Connor Macgregor Reviews...Miniseries/TV Movies

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I'm surprised that they cast a black man in the role of Javert in the story set in 19th Century France, where slavery was still legal and ubiquitous. Hugo will be turning in his grave. Does PC/SJ have no bounds?.





Connor Macgregor Reviews...Les Miserables (2019) - Episode Two

INTRO: Moving into Episode Two of the latest adaptation of the infamous Victor Hugo story. Just try not to sing at the moments that the musical adapted so well.

SUMMARY:
WARNING: "Spoiler" spoilers below
Six years later, Valjean has become a wealthy factory owner and the Mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer, adopting the name Monsieur Madeleine. Monsieur Madeleine has a tense relationship with the new chief of police Javert, who suspects that he is Valjean after the Mayor lifts a carriage wheel from a man. Fantine leaves her young daughter in the care of the Thénardiers, who exploit Cosette as a servant at their hotel and bar. Fantine finds work at Valjean's factory but is fired by Valjean for concealing information about her illegitimate child. Forced into prostitution, Fantine sells her long hair and two front teeth to pay board for Cosette. After Fantine assaults an abusive customer, Valjean saves her from being imprisoned and pays for her treatment at the infirmary. Javert later apologizes to Monsieur Madeleine after receiving news that a man identified as Valjean is facing trial for robbing Petit Gervais. Valjean promises to reunite Fantine with her daughter. Meanwhile, an older Marius Pontmercy, who is growing disillusioned with his grandfather's contempt for the poor, reunites with his dying father at his deathbed.


THOUGHTS: This is a strong episode helped with a bunch of briilliant performances as the story begins to shape around the novel. Lily Collins absolutely knocks it out of the park here as Fantine, with the new backstory making her character all the more tragic and sad to watch. It's almost transformative, which in many way is the character of Fantine in a nutshell. You also get a slightly different Jean Valjean here. Someone more cold, more reserved until events drastically require him to take action. He's also faced with a very touch choice which makes events in the story go in a slightly different direction. I also should say that this version of the Thenardiers, played by Olivia Colman & Adeel Akhtar are the most horrid I've seen so far. Nothing like the cartoonish versions provided by Helena & Sacha in the 2012 film. Lastly, the Marius scenes were also very good and provided more depth to the character.

RATING: 85% - A-





Connor Macgregor Reviews...Les Miserables (2019) - Episode Three

INTRO: Continuing this reimagining of the classic Victor Hugo novel. With the first two episodes adding new perspectives and ideas, the story continues on and takes the story in intriguing new directions.

SUMMARY:
WARNING: "Spoiler" spoilers below
Valjean travels to Arras where he saves Champmathieu from being imprisoned for life by identifying himself as Valjean. Valjean is sent back to the hulk but not before spending a tender moment with a broken-hearted Fantine. After two years of his life sentence, Valjean escapes following a drowning accident. Honoring his promise to Fantine, he buys Cosette's freedom for 1,500 Francs. Seeking more money, Monsieur Thénardier tries to recover Cosette but is defeated by Valjean. The Thénardiers' fortunes take a turn for the worse when Javert discovers they have sold Cosette and arranges for their creditors to repossess their hotel. Valjean and Cosette escape to Paris where they start a new life. A female tenant recognizes Valjean and reports him to Javert. Following a pursuit, Valjean and Cosette gain sanctuary from the nuns of the Petit-Picpus convent. The nuns agree to educate Cosette and hide Valjean from Javert.


THOUGHTS: This episode is a very strong one, and is a turning point of sorts for Valjean. Taking on Cosette and freeing her from the Thenardiers is the beginning of a redemption arc for him in some way. I love the relationship built between Valjean & Cosette. One that will absolutely build and strengthen over the duration of the story. Another mention of the fantastic performance of Lily Collins as Fantine, which is very poignant in this episode and sets the course for Valjean's redemption story throughout the rest of the narrative. Beautiful. Sad. Significant. I also like some of the new twists & turns throughout the episode: The confrontation with Thenardier & Vajljean; The ending with the nunnery; The Thenardiers being screwed by Javert. Really adds to the excitement of the story, but also stays true in a way to the source material.

