Strike - Lethal White
Apparently the next Cormoran Strike book will be published mid September.
1/4
I didn’t have the time to reread the book after hearing this series was returning but it seemed like they got many of the high points dramatically and the important clues and red herrings. I’m glad they’ve extended it to a four-parter because it’s such a whopper of a book. We ended on a much shorter road trip that is not as delicious as the one in book three. I was surprised but impressed that they mainly cut the wedding of like a hundred pages down to four scenes, but then the brought in more via flashbacks, although they seem to have cut the accidental kiss.
Miscommunication between Robin and Cormoran while still managing a decent working relationship was one theme. What Matthew did to her phone (four phone calls!) and her being too slow to get in touch - going on a honeymoon with a man who’d lost all her respect because it was expected? Oh, Robin. Maybe there was moreon this decision in the book, but it was cut out of the adap) Cormoran’s relationship with Lorelai (did they meet in that pub in the book? It didn’t seem ike a place she’d hang out in, except I suppose it was local) being entwined with his brief pining over Robin, and hey, Lorleai answering the phone and being The Girlfriend made Robin jealous, although they’ve teeed up the return of Charlotte well via Izzy.
But we also saw Robin’s attempts to deal with her mental health, and that some of her coping methods (not telling Cormoran and overcompensating about what jobs she could take on) led to a panic attack at the House of Commons )or ‘the House of Commons’ because I don’t think they filmed there.)
And how sad was the ‘oh, they’re Matt’s friends’ line?
On the other hand, she was ‘extremely competent’ as Venetia Hall, and Chizzle’s daughter was fun, like a younger Tilly from Miranda only better connected. We saw their family dynamic, got introduced to the Knights - Billy and hi s story were affecting. Actually, so was Jasper’s grief for his dead son, although Cormoran revealed Freddie had been an awful human being, and Jasper did seem to think that Cormoran was a dog, not a professional at his club. Rafael is suitably dishy, and ending on finding remains where Billy’d said they’d be asuitable finale.
Obviously they’ve stripped out the Olympics backdrop and it’s set nowish. The idea of London as a character is less prominent, though it's there in how they describe the Palace of Westminister and Jimmy's protests aainst gentrification.
2/4
The hounds were released, which was primal, with Robin scrabbling about in the dark, Cormoran unable to help and then it was about his strength and instincts versus his limp and her uber pragmatism. She was rightly proud of her Range Rover, although I was later tickled as she’d parked it in front of the posh hotel.
This episode was a great deal about Cormoran’s physical vulnerability because of his disability and circumstances forcing him to push it. Not only all the stairs but Jimmy pushin him and then the pile-on outside the do. A slight feeling of Robin letting him down because of hr ties to the Awful Matt (who continued to be awful) even though she was trying so hard not to. She was readier with the theories, while Cormoran was trying to construct chains based on what they knew.
We and Robin got to see more of how awful the Chizzes were, although seeing them as human beings meant that there was a sympathy for whoever was being shouted at or pressured at the time, until they said something racist, classist or plain rude. Robin managed to bluff her way out of situations by taking on the mantle of poshness, but - especially as she was convinced the Chizzles had committed murder among other wrong doings - not want to ally herself naturally with the ruling class.
Meanwhile I was wincing as no-one could pronounce ‘Geraint’ properly.
That was The Dress wasn’t it? They’d already introduced it in the moment before the house-warming, and Matt was petty about it after. It worked really well visually, actually. (As did seeing the white horse motif.)
Enter pregnant Charlotte, proving that Cormoran can have flashbacks about several women per show. And the shot of Robin in that dress watching them leave together, but not seein him separate from her after worked. Lorelai, who’d been nurse, hostess and errand girl dropped an ‘I love you’ and he was too honest to lie. Ouch.
The ending was as dramatic as the beginning, with Cormoran finding Billy bleeding out and Robin finding a very much asphyxiated Jasper. Dun dun dun.
