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I just finished binging the show twice over the weekend. The show is absolutely heartbreaking. The best thing I’ve seen all year. The acting is superb and I’m hoping that it receives several nominations and wins for the talented cast. Olly Alexander deserves any and all awards coming his way. I found the series the best thing that I’ve seen from Davies. I am supporting wins for Alexander, Howells and especially Hawes, and nominations for Harris and West in supporting. Howells was devastating in Episode 3 and Hawes owned Episode 5 with her brilliance. I like that the show didn’t offer easy answers, or characterizations. The characters were complex and recognized the complicated realities of coming of age, confronting the virus, and the scary era.
ReplyCopy URLI thought this was a pretty good miniseries, though I can’t help but come away by the end thinking that doubling the length would’ve really made it a much stronger effort overall. As I’ve seen some acknowledgment of in other posts, the pacing was really scattered and some of the emotional beats (though not all) were a bit less effective because certain plot points felt rushed or under-explained. That being said, I still found it to be a really great story that was illuminated by a great ensemble and some good writing from Russell T. Davies. Because this ultimately feels like a four-hour film (and that’s how I watched it, basically) the pacing issues feel prevalent but it also helps make something like Keeley Hawes’ episode 5 performance feel earned and not just pigeonholed at the end, which a longer season without her presence might’ve reflected. Outside of some flair in the second episode, I thought there wasn’t too much visually striking about this miniseries, but that’s fine. The writing and the cast get to be the stars here. Davies’ scripts did a good job of tiptoeing the line of making this a “feel good” dramedy while also reflecting the tragedy of this epidemic. His writing brought the emotion, plain and simple, though often the score threatened (and sometimes succeeded) to overpower the balance of tone. The cast is really good and if I’m asking for more episodes, it is primarily to keep their chemistry crackling for a bit while longer. I think the series MVP for me is Lydia West, who I’ve been twice impressed by in a Davies miniseries and who really stepped up to the plate here versus “Years and Years” where she was drowned out by some other stronger performers. I found her to be sympathetic and genuine and an anchor for the entire ensemble. However, it would be insane to ignore what Keeley Hawes does in episode 5 as being the best thing about this show. She gets a stretch of 15 minutes there where she gets to blow everyone else away, and again, it makes me wish we had explored that for a few more episodes rather than just a half hour at the end. Another performance I really liked was the charming and understated Callum Scott Howells, who like West really kept things grounded and whose character I was perhaps most invested in. I should also recognize that Olly Alexander was a compelling linchpin as the leader of the gang and I found his character’s motivations to be one of the more interesting arcs of the series. Overall, this was good and there are many worthy performances here, but I would’ve been much more effusive if we’d had more time to explore these characters and their stories instead of some things feeling a bit short-shrifted by the end.
ReplyCopy URLI thought this was a pretty good miniseries, though I can’t help but come away by the end thinking that doubling the length would’ve really made it a much stronger effort overall.
The creator said that he couldn’t bargain for more episodes. Had it been longer, it might’ve been more locked in several Emmy nominations.
ReplyCopy URLLydia West is TVLine’s joint performer of the week with Elizabeth Olsen from Wandavision.
https://tvline.com/2021/02/27/elizabeth-olsen-wandavision-performance-episode-8/
ReplyCopy URLFYC Emmys: "The Crown" in all categories, "I May Destroy You" in all categories, "It's a Sin" in all categories, "Small Axe" in all categories, Billie Piper ("I Hate Suzie"), Yvonne Strahovski ("Stateless") and Ruth Wilson ("His Dark Materials")
So Jill is based on a real friend of Davies’ and she played the character Jill’s mother
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-55937944
ReplyCopy URLAm I the only person who found this disappointing and underwhelming in every way? I know I’m not amongst general viewers as friends have been similarly disappointed. It’s contrived, inaccurate, poorly written. I won’t watch past episode two.
I’m very interested to hear why you think this is “inaccurate”. I’ve studied the history of aids for multiple productions of The Normal Heart that I’ve been in and I am currently in pre-production directing part 1 of Angels in America. A lot of what happens in this series is well documented. I’m curious, did you grow up in London in the 80s? I mean the writer was 18 in the time period of the first episode, I’m just curious if you lived thru this like he did?
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I thought this was good, not great. I agree that it’s the rare series that could’ve definitely been longer, as I feel the amount of ground they had to cover in less than five hours didn’t let it breathe or allow the characters to fully develop. I also couldn’t help but feel like this topic was already done better in Pose. Of course, we need more AIDS awareness and education, so I don’t want to discount this show’s existence, but Pose really feels like the more evolved version of this, and it already happened. I don’t want to be harsh, as it is a very well-done series, and I did enjoy watching it. I’m hardcore rooting for Hawes and would be very happy if Alexander and West showed up at some nominations as well. While it probably wouldn’t be at the top of my personal lists, I’d be pleased to see it do well at the Emmys.
ReplyCopy URLI thought this was good, not great. I agree that it’s the rare series that could’ve definitely been longer, as I feel the amount of ground they had to cover in less than five hours didn’t let it breathe or allow the characters to fully develop. I also couldn’t help but feel like this topic was already done better in Pose. Of course, we need more AIDS awareness and education, so I don’t want to discount this show’s existence, but Pose really feels like the more evolved version of this, and it already happened. I don’t want to be harsh, as it is a very well-done series, and I did enjoy watching it. I’m hardcore rooting for Hawes and would be very happy if Alexander and West showed up at some nominations as well. While it probably wouldn’t be at the top of my personal lists, I’d be pleased to see it do well at the Emmys.
Pose is completely different tho. Half this series takes place well before Pose takes place.
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