RATING: 86% - A-





Connor Macgregor Reviews...Les Miserables (2019) - Episode Four

INTRO: Episode Four moves forward in time with the story where characters age, new relationships forge, and revolution is in the air....

SUMMARY:
WARNING: "Spoiler" spoilers below
Eight years later, Cosette has grown into a beautiful teenage woman. After leaving the Petit-Picpus convent, Valjean has become a wealthy philanthropist who helps the poor. Meanwhile, Marius has become estranged from his grandfather due to his liberal and anti-monarchist views and moves into an apartment building. His neighbours are the Thénardiers, who now live in poverty and have resorted to crime. Cosette becomes enamored with Marius after encountering him in Paris' Luxembourg Garden. Haunted by the tragic life of Cosette's mother Fantine, Valjean forbids Cosette from having a relationship with any young men. Éponine grows disillusioned with her father's criminal activities and fraternizes with Marius. The Thénardiers soon discover that Valjean is living in Paris and plot revenge. Marius overhears their plot and informs Javert, who outfits him with two pistols. The Thénardiers and their accomplices lure Valjean into a trap but he is able to fight them off. Marius alerts the police, who arrest the Thénardiers and their accomplices. Valjean is wounded but escapes. Marius learns that Monsieur Thénardier was the man who saved his father at Waterloo, placing him in a dilemma.


THOUGHTS: We're introduced to older versions of various characters including Marius, Eponine & Cosette. It mixes up the dynamic and allows the later subplots of the novel to finally come to focus. I like Ellie Bamber as Cosette and works with Dominic West really well. I really enjoyed the fight scene with Valjean & The Thenariders as its really raw and intimidating to watch unfold, and just makes The Thenardiers much more despicable as villains. I also continue to relish in the various twists & turns that unfold throughout the series, whilst also maintaining its roots and basic story plots with the novel.

RATING: 83% - A-





Connor Macgregor Reviews...Les Miserables (2019) - Episode Five

INTRO: We're entering the climax now as things get intense and thrilling, and worlds collide and love is tested in Episode Five of this thrilling miniseries.

SUMMARY:
WARNING: "Spoiler" spoilers below
Éponine and Azelma are released but Madame Thénardier is imprisoned. Cosette continues her secret relationship with Marius, who is besotted with her. Marius seeks his grandfather's approval for marrying Cosette but storms out after Monsieur Gillenormand makes disparaging remarks about his lover. Fearing for Cosette's safety, Valjean makes preparations to move to England. Monsieur Thénardier escapes and attempts to invade Valjean's house but is foiled by Éponine. Following the attempted home invasion, Valjean and Cosette move to another house. The Friends of the ABC launch a revolution: the June Rebellion of 1832 against the Orléanist monarchy, setting up street barricades. During the uprising, Javert is captured by the Republicans. Believing Cosette to be lost, a distraught Marius joins the Republican uprising and helps halt an offensive by government troops. Éponine sacrifices her life to save Marius and provides Cosette's letter. After discovering Cosette's secret relationship with Marius, Valjean resolves to confront him.


THOUGHTS: I do enjoy this episode very much as now we enter the grand battle in the third act. However, I found the crowds unrealistic when everything kicks off and therefore almost took me out of the moment a little bit. On the plus side, the acting here is superb. Ellie Bamber, Erin Kellyman, Josh O'Connor. All deliver top notch performances that take these characters and breath nessacary new life and perspective which hasn't been done before. This episode is also a solid build up to the finale, setting tone, mood and the right characters in the right position, making sure that the pay off is spectacular.

RATING: 92% - A





Connor Macgregor Reviews...Les Miserables (2019) - Episode Six

INTRO: The finale of an exceptional miniseries that has breathed unique new life to the rich story that has inspired generations.