Back to one episode a week next week, presumably.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/435556.html.
1/4
I didn’t have the time to reread the book after hearing this series was returning but it seemed like they got many of the high points dramatically and the important clues and red herrings. I’m glad they’ve extended it to a four-parter because it’s such a whopper of a book. We ended on a much shorter road trip that is not as delicious as the one in book three. I was surprised but impressed that they mainly cut the wedding of like a hundred pages down to four scenes, but then the brought in more via flashbacks, although they seem to have cut the accidental kiss.
Miscommunication between Robin and Cormoran while still managing a decent working relationship was one theme. What Matthew did to her phone (four phone calls!) and her being too slow to get in touch - going on a honeymoon with a man who’d lost all her respect because it was expected? Oh, Robin. Maybe there was moreon this decision in the book, but it was cut out of the adap) Cormoran’s relationship with Lorelai (did they meet in that pub in the book? It didn’t seem ike a place she’d hang out in, except I suppose it was local) being entwined with his brief pining over Robin, and hey, Lorleai answering the phone and being The Girlfriend made Robin jealous, although they’ve teeed up the return of Charlotte well via Izzy.
But we also saw Robin’s attempts to deal with her mental health, and that some of her coping methods (not telling Cormoran and overcompensating about what jobs she could take on) led to a panic attack at the House of Commons )or ‘the House of Commons’ because I don’t think they filmed there.)
And how sad was the ‘oh, they’re Matt’s friends’ line?
On the other hand, she was ‘extremely competent’ as Venetia Hall, and Chizzle’s daughter was fun, like a younger Tilly from Miranda only better connected. We saw their family dynamic, got introduced to the Knights - Billy and hi s story were affecting. Actually, so was Jasper’s grief for his dead son, although Cormoran revealed Freddie had been an awful human being, and Jasper did seem to think that Cormoran was a dog, not a professional at his club. Rafael is suitably dishy, and ending on finding remains where Billy’d said they’d be asuitable finale.
Obviously they’ve stripped out the Olympics backdrop and it’s set nowish. The idea of London as a character is less prominent, though it's there in how they describe the Palace of Westminister and Jimmy's protests aainst gentrification.
2/4
The hounds were released, which was primal, with Robin scrabbling about in the dark, Cormoran unable to help and then it was about his strength and instincts versus his limp and her uber pragmatism. She was rightly proud of her Range Rover, although I was later tickled as she’d parked it in front of the posh hotel.
This episode was a great deal about Cormoran’s physical vulnerability because of his disability and circumstances forcing him to push it. Not only all the stairs but Jimmy pushin him and then the pile-on outside the do. A slight feeling of Robin letting him down because of hr ties to the Awful Matt (who continued to be awful) even though she was trying so hard not to. She was readier with the theories, while Cormoran was trying to construct chains based on what they knew.
We and Robin got to see more of how awful the Chizzes were, although seeing them as human beings meant that there was a sympathy for whoever was being shouted at or pressured at the time, until they said something racist, classist or plain rude. Robin managed to bluff her way out of situations by taking on the mantle of poshness, but - especially as she was convinced the Chizzles had committed murder among other wrong doings - not want to ally herself naturally with the ruling class.
Meanwhile I was wincing as no-one could pronounce ‘Geraint’ properly.
That was The Dress wasn’t it? They’d already introduced it in the moment before the house-warming, and Matt was petty about it after. It worked really well visually, actually. (As did seeing the white horse motif.)
Enter pregnant Charlotte, proving that Cormoran can have flashbacks about several women per show. And the shot of Robin in that dress watching them leave together, but not seein him separate from her after worked. Lorelai, who’d been nurse, hostess and errand girl dropped an ‘I love you’ and he was too honest to lie. Ouch.
The ending was as dramatic as the beginning, with Cormoran finding Billy bleeding out and Robin finding a very much asphyxiated Jasper. Dun dun dun.
Back to one episode a week next week, presumably.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/435556.html.