TV REVIEW: Dates - Week 3: Episodes 6 & 7

Moving on to Episodes 6 and 7 of Channel 4’s latest Brian Elsley creation, Dates, and we’re beginning to see some elements of character development and dramatic justice. This will presumably bring us rather nicely up to the final shows. I mean dates.

Episode 6 took us off once again for dinner with Erica (Gemma Chan).  This time, however, having admitted her sexuality to her brother, she has been packed off on a date with a man by the name of Callum (Greg McHugh). Loutish, arrogant, opinionated and seemingly not the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer, their Chinese restaurant meeting gets off to a bad start. His constant referrals to the Chinese restaurant staff as ‘these people’ doesn’t exactly help matters, and that’s before you even consider the fact that Erica doesn’t actually fancy men. As we’ve by now come to expect from the series, though, a bad start to a date does not necessarily mean a bad end. And, sure enough, surprisingly understanding about Erica’s situation as he is, Callum teaches her how to stand up for herself a little more. Thus, as with Episode 5’s date with David and Ellie, an odd sort of friendship emerges.

Episode 7 was a little more unusual, not quite following the format of previous storylines. Stephen (Ben Chaplin) took centre stage once more, as he waited for Mia (Oona Chaplin) to join him at a swanky hotel penthouse for what the Buffery team can only assume to be a jolly good game of Scrabble. It soon becomes clear, however, that Mia has changed her mind, and won’t be turning up after all. This throws the slightly controlling Stephen off guard, causing him to gatecrash the hotel’s conference in search of ‘an adventure’. He finds precisely that adventure with an attractive stranger, getting up to all sorts of hijinks in an attempt to forget about the beautiful Mia. Smarmy and selfish character that he is, though, he doesn’t entirely get his own way. In fact, she gives him rather a run for his money.

These were two sharply contrasting episodes, with the first showing a stronger side to one recurring character, whilst the second showed the weaker, sleazier side of another. The developing friendship between the stereotypically meek Chinese girl and loud Scot in Episode 6 was heartwarming and touching to watch, as it was clear both were gaining genuine life lessons from the other’s company. Episode 7 mainly served to re-cast would be lothario Stephen in a less favourable light than before, perhaps giving us a useful insight into the reasons behind Mia’s decision.

Both episodes, however, reflected the fact that by now we’ve come to like the show’s recurring characters, and are emotionally invested in their stories and futures.

Tonight’s episode sees Jenny (Sheridan Smith) give dating one more try as she meets Christian (Andrew Scott). 

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dates

Jen                                                                     

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TV REVIEW: Dates - Week 2, Episodes 4 & 5

Dates, Brian Elsley’s drama series currently showing as part of Channel 4’s ‘Mating Season’, seems focused on portraying unusual, difficult and even borderline taboo first dates.

In Episode 4, we meet Erica (Gemma Chan), a shyly beautiful lesbian girl from a strict Chinese background, and watch as she meets Kate (Katie McGrath), a confident woman slightly more used to getting her own way. Despite Kate’s clear suspicion from the outset about how public Erica’s sexuality is, the date gets off to a good start, with the two flirting and drinking cocktails in a trendy bar. A spot of sexy dancing and a roll around in the sheets later, the narrative starts to focus much more on Erica, and the profound effect that her family background is having on her love life. Kate’s hostile reaction and the events that ensue provide one of the more dramatic, yet poignant, episode endings of the series so far. Chan and McGrath are both excellent and playing the coy and ballsy characters respectively, although the episode did feel a little thrown together and under-developed in places.

Episode 5 saw the return of David (Will Mellor) who, still not over Mia (Oona Chaplin) heads out on a date to cheer himself up on his birthday. This time, he meets Ellie (Montanna Thompson) a young, in fact rather younger than she said she was, woman who, despite her charming naiveté, has an apparent and uncomfortable habit of getting right to the point. Needless to say, the date is not all either of them hoped it would be, although David does seem to have a good time despite himself, leading to a level of friendship, if nothing else. Ellie’s insight then in turn causes some rather unexpected consequences. Mellor is awkwardly brilliant as the man caught on a date with someone more than a decade his junior, with Thompson adorably doe-eyed as the unemployed teenager with big ideas. This felt slightly akin to a filler episode, although still well executed and enjoyable to watch.

Despite the slight mid-season slump feel to these episodes, although I hasten to point out that this only means that they are marginally less fabulous than the others, so well written are they all, we’re really starting to grow attached to the characters as an audience, particularly now that we’ve grown used to the series’ premise. This is only added to along the way by the high quality of the writing and performances. Not to mention the relief at times that we’re not stuck on some of these awkward meetings ourselves.

