The Way (2024) 1x01 + Monarch 1x07 + Alternative 3 + Justified 3x12 + Constellation (2024) 1x01-1x03
The War
A Michael Sheen 3-part drama for BBC1. There is babble about a young man falling into a vat of molten slag at the steelworks. There is weird music. This is apparently a dystopian drama about riots erupting in Port Talbot after the steelworks close. Last month, Tara Steel shut down the 2 blast furnaces in Port Talbot. A weird coincidence.
This was created and made by luvvie Michael Sheen who also features in the cast. There are thick accents and torturous conditions. There is babble about ousting and shouting and staring. There are cringe moments, talk of death and unethical things. There are unethical activities. Unions rabble rouse. A crazy homeless guy rants. There are random scenes and an incoherent plot. This makes you miss ‘Hard Sun’.
There is exposition and talk of the miners strikes. The steelworks goes dark cue mass panic and thinly veiled racism by the locals toward foreign owners. Michael Sheen’s career has taken a weird turn in recent years. His Welsh super patriot persona has broken his brain. This was dreary and the narrative is allusive. A junkie whines. A man sexts. There is yelling about a man’s miner strikes father (Sheen) who killed himself after the miners attempt to hold the country to ransom failed.
The man babbles to Sheen in his back garden despite Sheen being long dead. The steelworkers strike and the town revolts, there is Welsh nationalism and no easy answers about what comes next. Red monks lurk and a harpy urges defiance by not paying bills. Locals panic about a wall and wild rumours about the army and the internet. The border is sealed and the crazy locals attack. Ffs.
Best Line:
“List of grievances.”
~
About Last Night
Nicky’s husband was violent bizarrely relentless. Nicky killed him or so she thought. This is done dead serious. Nicky’s husband was ranting insanely about his lot in life, now he's dead. Albie does a cover up. Gigi accepts the senseless betrayals and lies of everyone around her. Actions have no consequences. Albie has to live with consequences.
Albie finished off the husband/rowdy troublemaker. There are no heartfelt emotions. This makes ‘Pacific Palisades’ and ‘Models Inc’ look like high art. Albie has an absurd sense of purpose. Logic is ostensibly ignored. Why is everyone so manic and angry? So unreservedly bad and incredibly tiresome. Dottie appears in flashbacks where she shot Albie. As for Albie, he meets his bastard. Gigi is rude and ungrateful. Albie and the bastard’s bastard sing.
Best Lines:
“Recite our sins chapter and verse.”
“You used to play arenas, now you’re playing clubs.”
~
Alternative 3 (1977)
A mockumentary meant as an April fool’s day hoax. There are posh accents and talk of a brain drain. People vanish in mysterious circumstances. This caused mass panic apparently. Did this spawn the whole mockumentary genre? There is dated tech and an ominous owl hoot. Things are peculiarly unclear. The Jodrell Bank radio telescopes feature. There is talk of ecological disaster. This was excellent. There is talk of stuff being done in space. Space X is foreshadowed. There is something on the moon. The elite are being saved and taken to another planet. A source of fascination. Life on Mars is hinted at. Is there a human survival colony on Mars?
Best Lines:
“Great world drought.”
“Unequalled in recorded history.”
“Continued its encroachment.”
“Incident has never been explained.”
“This where it all lands.”
“Powerful reasons.”
“Inimical to the survival of any form of life.”
“Essential for survival on earth.”
“Acknowledged landings.”
“What were the Russians trying to launch?”
“A space shuttle but shuttling what to where?”
~
Coalition
Quarles is chained naked to a bed in a whorehouse. He manages to escape. Boyd is the creator’s pet. Raylan is stupid and makes everything worse. So male, so pale, so stale. Quarles is beyond hope. Hillybilly land is a fearful place. Quarles is in an even worse spiral. Raylan leads a negative narrative against Quarles. This was trite. Someone does a simpleton voice. Things are tenuous.
Best Lines:
“Office is in contention.”
“Smoking oxycontin in my motorcoach?”
“Escaped from a disease-ridden whore factory up in inbred holler!”
~
The Wounded Angel
Noomi Rapace stars as an astronaut. After returning from space, Noomi has an awful realisation. Is she in the wrong universe? Non-linear. Swedish is spoken. A new state of matter is looked for. 8 eps of this. Barbara Sukowa co-stars. Bad things happened in space. After, Jo (Rapace) returned to Earth after a disaster in space only to discover that key pieces of her life seem to be missing. Even her young daughter seems to have changed.
A piece of technology from Jo's ill-fated space mission emerges, and may hold the key to Jo’s unanswered questions. A double quantum signal is discussed. What hit the ISS? Why was there a body of a USSR cosmonaut in SPACE? An astronaut is dumb. One of the astronauts died. Jo ordered the survivors to evacuate and she stayed to fix the ISS. Jo’s bum faced husband annoys. He is played by James D’Arcy of ‘Agent Carter’ and ‘Leonardo’. He looks like someone who’d piss on the floor of a 711.
Jo’s evacuation ship does not have enough power. Where is the blonde idiot astronaut? Did she evacuate? I am intrigued. It is better than ‘Silo’ and that alien thing with Sam Neill. Exposition is uttered. The evacuees return safely. A woman pops pills. Jonathan Banks of ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Wiseguy’ co-stars. I enjoyed this.
Best Lines:
“Evacuation capsule.”
"Only evacuate 3 of us."
“Mechanical disconnect.”
“45 minutes in the light.”
Live And Let Die
Jo and her idiot spawn wander in snow. An ugly picture painted. Jo faces cold death and is the very definition of misery. The fall for Jo was hard. Space = very grim. NASA does a deliberate orchestrated policy for malign purposes. Jo does a howling cry for survival. Rent a dick is dreadful and completely useless. Brat = belligerent.
Terrible decisions result in terrible consequences. Jo faced malicious damage, possibly. No Elon Musk or SpaceX. Identical twins? Bud (Banks) speaks. Bud and the science executive twin do not speak or like each other. O2 runs out. Jo faces a fearful impact. A mysterious voice speaks. People yap. Jo is desperate. CAL is babbled about. A wolf lurks. Brat Alice is dumb as rocks. CAL is weird. Mediocre men are all around. Jo freaks out. Ok.
Best Lines:
“Insane billionaires.”
“NASA abandoned the moon.”
“Ballistic entry.”
Somewhere In Space Hangs My Heart
The opening credits debut. Bud is on a cruise ship talking to people he has contempt for. Are Henry and Bud estranged identical twins or alternate universe doubles? Jo is questioned. Her awful husband is as a useful as a 🍆 flavoured lollipop. The blonde moron did live. The old biddy from ’12 Monkeys’ plays a Russian but she is a German!
Jo is Swedish, blonde fool is French and the other 2 survivors are British and Russian respectively. Jo talks about the body she saw. German biddy = rough old dog. The karman line is mentioned. A sceptic annoys. Apollo 18 is discussed. A rabbit is yelled about. More exposition is done. The ISS was lost? Star City is seen. Family car is the wrong colour! Alice is a brat. Irene babbles and is dying of the dying. Bud rants and kills the sceptic. Little rocket girl faces a fractured reality. Mmmmmm.
Best Lines:
“I WALKED ON THE FU♤KING MOON! THIS IS HOW THE JOURNEY ENDS? MAKING ME SIT AND DEBATE THAT ASSH♧LE!”
“Isn’t a known piece of orbital debris.”
“Collision object.”
