Due to a vast amount of new television emerging in the last few weeks, it has been difficult to give every show its fair due in terms of reviews. Now that I’ve finally caught up on the majority of season premieres and pilots, I’ve decided to do a TV roundup, in order to discuss shows I think are the most interesting.
Let’s begin with BBC’s Peaky Blinders, the 1920’s gangster drama centring upon the exploits of the Birmingham gang “The Peaky Blinders”, led by Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and his family. The show moved into its third season with the closest it has ever come to a bottle episode. The entire hour of television was set on the afternoon of Tommy’s wedding to former undercover agent Grace (Annabelle Wallis – still the weakest aspect of the show). Despite the confined setting, the episode played to the series’ greatest strengths and confidently planted the seeds for this season’s conflict.
Following the end of season two, the show has jumped two years and there have been major changes. Tommy’s brother Arthur (Paul Anderson), a man who previously suffered from outbursts of violence and a coke habit, has become romantically involved with a devout Christian woman and has since found God. However, this makes him even more of liability than his drug addiction did as the gang begin to question whether he has the stomach for their lifestyle. Meanwhile, Michael (Finn Cole), Tommy’s long-lost cousin introduced in season two, has become integrated into his family’s criminal activities but appears to have a contempt for his new relations. Also, Tommy’s aunt Polly (the fantastic Helen McCrory) is being wooed by the charming stranger Ruben (new main cast member Alexander Siddig). However, some things have stayed the same. Tommy is still being blackmailed by Winston Churchill into taking part in matters of espionage and national security, this time becoming involved in a mysterious plot involving the Russians.
Helen McCrory as Polly
Aside from the terrific period detail, the thrilling action set-pieces and the awesome contemporary soundtrack (the sounds of Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys and Nick Cave can be heard in the season opener), Peaky Blinders is at its most compelling when it turns its focus upon the Shelby family dynamic. Arthur’s extremely awkward wedding speech, Tommy’s sister Ada (Sophie Rundle) and her communist ramblings unsettling the party guests and Polly’s conflict with Grace are what make the show feel compelling, human and character-driven amidst the over-abundance of style and carnage. Setting the intro to this season at a family event is such an intelligent method of highlighting minor problems between the Shelby’s that will erupt as the season progresses.
Apart from Wallis (although her stereotypical “fierce colleen” characterisation may be the problem), every actor and actress is firing on all cylinders. Many have commented that Cillian Murphy’s commanding presence in the central role is akin to the late and great James Gandolfini in The Sopranos. Although the premiere did not reveal any villain in the vein of season one’s Billy Kimber or Sam Neill’s villainous agent, the business with Churchill is intriguing enough for the time being. Writer and creator Steven Knight (Eastern Promises, Dirty Pretty Things, Locke) has teased the return of Tom Hardy’s rival Jewish gangster Alfie Solomon and Paddy Considine is slated to appear in an antagonistic role so it appears the stage is set for a wildly entertaining next five episodes.
While Peaky Blinders opened its third season by limiting its scope to one location, gothic horror Penny Dreadful (also moving into a third season) did the opposite with equally fine results. Never have the central characters (some based on classic horror characters from literature) been so far apart. Although Vanessa Ives (Eva Green) and Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway) are still in London, traumatised by the events of the season two finale, Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett) is in America, Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton) is in Zanzibar and John Clare (Rory Kinnear) is in the Arctic. While I would usually argue that placing one’s central characters on completely opposite parts of the globe is foolish, it gives Penny Dreadful a chance to showcase its high budget and production value. For instance, Ethan’s New Mexico surroundings enable director Damon Thomas to stage an impressive homage to the train robberies which commonly occur in Western cinema.
Patti LuPone as Dr. Seward
Also each separate plot thread is engaging in its own right, particularly Vanessa’s and Victor’s. Vanessa is urged by Ferdinand Lyle (Simon Russell Beale, no longer a series regular sadly) to seek experimental therapy at the hands of Dr. Seward (Patti LuPone) – hinting that this season will touch upon the birth of psychoanalysis. The timeline adds up as this episode entitled “The Day Tennyson Dies” means that these events are occurring in 1892. Victor, meanwhile, seeks the help of old friend Dr. Jekyll (Shazid Latif – very promising), one of three legendary horror fiction characters who make their first appearance on the show. His goal in recruiting Jekyll is to help him curb his heroin addiction and to domesticate the villainous woman he resurrected from the dead, Lily (Billie Piper, unseen).
Eva Green as Vanessa Ives
The season opener also highlights writer and creator John Logan’s gift at creating beautiful dialogue that wouldn’t feel out of place in poetry from the Romantic era. Even the heavily hinted homosexual Ferdinand, a predominantly comedic character, has the gorgeously naked monologue opening with the lines:
“There was a time in my life when I fell into a state of ennui beyond compare. I was quite divorced from the man I was or wanted to be. My unique nature left me feeling loathed and loathsome”.
When at the end of the episode, Vanessa quotes from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poetry, it doesn’t feels shoehorned in. It instead fits like a glove with Logan’s script.
Moving from the stellar to the flawed, Netflix premiered French drama Marseille. The eight-part miniseries tells the story of Robert Taro (the legendary Gerard Depardieu), a man who has been mayor of Marseille for twenty years. He has a goal to leave a legacy by making his city the “Marbella of France”. He believes this can be achieved by building state of the art casinos and resorts. However, his opposition feel casinos are just another way for gangsters to launder money. On the day of getting his legislation passed, he is betrayed by his assistant Lucas Barres (Benoit Magimel) to whom he was a father figure. The two politicians thus wage a personal and political war upon each other.
Benoit Magimel (left) and Gerard Depardieu (right)
The show is drawing comparisons to Netflix’s political behemoth House of Cards as they both tell stories of multiple characters affected by political events. However, what Marseille reminds me most of is hip-hop drama Empire in how over-the-top and clunky it is at times. Both shows are about rebelling against father figures and battles of succession, as well as feature ludicrous plot twists and pointless sex which serves no other purpose but to shock its audience.
That’s not to say there isn’t pleasure to be had. Occasionally the show (in the two episodes I’ve seen) delivers campy thrills, particular Magimel’s practically moustache twirling turn. Also director and co-creator Florent Emillo Siri (The Nest, the Bruce Willis starring Hostage) ensures the visuals are cinematic and the action is slick. However, what’s lacking is subtlety. When one thinks of French television or even some shows set in France, one thinks of ambiguous, ambitious, atmospheric dramas like The Returned, Witnesses or The Last Panthers (also set in Marseille). Marseille is the complete opposite with bad guys dressed like pimps from Miami Vice, lurking predominantly in the background of scenes for no reason aside from letting the viewer know they will play a role as the show progresses. It’s a shame because it’s a great opportunity Netflix is providing to foreign countries by enabling their programming to made and broadcast worldwide (just look at the critical acclaim Narcos received). Hopefully, future efforts from non-American countries will be better.
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