Dates continues this evening with the return of Erica.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dates

Jen

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TV REVIEW: Dates - Week 1, Episodes 1-3

 Dates, the new drama series on Channel 4 which is essentially what it says on the tin, is a neat little concept. Created by Brian Elsley, the man behind E4 teen powerhouse Skins, the show consists of a series of two-handers, depicting the different ways people behave when on a first date.

The first episode, or ‘date’ of the week saw David (Will Mellor), a kind-hearted Northerner new to London and Mia (Oona Chaplin) a sophisticated woman about town, meet for an initially frosty dinner in what transpires to be David’s first venture in the world of internet dating. Far more of an old hand at it, Mia bluntly tells him how it is, growing rather fond of the Yorkshire-man in the process, despite herself. Through this, we also learn about different attitudes to dating and relationships on either side of the North-South divide, as David believes Southern women are a ‘nightmare’, never knowing what they want, and Mia just sees David as a naïve country bumpkin who hasn’t yet grasped the art of conversation.

Date two, was that of Jenny (Sheridan Smith) a sweet Shepherd’s Bush primary school teacher originally from Rotherham, and Nick (Neil Maskell), a ruthless city trader with more than a few secrets to hide. Bubbly Jenny is recovering from the breakdown of her engagement, whilst trying to settle in London at the same time, whilst Nick knows the city well, likes to throw his cash around and generally show-off. Having made ‘a few mistakes’ in his life, he is recently divorced. This sounded like a match made in Hell, and it largely was, although it was apparent that good-natured Jenny endeavoured to see the best in him, whilst Nick found her relatively pretty and adorable. Without spoiling it for anyone, however, the reasonably pleasant date takes an unexpected turn for the worse towards the end, and true colours are shown on both sides.

On the final date of the week we were once again with socialite Mia (Oona Chaplin), who this time has dinner with charming but jaded surgeon Stephen (Ben Chaplin*). He’s thinking of quitting the profession, and wants to charm the pants off a beautiful girl, quite literally, for a bit of a distraction from his ennui. It transpires, however, that Mia won’t be so easily manipulated- at least not until she’s had another couple of glasses of wine. We learn that she is an e-escort, and that Stephen once, er, used her services shall we say. This doesn’t exactly set things off on the right foot, but one this bombshell has been side-stepped, the two have a startling amount of chemistry on what becomes rather an unconventional date, and there is the suggestion that they might perhaps see each other again.

Each and every story so far has been compelling, engaging and written extremely competently. They’re paced rather unlike typical TV shows, with more of a slow, stagey feel to them. Which can only ever be a good thing in our world of fast edits and quick fix, adrenaline fuelled cuts. Each character is fully fleshed out by the actor in their shoes, with Will Mellor sweet as ever, and Stephen Chaplin sleazy and misunderstood in equal measure. It’s the girls, however, that have really shone so far. Oona Chaplin nails it as the sexy, all-knowing girl about town who, underneath all her sass and bravado, really just wants to be swept off her feet and fall in love. Sheridan Smith is equally perfect as primary school teacher Jenny, suitably awkward as well as totally adorable, despite some of her more unusual tendencies.

Next week sees a lesbian date, an appearance by the extraordinary talented Andrew Scott, and hopefully just more of the same. 

Jen

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TV REVIEW: Game of Thrones - The Rains of Castamere

How are we all dong then? Recovered yet? Able to talk about it with colleagues without yelling "WHYYYYYY?" And if you have no idea what I'm going on about, best avoid this particular post. It contains major spoilers.

Traditionally speaking, the ninth episode of Game of Thrones is a Big Event; in the first season we had unlucky Ned Stark (Sean Bean) beheaded by Joffrey in front of his children and the second season was the excellent Battle of the Blackwater. So what did the ninth episode of the third season have in store for us? The last few episodes have been slightly plodding, but The Rains of Castamere was the big pay-off, possibly more than anyone (especially those who haven't read the books) expected. I've been using the chess metaphor for a while throughout these reviews because that is exactly what this season has felt like, with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss positioning their players ready for this Big Event.

If the last few episodes have been largely about positioning the pieces, well The Rains of Castamere was the chess equivalent of a player having a tantrum, sending the board flying into the air with pieces scattering all over the place. It was the big shake-up that the show had needed and we've now got several characters in vastly different places to where they began the season. At the beginning of the episode, we have Dany (Emilia Clarke) ready to take the city of Yunkai, Jon (Kit Harington) over the Wall with the wildlings, Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) not so far away getting ready to cross the Wall, Arya (Maisie Williams) is getting ever closer to be reuniting with her family and Robb (Richard Madden) is heading for the Twins for a wedding.

