Quirke: "Christine Falls"
So last night I watched the first episode of Quirke, which internet fandom generally refers to as the show that Colin Morgan will eventually guest-star in, but which actually stars Gabriel Byrne as the titular Doctor Quirke (and yeah, he still looks damn good). Based on the novels by Benjamin Black, the show is set in 1950s Dublin, where Quirke works as a pathologist.
He returns from a going-away party for one of the nurses to discover his brother in his office, tampering with the records of a young woman called Christine Falls. Curiosity piqued, he begins to do some digging, discovering that the woman died in childbirth (this was the information his brother was trying to hide) and that there’s no sign of the baby anywhere. Coming to suspect that the cover-up involves the Catholic Church, members of his own family, and dozens of other pregnant girls, Quirke heads to Boston with his teenaged niece Phoebe to investigate further.
At ninety minutes long, the pace is achingly slow, and I can’t help but feel it would have felt much more suspenseful if it had clocked in at under the forty-five minute mark. As it is, there seemed to be long stretches of absolutely nothing happening. The episode is at its best when it’s exploring the family dynamic between Quirke and his (adopted) father, brother, sister-in-law and niece, for it soon becomes apparent that Quirke is in the interesting position of being both the black sheep and the favourite of the Griffin clan. Adored by his niece, resented by his brother, and clearly harbouring reciprocal feelings for his sister-in-law, the episode gradually teases out the web of exasperation, fondness, antagonism and inevitable secret-keeping that lies between them.
The story tries to hit you with not one, but two big twists, one in both the A and B plot, though they fall rather flat considering how clearly they’re telegraphed. In one, the focus on a character as the main suspect is so pronounced that it’s clear to any genre savvy viewer that he’s not the culprit, and the other is just as transparent given the demeanour with which Quirke acts around Phoebe.
Though the production values are high, the tone and content is unremittingly bleak. Practically every character, from the kindly grandparents to the wholesome young couple to the convent nuns eventually expose themselves as slimy, bitter, petty or dangerous. There’s little sweetness or light here, and the mystery itself is sordid and depressing. Glancing over the reviews for the novels on Amazon.com, I was rather surprised to see that many were quite lukewarm (that site is generally effusive in its praise), and that the inherent darkness of the story was a large factor in this. One of the reviews stated that he/she felt that the author hated every one of his characters, including the newborn baby - an accurate observation that is transferred into the adaptation. Even the weather is perpetually grim.
(On that note, it’s vaguely amusing that everyone is looking forward to seeing Colin Morgan, since I have the sneaking suspicion that he’s going to play an asshole. Based on promotional material and fandom’s preconceptions of him, I think most are expecting a romantic sweetheart).
It’s difficult to really engage with any of the characters - Gabriel Byrne’s charisma pulls him through, but even the likeable characters such as Sarah and Phoebe (his sister-in-law and niece respectively) are kept at arm’s length.
Hopefully all this doesn’t come across as too negative. I’m certainly going to keep watching, and I’m looking forward to seeing Colin again (especially if he DOES end up playing a darker character than what we’re used to), but it certainly isn’t an easy watch.
In short, I enjoyed the strengths of Quirke, and was hooked well enough by the premise, but I can't see myself rewatching it in future.