SUMMARY:
WARNING: "Spoiler" spoilers below
The French Army storms the barricades, killing many revolutionaries. Valjean confronts Javert but spares his life and allows him to escape. Knowing of Cosette's love for Marius, Valjean carries the wounded Marius through the sewers of Paris. Thernadier permits Valjean and Marius to exit the sewers in return for a fee. Valjean and the unconscious Marius are detained by Javert and his men. After returning Marius to his grandfather, Javert decides not to arrest Valjean. After proposing reforms to the treatment of prisoners, Javert throws himself into the Seine, unable to reconcile showing Valjean clemency and upholding the law. With the approval of Valjean and Gillernomand, Marius and Cosette marry. Right before their marriage, Valjean confesses to Marius that he was a thief in the past, and will disappear from their lives after the wedding. Marius doesn't realize that Valjean was the one who earlier saved his life. After coming back from their honeymoon, a vengeful Thernadier approaches Marius and Cosette, and threatens to tell everyone that Valjean had killed a young man in the sewers. However, Marius sees through his lies and finally realizes that Valjean saved his life during the uprising. He and Cosette find a dying Valjean in a rural hamlet where Cosette spends time with her adoptive father on his deathbed.


THOUGHTS: This finale is argueably more somber and downbeat than other editions. There's no uproaring song to remind the viewer of the revolutionary cause. Instead, it ends much much differently. The final image while odd, fits perfectly with the story's bleak tone and one that will resonate with the viewer for a long time. The episode in many ways feels more than a epilogue of sorts, letting it take its time to wrap up the loose ends, instead of speeding through.

RATING: 93% - A





Connor Macgregor Reviews...Years & Years - Episode One

INTRO: Russell T Davies is arguably one of the best writers in present-day television. With extraordinary world-building, character development and a true sense of perspective and understanding, every story he tells is almost flawless and the best of any given years. Now comes Years & Years, a drama foretelling a grim future with political, technological and cultural turmoil across 15 years of Britain.

SUMMARY:
WARNING: "Spoiler" spoilers below
On 14 May 2019, businesswoman Vivienne "Viv" Rook (Emma Thompson) causes controversy by saying she "doesn't give a ****" about the Israel-Palestine conflict on an evening talk show. Meanwhile, Rosie Lyons (Ruth Madeley) gives birth to a son, Lincoln. Daniel Lyons (Russell Tovey), her brother, worries about the state of the world and what Lincoln’s future will be. The timeline skips forwards to 2024; in the meantime, Donald Trump wins a second term as president, and China constructs an artificial island and a military base named Hong Sha Dao in disputed waters. Daniel marries Ralph (Dino Fetscher), Queen Elizabeth dies, Viv tries and fails to be elected as an independent candidate in the 2022 general election, and a Russian-backed military government takes over in Ukraine. Daniel manages a local council-run refugee camp, where he makes a connection with Viktor (Maxim Baldry), who fled Ukraine after he was tortured for being gay. Teenage Bethany (Lydia West) tells her parents Stephen Lyons (Rory Kinnear) and Celeste (T'Nia Miller) that she is transhuman, to her mother's horror and disapproval. Cracks begin to form in Daniel and Ralph’s marriage, as Daniel's feelings for Viktor cause him to detach from his husband. Viv starts a political party, calling it The Four Star Party, the stars representing the asterisks that were used to censor her unapologetic use of the "F-bomb" on TV. Rosie goes on a date with Tony (Noel Sullivan), but leaves in disgust after she discovers he has sex with his house robot. At a party for grandmother Muriel Lyons' (Anne Reid) 92nd birthday, the family get a video call from long-absent Edith Lyons (Jessica Hynes), who has travelled to Vietnam, close to Hong Sha Dao. As air raid sirens sound in the UK, news comes that Trump has fired a nuclear missile at Hong Sha Dao. In the ensuing uproar, Celeste tells Bethany that she can be whatever she wants to be, reversing her earlier opposition to Bethany's transhuman ambitions, and Daniel flees Ralph and his family for Viktor, and they have sex for the first time.


THOUGHTS: As with every first episode in television ever, we are introduced to our set up, situation and characters. But as Russell is so often very clever, it quickly jumps forward five years to shake things up. The Lyons family is introduced widely, with every sibling given good time to understand and know, as well as grandmother Muriel also. The dynamics are unique, as well as the lifestyles. Two of the stand outs for me are Rory Kinnear as Stephen Lyons, and his younger brother Daniel Lyons, played by Russell Tovey. Both begin this story with really interesting stories, as Russell meets a man who is insanely different to his husband, in which begins to test and question his marriage in many ways. Stephen on the other hand is battling a unique new problem in the form of his teenage daughter Bethany, who reveals something about herself which takes both Stephen and his wife Celeste by major surprise. This is the transhuman story and is one that plays a sizeable role in the story going forward, and is one of a fresh new social issue that hasn't seen its peak yet. Lastly is the last few minutes of the episode, which is quite thrilling and very tense to watch. But ultimately, it begins to set the tone for the rest of the series to come.