The episode predominantly narrowed its focus on the Stark family and was all the better for it, tightening the story and bringing the audience-favourite family heartbreakingly closer together than it has been since the first half of the first season. A pleasant and sorrowful surprise was the scene between Bran and Rickon (Art Parkinson) as their party split; Rickon to head to the Umbers, Stark bannermen, with Osha (Natalie Tena, giving another fantastic performance this week) and Bran to cross the wall with Hodor (Kristian Nairn), Jojen (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) and Meera (Ellie Kendrick). The farewell scene between the brothers was touching and sad as Parkinson especially brought forth an innocent emotional performance that inspired more sympathy for Rickon than I've felt before.

The scene was also heartbreaking in the group's proximity to Jon, attacking the same farm with the wildlings. Finally unable to betray the Stark mentality of honour and mercy, Jon reveals his true self to the wildlings and Ygritte (Rose Leslie) and is attacked by the group. His final parting comment to Orell (MacKenzie Crook) was wonderfully venomous and Harington played the scene well as did Leslie, every bit of Ygritte's sense of betrayal etched across her face as Jon rode away. It is also the closest that Jon has come to his brothers since he left for the Wall and it was great to see Bran (now in full possession of his warg abilities) do his bit to save Jon's life, taking over Summer and Shaggy Dog and seeing his brother yet unable to do anything else.

Elsewhere, we had Arya continuing her journey with the Hound (Rory McCann) to the Twins to be reunited with her mother Catelyn (Michelle Fairley) and her brother Robb. Again, the Stark sense of mercy and honour was on display when Arya prevented the Hound from killing an old man on the road who had seen them. Frequently, Williams is paired with much older actors and completely holds her own against them, leading to some wonderful scenes. Last season, it was with Charles Dance as Tywin, this season it has been with Paul Kaye's Thoros, Richard Dormer's Beric Dondarrion and now with the Hound. Williams has long been one of the best actors in the show and she demonstrated it again here; Arya is a little ball of fury tempered by fear, a fact that does not escape the Hound. Obviously, her worst fears are realised here as she gets to the Twins at exactly the wrong time, but I shall return to that shortly.

With this focus on the Stark family, the inclusion of Dany's storyline felt a little incongruous with the grime of the rest of the episode and it seemed as if it had been placed there out of necessity to wrap up that particular narrative as soon as possible. However, it did have one of the best choreographed fight scenes we have yet seen on the show as Jorah (Iain Glen), Daario (Ed Skrein) and Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) infiltrated Yunkai and were set upon by a cohort of guards. Almost effortlessly, each man fought with a different fighting style, accurately conveying the different backgrounds and upbringings of the characters without going into expositionary detail. It was expertly done and a thrill to watch. I also enjoyed Dany's snub of Jorah in favour of the considerably more dashing Daario; one to watch that one.

And so we must turn to the other thread of the episode, the one that on first glance would not seem to herald the drama of the other narrative strands. After all, we've already the conquering of Yunkai and Jon versus the wildlings. What else could the show possibly offer us in the wedding of Edmure Tully (Tobias Menzies)? In short, death. And lots of it. For us book readers, this episode marked a relief, something I shall talk about more in a follow-up post, but for the people who had no idea  that the Red Wedding was going to happen, it must have been quite the scene. It was, quite simply, the most shocking moment in the show's history.

Returning to the chess metaphor, the Red Wedding was the moment in which the stalemate between Robb and Tywin was broken, not honourably in open play, but through a sleight of hand, turning allegiances without broadcasting it. Director David Nutter handled the moment, in all its carnage, beautifully as the band began to play The Rains of Castamere marking the shift in tone. The brutality of the scene was unlike anything we have yet witnessed in the show, particularly the vicious stabbing of Talisa (Oona Chaplin), designed to specifically target her unborn child.

However, it was the performances that made this scene all that it was and more. David Bradley has just made Walder Frey the most hated man in Westeros, possibly even outdoing Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) on this occasion. He was so wonderfully offhand about the whole thing that it just made you hate him even more. Richard Madden has been a strong actor throughout this series, conveying Robb's nobility and resolve, but also his helplessness in a war that he should have been winning. The expression on his face when he saw his wife murdered was chilling, the battle to get to her with his body shot through with arrows was admirable. His simple statement of 'Mother' was enough to reduce me to tears. 

And then there is Michelle Fairley at the centre of it with a performance so gut-wrenching I actually sobbed out loud after her wail. That wail. The desperate howl of a mother who has just lost everything. Fairley has, like many of the cast members, been a strong but quieter addition to the Game of Thrones cast, but here she shone, capturing the bleak torment and inevitability of Cat's situation in that one, heartbreaking wail. To have that followed by an entirely silent credit sequence was a master-stroke by Nutter. 

We were all too shocked to process anything else.

- Becky

You can read Becky's review of the previous episode, Second Sons, here.

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