talesofnorth said: is the show good? I’ve watched the film few years back and really liked it but never got around to seeing what they’ve done in the series..
so like i can’t figure how to get any extension to work on this 100-yr-old macbook so bear with me when i reply from now on until i fix my bloody laptop properly
anyway
YES. the show is very good. i mean... it goes in a different direction than the film, with a lot less of the race issues and far more of the ... what can you even call them? relationship issues? sounds like trivialising it but really... it’s a bit more personal.
basically, it’s hit or miss for bits of it. like on the one hand it’s got some fantastically STELLAR performances to the point that you honestly have no sense that this is fiction. it is SO fucking REAL and painful and awful and happy and emotional. but there are issues with filler subplots and the like. so that’s in a nutshell. WATCH IT. WATCH THEM ALL. (but be prepared for emotional scarring, and probably nightmares.) i’ll go into a little more deets below. (mild spoilers for 90. i think i stayed pretty spoiler free for 86 and 88. this kinda devoled into a TIE 90 review at the end lol)
and i mean it is spotty (for me anyway). like parts of 86 were really quite dull to me (and sadly enough i feel jack thorne’s influence a bit too much at times but if you’re not a die-hard (ex-)skins fan it probably won’t be noticable). not to mention 86 is INCREDIBLY difficult tv to watch (especially... well, THAT episode 3 scene we all know if we’ve seen it.) it is however like basically vomit-induing if not panic-attack-inducing but it is that way simply because it is so well done and so real and just... yeah. 86 is hit or miss for me cos some of it just fucking blew me away and other parts i was like, “ok that’s great can we move along now?” but i mean it all depends which characters speak to you more. i found it patchy but someone else may not. (basically because i’m not really all that interested in smell, shaun, meggy & co, or even milky particularly. don’t get me wrong, i do like them well enough and each has an important role to play but all shaun’s melodrama just isn’t where my interest lies.) i think aside from the climax of this series (end of ep3 & the consequences of that), it’s the weakest one of the bunch.
now 88 was... i can’t even describe 88. again, it struggled a bit at the very beginning to really find its feet (i feel like every series (except the film) has this same problem) but i swear to god lol in this series was... it was staggering how amazing vickly mclure did this, and how real it was written and performed and directed and edited and it was... i mean again, it’s probably INCREDIBLY triggering for survivors and those with depression/suicidal ideation but it is simply the most real thing i have ever seen on television. ever. and not even just that---but the conflict between other characters as well and just... all around HARD. again though, not here for the smell/shaun melodrama. i think that all took away from the gravity of the rest of it. it felt like filler tbh. (but that’s me.) the acting was phenomenal. the writing (with the exception of those Jack Thorne TM moments) was top tier quality. it’s the perfect storm of talent, skill, storytelling, and emotion. even after just watching 90, 88 is still tops if just for lol’s story and the depiction of it. i can’t talk about the acting enough -- vicky mclure, helen behan, joe gilgun, andrew shim,stephen graham.. just... ALL of them.
just finished 90 like 10 minutes back haha. (i can’t put lol here or else people will get confused. “why is she laughing randomly???”) s this one’s still super fresh. AGAIN started off sorta blah. the whole first episode fell a little flat for me. i was like, “oh god the magic is GONE!!” and i was sort of bummed out. but 2nd ep picked it up some. i do have some criticisms about it (mainly directing/editing choices that seemed FAR too repetitive) and i really... didn’t need to see jack thorne’s rehash of effy 3.0 with kelly. ok we get it party in the woods hahaha so cool like just shut up jack thorne. it was WAY too skins-ish. and i won’t go into details but kelly’s whole... path reeked of effy (and someone who’s never really done smack. i once wrote a short story that was very similar to kelly’s narrative and my teacher gave me a C and asked me if i’ve watched trainspotting one too many times. cos guess what -- life ain’t nothing like trainspotting). i found another issue was that, for the first time, it felt really rushed in the end like “omg we have 20 minutes to wrap this up. happy endings for everyone no matter how cheesy and forced it feels!” (except... well, you know who.)
i felt too that where the other films felt very much rooted in the time period, this was sort of ... superficial. like it could have taken place in 1990. or 1995. or 2005. or 2015. you know? there wasn’t really a strong sense of PLACE if that makes sense. i know they tried with the whole constant stone roses references and that montage of the national front/EDL etc. from what i understand 1989/90 (/91) was actually very unique and distinguiable from the rest of the 90s, especially for young people involved in music/party scenes. and yes, i know the kids in TIE are grown ups (mid-20s? some almost 30?) basically, but really? they weren’t really painted as being that out of touch--just busy, especially as some of them are much younger than others (shaun, smell, and presumably kelly are college age ffs. harvey and gadget were prime age for rave). (the acid house/warehouse party movement was very inclusive and had a ripple effect all across a generation, and as it originated mainly in the north i would have thought that would have had slightly more prominence than it was given to set the stage here).