RATING: 94% - A



⬆️ Very good series.
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I'm surprised that they cast a black man in the role of Javert in the story set in 19th Century France, where slavery was still legal and ubiquitous. Hugo will be turning in his grave. Does PC/SJ have no bounds?.
I think you have to look past color. Dev Patel, whose parents are Hindus from India, has recently portrayed David Copperfield in a movie. Which makes no sense in terms of color since Dickens created him as a white boy. I’ve yet to see the movie, but expect to enjoy Patel’s characterization as he is an exceptional actor.





Connor Macgregor Reviews...Years & Years - Episode Two

INTRO: Episode two picks up where the bombastic ending of Episode one dropped off and so we continue on through the potential future of Britain with more twists & turns to take.

SUMMARY:
WARNING: "Spoiler" spoilers below
In 2025, Edith has survived the Hong Sha Dao nuclear strike, but she was exposed to the nuclear fallout. She returns to live in the UK. Bethany, who has calculated radiation patterns from Hong Sha Dao, realises that Edith's life expectancy is ten years, but Edith chooses to keep this from the rest of the family. Celeste loses her job to artificial intelligence, and she and Stephen must sell their house in London. Bethany, who has turned 18, has cybernetic implants surgically installed in her hand, a step to becoming transhuman, and gets her first job as a data miner. Daniel is in the process of divorcing Ralph, and he and Viktor are living together as a couple. Though Ralph pretends to accept the split-up, he spitefully has Viktor deported to Ukraine by informing the Home Office of Viktor's job at a petrol station, illegal for an asylum seeker. Rosie and Edith attend an election debate in which Viv Rook unexpectedly electrifies the crowd. To Daniel's dismay, Rosie becomes a Rook supporter. Stephen and Celeste sell their house leaving them with a little more than £1.2 million after settling the mortgage. The proceeds are deposited in a single bank account on the night of the sale. Overnight, their money is wiped out in a banking crisis triggered by the collapse of an American investment bank. With nowhere else to go, Stephen, Celeste, and their daughters move into Muriel's large but decaying house in Manchester. Viv Rook is elected MP in a Manchester by-election as Rosie cheers her on.


THOUGHTS: The real standout here is Jessica Hynes who plays Edith Lyons. She steals the show with some really terrific scenes of her own, including a consequence of sorts from the actions of Episode One which are revealed in a brilliant two way scene between here and Bethany. There is also some really interesting future predictions that Russell boldly makes which I think may hit home in a way with audiences, as well as a sort of pleading in the grim direction our society is heading towards overall. I liked this episode a lot and i think it really punches home to some of the sacrifices these characters will now end up making, and how it affects them going forward.

RATING: 88% - A-



I think you have to look past color. Dev Patel, whose parents are Hindus from India, has recently portrayed David Copperfield in a movie. Which makes no sense in terms of color since Dickens created him as a white boy. I’ve yet to see the movie, but expect to enjoy Patel’s characterization as he is an exceptional actor.
Well, along with Javert's actor, Dev Patel is just as much silly casting as David Copperfield. It's just a simple decision to represent PC/SJ. Would you like to see a white man cast as Malcom X or Mao Tse Tung? How about Ghandi? Shouldn't you look past color?



Well, along with Javert's actor, Dev Patel is just as much silly casting as David Copperfield. It's just a simple decision to represent PC/SJ. Would you like to see a white man cast as Malcom X or Mao Tse Tung? How about Ghandi? Shouldn't you look past color?
I think you'll find they did that nearly 40 years ago. He won an Oscar for it. How many white Jesus' have you seen?




^^I mean, that's really taking the piss^^

And what about this bloke?

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Connor Macgregor Reviews...Years & Years - Episode Three

INTRO: The story continues to get grim and murky as the Lyons family battle more obstacles in an ever-changing world.

