Apparitions, Ep 2

[tree_and_leaf]

Dear show: if you're going down the Philip Pullman line, I will be a bit disappointed though, given that the Demonic Power was simultaneously claiming that Satan was stronger than God and that they were ZOMG OPPRESSED! by God tyrannically condemning them to the fires of Hell, I'm currently inclined to take its words with a pinch of salt. Especially given that the demon's claim that causing the Holocaust is OK because God was mean to them shows a rather shaky grasp of ethics...

Nice variant on the locked room mystery, though I am Not Pleased that Sister Anne got killed off. I liked her. But then I liked Vimal, too. Curse you, show, for making me care about characters and then offing them in distressing ways!

Also, the only thing that Fr Jacob is worse at than grasping basic points of police procedure is tying knots, which one would have thought would be a disadvantage in his line of work. (He also continues to be somewhat arrogant, and chronically unable to say things that it might be sensible to say, such as 'I didn't think the fact that Vimal was gay meant that he was possessed') Possibly he is well-suited to exorcism because demons tend not to benefit from the softer side of pastoral skills? Also, his planting evidence on the murderer is a little bit dubious, ethically speaking, even - especially? - as the Met's finest appeared to have worked it out for themselves anyway.

Meanwhile, Creepy Cardinal gets even more creepy, and while I know Friday is no longer an automatic fast, fish with a 1983 Barolo strikes me as trying to have it both ways. Also, there's something really, really weird about the little girl they saved from possession the previous week.

The trailer looks most peculiar: saints possessing rapists? Something doesn't quite add up...

On a side note, it strikes me that when US TV does horror/ hunters-vs-demons, it gives us Supernatural, with two hot young men and a sexy car, and attractive women (even if I understand that some of them are actually demons). The BBC, in a parallel case, gives us a crumpled late-middle-aged man in a dog collar (and no car), demons who are possessing middle management types or tramps, or are in league with elderly church functionaries, and absolutely no eye candy for anyone of any persuasion, not even in terms of vestments.

Actually, I think this speaks for the BBC, but it's an interesting difference.

Comments

[wychwood]

Actually, I think this speaks for the BBC, but it's an interesting difference.

I had the same response to Ultraviolet, actually - it was just such a very British show. Everything was a bit grubby, and it was kind of... gritty, but without being GOSH SO DARK, and the characters were attractive but not supernaturally good-looking.

Don't get me wrong; I do love a number of US shows which *are* very American, but it's always nice to see the British equivalents, because they tend to feel more realistic, or at least as though there's a smaller gap between TV World and my world.

[tree_and_leaf]

Come to think of it, you get the same phenomenon on a lot of cop shows (even Life on Mars). Even when British telly is being fantastic, it seems to prefer to be 'fantastic in an everyday setting'. Doctor Who probably fits the same pattern, especially the older stuff and especially when compared to Star Trek...

[owl]

Like the new layout! And your analysis of Auntie Beeb's style.

[tree_and_leaf]

Thank you! I thought it was time for something (a) different and (b) easier to read.

I just wish I knew how to get rid of the tags that have got typos in them and have thus only been used once (mostly I edited them in the entry straight away, but the tag seems to stay in the list).

[owl]

You can manage tags at the Mange Tags page. (It comes under Journal in Horizon and Vertigo.) Here's the tags FAQ so you can read everything about them. :)

[tree_and_leaf]

Oooh! Thank you!

(I know: I should have thought of checking for an FAQ for myself....)

[themolesmother.livejournal.com]

I'm now longing to see this show. Unfortunately, satellite telly is well beyond our budget at the moment and iPlayer won't let us view it as we're not UK-based. I live in hope of an International version coming up soon.

Interesting point about the Brit vs US approach to horror (and telly in general). I couldn't see a US version of Dr Who recruiting Catherine Tate as a companion, for example. That said, there's something to be said for the Yank way of doing things (Dean Winchester, Mmmmmmm!!!!).

MM

[tree_and_leaf]

I think it's nice to have both, myself.

iPlayer is infuriating. I was lucky last year, in that I had a university vpn, so the Beeb thought I was in the UK, but unfortunately my web connection was so slow it wasn't viable in terms of bandwidth...

ETA: and yes, the show's great fun. I am fully expecting it to tip over into camp absurdity at some point soon, but thus far they're doing very well, so maybe they'll keep surprising me!

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

It is a very interesting difference, and I rather like the normal aspect -- one of the things that bugs me about US television is that in so many cases, they expect the audience to believe that what's going on is 'normal', when we know people aren't normally that attractive or live in flats that nice in New York City.

I have enjoyed what bits of Supernatural I've seen, mind you (at least in part because they often focus on random bits of the US that are never seen on television, but also for eye-candy purposes).

Is Apparitions on iPlayer, then? I'll have to give it a try.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I remember a line in the last episode of Friends - something about a grandmother and rent control - which explained how these often erratically employed people could have lived in such a central apartment in one of the most expensive cities in the world...

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes. My sister technically lives in a rent-controlled building, but that's because she's at university. I didn't think there was such a profusion of rent-controlled buildings in Manhattan. ;)

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I think that's why the grandmother reference was there, as a family connection going back a couple of generations made the rent control explanation more credible - just about.

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, and all the episodes seem to be available for the next month (I'm actually an episode behind - episode three was transmitted yesterday).

I've never seen any Supernatural, but then I'm a coward (also, I tried watching it in Germany, and it was really badly dubbed).

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Well, for what it's worth, there was only one episode that truly scared me, and it was titled 'Bugs', so you can probably guess very quickly why. ;) There are a number of creepy episodes, but I quite enjoy those.

I think I'll give it a try tonight, after I've caught up on Little Dorrit.

[mk-tortie.livejournal.com]

I thought you were talking about Strange for a moment there and got a bit excited... oh well! I was so sad when they cancelled that after one series. I'll have to go check Apparitions out on iPlayer though, it sounds intriguing!

[tree_and_leaf]

Strange? New one on me.

Apparitions is fun, if gruesome, and as I said, I expect it to get very silly soon, but I'm enjoying it thus far....

[mk-tortie.livejournal.com]

Strange was a BBC show about 6 years ago with Richard Coyle and Samantha Janus about an ex-priest who hunts demons and also had to fight off some other evil priests and monks whilst doing so. It was pretty amazing in my opinion!!

[tree_and_leaf]

I like the fact that Our Hero in Apparitions, is still a member of the church, though I have a feeling that may not last...

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Strage never quite worked for me; it was by David Renwick, like Jonathan Creek, and featured Ian Richardson as the ambiguously restrictive senior priest who wanted to check Strange's demon-hunting. It was very slow, had little meaningful interaction between the characters IMO, and often came across as Buffy without the jokes.

[tree_and_leaf]

Hm... despite the fact that Ian Richardson being ambiguous would normally sell me on something, I think I'll give that a miss.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Other people thought it was wonderful, so don't take my perhaps prejudiced ("If they can make this, they can make Doctor Who") view at face value...