being an unforgettable creation.

As said however, Season 4 was a massive disappointment and felt like a different show. Gone was the suspense, creepiness and intriguing intricacy and was instead replaced by complete nonsense, repetition and convolution as well as a very rushed pace. Anybody that found any of the storytelling in Season 3 muddled and silly (and there were times where it was both) will find that season coherent and subtle in comparison. Also found the writing over the top in some places and phoned in run out of ideas like in others.

Particularly guilty of this is the understandably universally panned finale, which is for me the worst show finale since the US 'House of Cards'. Much too rushed, very anti-climactic and made no sense and even the cast seemed at sea.

Overall, really enjoyed 'Killing Eve' and found it really addictive but it is so unfortunate and anger inducing that a show that started off so great ended as badly as it did. 8/10.

My Take – Worth a watch.  Watched the first series fully and then read about the summary of all the episodes of the next 3 seasons on Wikipedia😊!

 

Shrinking – Came out in 2023. Jimmy is struggling to grieve the loss of his wife while being a dad, friend, and therapist. He decides to try a new approach with everyone in his path: unfiltered, brutal honesty. Can he help himself by helping others? Will it bring him back into the light?  Also stars Harrison Ford.

One of the reviews from IMDB...

My Rating. 7-5 / 10

I'm glad a friend suggested that I stick with this 10 part series because until about the half way point I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep going?

Shrinking is a story about dysfunctional therapists and their equally dysfunctional families and neighbours in the land of analysis paralysis the U. S. A.

If I was unlucky enough to be a patient of either Jimmy Laird played by Jason Segal a therapist grieving the death of his wife or Dr Paul Rhodes a senior therapist and colleague of Jimmy's at the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Center who has Parkinson's disease or Gaby a fellow therapist at the same centre I would be afraid very afraid .

I enjoyed all the performances especially Harrison Ford who steals nearly every scene he's in . He's 80 now and looks 80 but his talent and sharp as a tack sense of humour shines in this role as Dr Paul Rhodes the prickly but perceptive colleague with a deliciously sarcastic wit .

My reaction to this show was similar to the recent hit series The Last of Us in that there was one episode in particular in Shrinking that impressed me enormously .

It convinced me despite some minor irritations to keep on watching .

It was episode 6 titled "Imposter Syndrome " a truly hilarious episode when Jimmy hosts an engagement party for his gay best friend Brian played by Michael Urie and his partner .

I bonded with most of the characters in Shrinking, except the most irritating neighbour in the world Liz played by Christa Miller an obvious victim of to much plastic surgery and her oafish husband Derek perhaps they'll move to Florida next series.

Series 2 has already been commissioned with series one certainly ending in a "Cliff Hanger" I'll be interested in where the storyline takes us .

I do think humour to a certain extent is generational and very individual I must admit I enjoyed Shrinking especially for Harrison Ford's wonderful performance .

I did have my heterosexual sex education expanded and now know what "grease the peach " means but I have to ask why does the "F" word have to be used as often as it is in Shrinking?

It's lazy writing there are plenty of clever word substitutes and it just gets boring and repetitive . Used every now and then fine but multiple times by each character in nearly every line of dialogue is unnecessary in my view.

My Take – A definitive watch! 

Cheers till next time😊!!