SUMMARY:
WARNING: "Spoiler" spoilers below
In 2026, the banking crisis has led to a recession. Viv Rook proposes a national IQ test, with anybody with an IQ of less than 70 being barred from voting. In Ukraine, the police come to arrest Viktor, but he narrowly escapes. Ukraine has now criminalised homosexuality, so Viktor decides to illegally enter Spain and claim asylum. He escapes to Madrid, and Daniel visits him, planning to apply for Spanish citizenship and marry him. Edith returns to activism, infiltrating the offices of a corporation with links to the Syrian dictatorship. The information she steals is released, causing a scandal that shuts down the corporation. Bethany makes friends with Lizzie, another "transhuman" teen at her workplace. The availability of self-heating ready meals makes Rosie's job redundant. Stephen now works many low-paid jobs and begins an affair with co-worker Elaine. Celeste finds out, but does not confront him. The Lyons siblings' estranged father dies from antibiotic-resistant sepsis after being struck by a courier's bicycle. The siblings attend his water burial to support Stephen, who is the only one emotionally affected. There they meet with "Steven with a V", their father's son by his second wife. Rosie tells Edith she has always believed her father left the family because he couldn't deal with a child in a wheelchair. Bethany and Lizzie secretly travel to Liverpool for black-market cybernetic surgery, using £10,000 Stephen gave her for her 18th birthday. Bethany calls her mother in hysterics; Lizzie has been given a bogus, malfunctioning eye implant, but Bethany escapes unharmed. At first Celeste is glad Bethany is safe, but later she is furious that Bethany wasted money when the family is in financial crisis. A general election gives The Four Star Party fifteen seats in a hung parliament, allowing Viv Rook to determine the balance of power between a minority government and the opposition. Hearing the election results, Stephen uses his rental car to run over a fellow courier's bicycle in a fit of frustrated rage, while his siblings watch.


THOUGHTS: This is another episode where the fortunes of the Lyons family turn massively. A great performance of note here is Ruth Madeley as Rosie Lyons. In a powerful moment in the story, the emotion of neglect is portrayed powerfully by Madeley in this episode. The Transhuman story also takes a very scary turn with Bethany and one of her friends entering into a situation eerily realistic and frightening. There are however some negatives in this episode. I found Emma Thompson's performance in this episode a bit campy here. Just a little, but absolutely noticeable. Stephen's decision to also have an affair with a work colleague is an odd and almost unnessacary story choice which in a way doesn't add or play a major role in the ongoing story. It feels like an add on without reason.

RATING: 84% - A-





Connor Macgregor Reviews...Years & Years - Episode Four

INTRO: With a future getting ever more grim and uncertain, The Lyons Family march on amid struggles, betrayals and secrets. This episode in particular really goes dark...

SUMMARY:
WARNING: "Spoiler" spoilers below
In 2027, voting is made universally mandatory, the coalition government collapses, and Viv Rook becomes the Prime Minister. Countries become unstable: Greece leaves the EU, Italy's government resigns, Hungary declares bankruptcy, and the United States leaves the United Nations in response to extreme nationalism. Spain's government is overthrown by a far-left revolution and Viktor will soon be deported. Meanwhile, Stephen has a bad reaction to a paid drug experiment. He calls Elaine to pick him up, but the clinic accidentally calls Celeste too, and the three have an awkward meeting at his bedside. Arriving home, Celeste coldly confronts Stephen about the affair on a conference call with the whole family. Muriel angrily demands that he leave her house and Stephen moves in with Elaine. Rosie begins a mobile catering business with her new boyfriend, Jonjo. Edith warns him that she is suspicious of his intentions toward Rosie's young sons and will be watchful. With Viktor soon to be repatriated to Ukraine, Daniel decides he has no choice but to illegally get him into the UK. Their trip is unsuccessful: they are unable to sneak across the border and their money and passports are stolen while attempting to buy forged documents. Finally they try sailing in an overcrowded boat from France. Half a mile off the British coast, the boat sinks. Daniel Lyons, along with most of the other passengers, drowns. Viktor survives and returns to Daniel's apartment in Manchester alone. The family rushes to the house, but Viktor won't answer the door.