but with a few minor changes, it could have been set at any time. there was a lot they could have done to situate it deeper into 1990 imo. (one of those things was toss out jack thorne’s party in the woods thing and not be a huge cop out. do a proper rave. note: it didn’t have to be massive festivals like they are now. it would have been much smaller--but not like that weird hippy pagan harvest gathering bullshit they came up with here. like we all know it was his idea. the slow motion party scenes, the stereotypical “i’m on some generic drug!! wheeeee!!!” vibe (it should have felt much more real to the advent of widespread mdma use), the trippy lighting, the weird music, it was as if someone just took skins 3x08 and replaced it with different actors. it was SO skins-y. it didn’t feel remotely realistic or original at all, and for a series that is completely DRIVEN by the kitchen sink, grubby realism, it was fairly sloppy and jarring. not cool. i can only assume it’s cos jack thorne’s too young and he’s just throwing his own more “modern” drug-aesthetic onto an underground scene/cultural movement that was actually worlds apart from what it is now. the only highlight of that whole plot was shaun’s discussion with the lady. that felt real.) i’m not saying kids stumbling across parties like that is unrealistic cos those sorts of things very much exist... bush parties happen all the time, everywhere. it’s just when you’re trying to paint a picture of life in 1990 specifically, you need to be a little less generic. and if you don’t have the budget for a decent acid-house bush rave/warehouse party, don’t write it at all. do something else. (that town hall rave felt pretty real i will say). i can’t say it enough: generic. stereotypical. too skins-ish. sorry. oh haha some kids go on a roadtrip ready to camp, get lost in the woods, but oh my they have lots of drugs so everyone parties in the forest wahey! so original... (that sure hasn’t been done on skins more than once, oh no...) i honestly expected gang gang dance to start playing any moment. BUT if you’ve never seen (and been jaded by) skins, it probably won’t be that big a deal tbf.
and before skins fans jump down my throat, i KNOW 3x08 wasn’t written by jack. but c’mon... you have to see teh parallels. and hey, i’m not faulting the guy cos shawn meadows clearly choose him for a reason -- i know there was tonnes of criticism for 88 (and to a lesser extent 86) that it was “too dark” and “not enough party scenes”... which i’ve always considered an asinine and immature view of TIE but whatevs. i’m not the channel4 exec here. it just felt really out of place. and kelly’s story... i’m torn cos i get it, i do. but i think it was handled sloppily once again. it felt very, here’s that word again, stereotypical. now yes there’s a reason stereotypes and cliches exist, i know. these things happen and sometimes what makes them so real is that they are so ordinary and unoriginal in progression. (anyone who’s watched even 6 episodes of intervention starts to see patterns).. but something was lacking with kelly’s narrative and it certainly wasn’t the acting. that was all in from everyone.
and fucking enough with the slow-motion montages and flashback scenes set to ludovico einaudi. WE GET IT. once or twice, it is quite moving and emotional. the use of modern classical music really fucking packed a wallop in the film, and the previous series when used SPARINGLY. 16 times and it really does lose its charm (and power). the flashbacks in general were completely unnecessary imo. do they really think people are tuning into TIE 90 without seeing the rest of the anthology? WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. IT IS BURNED VIVIDLY INTO OUR MEMORY. how could you forget those pivotable scenes and still be watching 90??
BUT for all its weaknesses, it was still strong in other areas -- namely the acting. that prolonged dinner meeting in ep 3 was absolutely mind-blowingly accurate and real and terrifying and heart-breaking. that was truly the stand out scene of the whole 90 series. i couldn’t believe how blown away i was by EVERYBODY in that scene, even if they didn’t say much. and all the characters seem likeable again. for a while, it was sorta neither here nor there for a lot of them. i couldn’t make up my mind. but by this point, even their flaws as people make them exceptional and engaging characters, to the point of likability -- in that i honestly didn’t want ANYONE to hurt anymore. NO ONE. and i would lie if i said ep4 didn’t make me cry. (that cafe scene...). and there was actually some stellar continuity in the story as well, as this one clearly was tying up the film, and all the previous series together. it was obvs a finale for the whole series (as much as meadows says it’s not impossible for a 92.)
oh god that was a rant. mostly about the creative decisions... but yeah. it was good tv. the acting and the overall stories and emotional journeys. no doubt.
