100 TV Shows #57-The Hour
The Hour
Two fics on A03
WARNING: SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS! Proceed at your own risk if you haven't seen one or both series yet. The BIG spoilers are immediately after the cut.
(If you haven't seen it yet, you should do so...IMMEDIATELY.)
Spoiler 1-Burn Gorman snuffs it in episode three of series 1.
Spoiler 2-Ben Whishaw gets beaten to an on-screen pulp in episode six and it's very ambiguous as to whether he croaks or not.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way...
I was going to save this along with a slew of other British shows as part of the road that started with Doctor Who and Torchwood, but I just don't feel like rehashing the Barrowman/Jack/Torchwood story right now. (I'm so sick of the whole thing that I'd rather leave it to the fanbrats who think TW stands for Teen Wolf.)
Basically, the only reason I was really inclined to watch this was the constant barrage of promos on BBCA touting "Torchwood's Burn Gorman," because aside from my Barrowmania, I'd come away from TW with SUCH an appreciation of Burn Gorman's acting. Of course (see spoiler #1) the ads were slightly deceptive. Burn snuffs it pretty early, and his part, although pivotal, doesn't include a lot o screen time. He does however ROCK a Fedora, while acting excessively creepy before his demise.
I enjoyed the show the first time around. Loved the period ambiance and the journalism angle especially. Also all the "Hey, it's that guy/gal" from British telly. Lix-Anna Chancellor, who among other things was on Spooks AND was Hugh Laurie's wife in Fortysomething. Tim Pigott-Smith from a Spooks episode. More hilariously in retrospect, ANDREW SCOTT...which meant nothing to me in 2011.
Also still amusing---Ben Whishaw before being Q---calling Bel "Moneypenny." (Which he does some more in Series 2)
So much great Freddy/Hector subtext, so many pretty people, so much smoking. The story-telling, in terms of the plot resolution for the whole series was kind of MEH, but it didn't really matter since the plot wasn't the point.
I still ADORE the Yuletide fic I wrote for The Hour in 2011 and the one I received.
In the interim, I went from liking the characters to being sort of obsessed with Dominic West, after waking up to his awesomeness in the otherwise moribund John Carter, so I was REALLY looking forward to the 2nd series for marathoning either for Christmas or New Years. The downloads I was using didn't work out, so I only got to finish it this week, which turned out to be a blessing, mostly due to Spoiler #2. (Since I'd also kind of fallen in love with Ben as Q and a bit as Richard II.) If I'd seen that ending on either Christmas or New Years it would have been even more horrible.
What's funny about that is that I was most worried (based on the promos and spoilers) about bad things happening to my beloved Hector, who survived physically unscathed and more or less in tact emotionally and professionally. And how much do I now love Marnie and Hector together?
This time around the Doctor Who/Torchwood connection was Peter Capaldi, who was amazing, considering he wasn't being any of those characters OR Malcolm Tucker or even Charles 1. (I just realized that the last time Peter Capaldi and Dominic West were on on screen together, someone lost his head and a LOT of people died.) I am a sucker for a Glaswegian accent, and even though I'm a little over giving characters OCD as plot points and cheap characterization, I thought he was (as Malcolm would say) FUCKING BRILLIANT!
Again, the plotting itself was the weak link...way too many plots being juggled and some of them (the fascists,the proto-Kray types) just got dropped without resolution. Also, a lot of it gave me flashbacks to Absolute Beginners. I realize it takes place within more or less the same time frame, but Kiki gave off such a Patsy Kensit vibe, I was absolutely hearing her sing "Having It All.
And then there was that ending...I understood the need thematically, and it was in character for everyone involved, but there was absolutely no reason to go into graphic torture porn. I do realize this is the BBC and we don't get any sugar-coating. I was reminded of Series 1 of Spooks and a certain deep fryer incident. But I can still enjoy birthday parties.
I don't know if there will ever be a third series, but I'll be right there if there is...and in meantime, I still need to get myself through The Wire and figure out if I'm strong enough to watch Appropriate Adult.