THOUGHTS: So really of course the perfect place to start is Russell Tovey as Daniel Lyons who gives a towering performance as he battles to get Viktor home. What follows is a harrowing and grim ending to the episode which captures the dark terror of refugees in recent years. It's a twist in the tale, and one that sets the mood for the following two episodes of the story. This in turn runs in parallel which Viv Rook's rise to the 10 Downing Street in which Emma Thompson plays these scenes with the appropriate tone. Also, we have the continued affair story with Stephen which I still wasn't that fond of, and made me in the rare sense, really not like Muriel. I felt very guilty Stephen despite all that he did, and the way the rest of the family just turned on him almost.

RATING: 90% - A-



I think you'll find they did that nearly 40 years ago. He won an Oscar for it. How many white Jesus' have you seen?
...

^^I mean, that's really taking the piss^^
...
I think you're referring to Ghandi (1982), starring Ben Kingsley, birth name Krishna Pandit Bhanj. Kingsley is of Indian heritage.

In the U.S. for the first half century or so of movie making, with few exceptions, all major roles were played by white actors. If you're point is, for that reason, that white character roles should now be given to non-white actors to sort of "even the score", I disagree.

I don't see any practical reason why character casting should not be of the same race as is the character as written, especially since there are so many actors to choose from today.





Connor Macgregor Reviews...Years & Years - Episode Five

INTRO: The years rumble on and Britain enters a grim period indeed. Russell T Davies continues our wonder into the future with Episode five of Years & Years.

SUMMARY:
WARNING: "Spoiler" spoilers below
In 2028, Viv Rook promises freedom to her supporters but begins arresting her opponents. Catastrophic flooding and two dirty bombs result in huge numbers of displaced residents in the UK, prompting a new law that requires people with extra space in their homes to take in the victims. Edith works with relocation authorities and becomes suspicious that the poor are becoming "erstwhile", a new euphemism for being "disappeared" which she hears about from Viktor, who is in custody in the UK. Stephen visits Viktor to tell him that, unlike the rest of the family, he still blames him for Daniel's death. Checkpoints are erected around Rosie's neighbourhood in Manchester in response to criminal activity in the area, and she loses her license to operate her catering van. Bethany is fitted with a brain implant which enables her to interact directly with the Internet, but also to spy on her family. Stephen is depressed that he could not pay for the surgery, which leaves Bethany a virtual indentured worker to the government, which paid for it. Muriel is diagnosed with macular degeneration and uses the last of her savings to pay £10,000 for fast-track NHS surgery, which reverses the condition. Celeste gets along better with Muriel but bristles at being treated like an unpaid servant. Rosie and Jonjo become engaged and Edith moves in with her new girlfriend. Stephen degrades himself to get a new high-paying job as a yes-man to Woody, an old acquaintance who calls him his "monkey". Bethany uses her vast new cyber powers to help Edith break into a facility that keeps records of the Erstwhiles and witnesses her aunt's near collapse from radiation sickness. At a business auction held at Chequers, Stephen unexpectedly encounters Viv Rook, who reveals herself to be a slick fascistic monster. Woody's company wins the contract to maintain two of the new "Erstwhile" concentration camps, intended as Darwinian death camps. Stephen uses the company's computer system to send Viktor to the camp, which Bethany sees. At a memorial service to Daniel, Bethany alone knows that her father has betrayed Viktor and sent him to his likely death.


THOUGHTS: The hard, difficult aftermath of Daniel's death is very prominent in this episode. Different reactions and feelings are expressed, none more so than from Stephen Lyons. Rory Kinnear's performance is terrific and fueled of emotion, anger and confusion. While many might not like his actions in this episode, but it feels very real and understanding due to what Daniel did and ultimately sacrificed in the last episode. He also meets Viv Rook in a very bizzare and scary sequence. It fully exposes who is really in power and how Viv is ultimately a pawn in a much larger game.

RATING: 77% - B+





Connor Macgregor Reviews...Years & Years - Episode Six

INTRO: We come now to the climax of this what-if worldly story where the Lyons family step up to become heroes in their own right, and save their society from a grim fate.

