Netflix's The Fall - Gillian Anderson (1 Viewer)

[Brett_M]

I watched Gillian Anderson on Jimmy Fallon promoting this. I was binge watching it and it ended abruptly - I expected 10 to 13 episodes and there are only 5. I hope they return with more episodes.

Anyway, it is a great police procedural. Quiet and atmospheric, tense and deliberately paced, it is full of interesting characters. It's parallel narrative is unique.

I won't say anything more. It's worth a look.

NOTE: Just realized it's not a Netflix original but a BBC production.

 

[mattCR]

Yeah, it aired on BBC a while back, I think I posted about it in the international thread. It's not bad.. it gets pretty good toward the end. The first episode is a great one

 

[Brett_M]

Yeah, it aired on BBC a while back, I think I posted about it in the international thread. It's not bad.. it gets pretty good toward the end. The first episode is a great one

Agreed. I was totally bummed that there were only 5 episodes.

 

[The Drifter]

Several years ago, I watched The Fall Series 1 & 2 on Blu, and Series 3 via streaming. Incredible BBC thriller. Surprised it hasn't gotten more discussion here. It didn't take that long to watch, and at the same time the storyline didn't seem at all compressed/rushed. Extremely well-done series.

Being a huge X-files fan, it was nice to see Gillian Anderson in a somewhat similar role - in this case, she's an LE investigator in the UK, and affects an authentic British accent.

Spoiler: SPOILER

Also interesting to see her character as very sexual; the scene when she propositioned that one young officer she had just met - and later slept with in her hotel room that night - was somewhat of a surprise. Agent Scully would never have acted like that - LOL.

The show itself is extremely disturbing, and involves a serial killer. The forensic elements appear to be extremely well-done & authentic.

Series 1:

I liked the fact that at the end of S1,

Spoiler: SPOILER

the serial killer hadn't been caught yet. His covering up his crime & leaving the area was a surprise. Also surprising that the killer as a family man who loves his wife & kids, and has a job as a counselor - and that he's able to keep the two "lives" separate. Most of the serial killers in real life & in previous TV shows/movies are pathetic losers, though some have been married.

Going along with this, it was interesting that the identity of the serial killer was made obvious at the very beginning of the series, instead of leaving it a mystery. This didn't take away from the effectiveness of the show at all, and instead made it more disturbing - i.e., seeing this guy be a regular "family man" and working as a bereavement counselor, while doing horrific things "after hours".

Series 2:

Extremely disturbing storyline re: the cat & mouse game that the serial killer was playing with the LE;

Spoiler: SPOILER

though, you could tell they would eventually catch him, you just didn't know how it was going to happen ahead of time.

One of the favorite sequences was towards the end of S2, when the killer thought he was going to escape after he was attacked by the irate husband & the subsequent shoot out - and then was taken into custody after he left the cordoned-off area.

Going along with this, the sub-plot re: having the husband of one of the killer's "customers" at the bereavement center be enraged at him was a brilliant plotline; this culminated in the husband shooting him & the LE officer when they were looking for Rose Stagg in the woods. Excellent finale here, and the killer's serious injuries led to the tense hospital sequences in the beginning of S3.

Series 3:

This final series just illustrates several issues I have with the criminal justice system in general:

Spoiler: SPOILER

1) There was a lot of money & time spent on saving the serial killer's life (at the hospital) after he had been shot by the irate husband. This is despite the fact that he had committed many horrific crimes; the GA character wanted him alive so he could stand trial for his crimes - however, he was getting better medical treatment than a lot of poor people do - despite the fact that many of these poor people have never committed crimes.

Who was paying for this killer's medial treatment?! Neither the killer nor the killer's family was - so, it was obviously the taxpayers, of course.

2) Some criminals who commit horrific crimes are treated as "mentally ill" and coddled as a result, when they instead should be treated as violent criminals. I.e., in this show the serial killer should have been in a maximum security prison from the beginning, not in a minimum security mental hospital.

Even after he attacked the GA character and the young LE officer at the interview near the end, he still ended up back at the hospital - where he killed another inmate & viciously attacked a doctor - before killing himself.

However, none of this would have happened if he had been in a maximum security prison from the beginning.

3) Defense attorneys who are only in it for the money/fame. Obviously everyone out there - no matter their crime - deserves to be represented. However, as illustrated in S3 here, there are some out there who are only interested in representing someone for the fame/notoriety a case will bring them - even if they are 100% sure the defendant is guilty.