Click to viewTwo fics on A03
WARNING: SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS! Proceed at your own risk if you haven't seen one or both series yet. The BIG spoilers are immediately after the cut.
(If you haven't seen it yet, you should do so...IMMEDIATELY.)
Spoiler 1-Burn Gorman snuffs it in episode three of series 1.
Spoiler 2-Ben Whishaw gets beaten to an on-screen pulp in episode six and it's very ambiguous as to whether he croaks or not.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way...
I was going to save this along with a slew of other British shows as part of the road that started with Doctor Who and Torchwood, but I just don't feel like rehashing the Barrowman/Jack/Torchwood story right now. (I'm so sick of the whole thing that I'd rather leave it to the fanbrats who think TW stands for Teen Wolf.)
Basically, the only reason I was really inclined to watch this was the constant barrage of promos on BBCA touting "Torchwood's Burn Gorman," because aside from my Barrowmania, I'd come away from TW with SUCH an appreciation of Burn Gorman's acting. Of course (see spoiler #1) the ads were slightly deceptive. Burn snuffs it pretty early, and his part, although pivotal, doesn't include a lot o screen time. He does however ROCK a Fedora, while acting excessively creepy before his demise.
I enjoyed the show the first time around. Loved the period ambiance and the journalism angle especially. Also all the "Hey, it's that guy/gal" from British telly. Lix-Anna Chancellor, who among other things was on Spooks AND was Hugh Laurie's wife in Fortysomething. Tim Pigott-Smith from a Spooks episode. More hilariously in retrospect, ANDREW SCOTT...which meant nothing to me in 2011.
Also still amusing---Ben Whishaw before being Q---calling Bel "Moneypenny." (Which he does some more in Series 2)
So much great Freddy/Hector subtext, so many pretty people, so much smoking. The story-telling, in terms of the plot resolution for the whole series was kind of MEH, but it didn't really matter since the plot wasn't the point.
I still ADORE the Yuletide fic I wrote for The Hour in 2011 and the one I received.
In the interim, I went from liking the characters to being sort of obsessed with Dominic West, after waking up to his awesomeness in the otherwise moribund John Carter, so I was REALLY looking forward to the 2nd series for marathoning either for Christmas or New Years. The downloads I was using didn't work out, so I only got to finish it this week, which turned out to be a blessing, mostly due to Spoiler #2. (Since I'd also kind of fallen in love with Ben as Q and a bit as Richard II.) If I'd seen that ending on either Christmas or New Years it would have been even more horrible.
What's funny about that is that I was most worried (based on the promos and spoilers) about bad things happening to my beloved Hector, who survived physically unscathed and more or less in tact emotionally and professionally. And how much do I now love Marnie and Hector together?
This time around the Doctor Who/Torchwood connection was Peter Capaldi, who was amazing, considering he wasn't being any of those characters OR Malcolm Tucker or even Charles 1. (I just realized that the last time Peter Capaldi and Dominic West were on on screen together, someone lost his head and a LOT of people died.) I am a sucker for a Glaswegian accent, and even though I'm a little over giving characters OCD as plot points and cheap characterization, I thought he was (as Malcolm would say) FUCKING BRILLIANT!
Again, the plotting itself was the weak link...way too many plots being juggled and some of them (the fascists,the proto-Kray types) just got dropped without resolution. Also, a lot of it gave me flashbacks to Absolute Beginners. I realize it takes place within more or less the same time frame, but Kiki gave off such a Patsy Kensit vibe, I was absolutely hearing her sing "Having It All.
And then there was that ending...I understood the need thematically, and it was in character for everyone involved, but there was absolutely no reason to go into graphic torture porn. I do realize this is the BBC and we don't get any sugar-coating. I was reminded of Series 1 of Spooks and a certain deep fryer incident. But I can still enjoy birthday parties.
I don't know if there will ever be a third series, but I'll be right there if there is...and in meantime, I still need to get myself through The Wire and figure out if I'm strong enough to watch Appropriate Adult.