SUMMARY:
WARNING: "Spoiler" spoilers below
As 2029 begins, Bethany grudgingly tells Edith that her father sent Viktor to the death camp, fearful that she will be implicated in illegal activity and lose her implants. As attacks on journalists increase, the BBC shuts down. Muriel blames the family and humanity at large for the various problems in the world, saying that the cumulative effect of many small acts of indifference has created the toxic environment they now live in. Stephen breaks up with Elaine, buys an illegal gun, and puts it in his desk at work. Viktor wants to contact the family with a smuggled cell phone, but towers at the camp block all signals. By manipulating Stephen, Celeste gets a job at Woody's company to try to get information about the Erstwhile camps. Soon after, Rosie and her neighbours are outraged when her son and his friends are locked out of their apartment complex for not returning before curfew. Meanwhile, Edith and her activist friends take steps to free Viktor and blow up the signal-blocking towers, causing the camp inmates to rush the gates, while armed guards threaten them. At the same time, Stephen confronts Celeste while she is helping Edith using the company's computers, revealing that he had intended to broadcast incriminating evidence against Viv Rook's death camps and then kill himself. Woody charges into the office and Stephen shoots him in the leg. With the signals unblocked, Bethany and her friends at work broadcast footage from the camp to the whole country. Rosie breaks through the curfew fence around her estate with her catering van, to the cheers of her neighbours, and this act of civil disobedience is also broadcast nationally. With the camp liberated, Edith collapses to the ground. Later, Viv Rook is charged with murder relating to the Erstwhile sites, though it's unclear who financed and backed her, and the BBC is reopened. Stephen goes to jail for three years for shooting Woody, but emerges with a new lease on life. Though Stephen and Celeste don't get back together, their family is again happy. Rosie and Jonjo get married and have a son together, named after Daniel. The timeline skips to 2034, where it is revealed that the events of the series were the retellings of Edith's memories, as she is in the process of uploading her mind to a new water molecule-based database, with Bethany watching from Muriel's home as a hologram. As Edith's body dies, she tells the technicians that she doesn't believe her consciousness can really be encoded because the human spirit is more than just information. The series ends with the whole Lyons clan gathered with Muriel, unsure if Edith's consciousness was uploaded to the cloud.


THOUGHTS: The central excellence of this episode is the big battle that takes place at the camp. It's tense and fun and thrilling all at the same time. While others may argue that its a bit over the top, I enjoy it good enough and plays in the downfall of the government at the end. Bethany's character arc also comes full circle here, being a more mature and beautiful character as she assists Edith in her final stage as a character. The ending in general is a beautiful one. Very poignant and full circle in terms of the story, and what all these characters have gone through. It's one of the key writing skills of RTD: Powerful characters that resonate with audiences deeply for a long time.

RATING: 87% - A-



Would you like to see a white man cast as Malcom X or Mao Tse Tung? How about Ghandi? Shouldn't you look past color?
The difference is that David Copperfield is fictional. If one portrays a real person then I think it necessary for the skin color to match. I mean, nobody would cast a black actress to play Jackie Kennedy. It would not make sense.



I mean, my personal take is that it depends on the role. A real-life figure I reckon should be left to its original race, whereas fictional roles you can mix up a little bit more, given that skin colour isn't nessacary crucial to perhaps the story, unless race of course is a theme.





Connor Macgregor Reviews...Gold Digger: Episode One

INTRO: A new miniseries to look it which deals with alternative love, suspicion, and sinister motives. Though, one must question if this is good or not.

SUMMARY: Julia Day is a wealthy woman and a recent divorcee who ends up spending her 60th birthday alone in London, after her three now grown-up children: Patrick, Della and Leo bail out for certain reasons. Spending the afternoon at the British Museum, she meets a young man named Benjamin Greene with whom she instantly becomes smitten with. They begin dating and she eventually introduces him to her children, who immediately suspect that he is a gold digger. Meanwhile, Julia's eldest son Patrick is stressed at both his work and raising his own family. He even tries to resist having an affair with one of his colleagues at work.

THOUGHTS: So to say this is an absolute must watch is wrong. This is a very flawed series from the start. For one, dialogue is stiff and not well written. The central characters can be at times hard to sympathise or relate to. Very middle class, yet with an aspiration of poshness and a tendancy to look down and judge. There are also very immature things these characters say or do which makes me cringe when watching. It's a shame because the concept of this series sounds great on paper: A reverse on the gold digger trope which in turn raises interesting dillemmas and questions about age, family, love and trust. I do feel there is potential to keep watching, but more faults than there is strengths.

RATING: 66% - B