Boxset Binge #9 - The End of the F***ing World

Adapted from the indie comic series of the same name by Charles S. Forsman the series follows 17 year old James (Alex Lawther) who believes he’s a psychopath and fellow classmate Alyssa (Jessica Barden) who has her own issues including a problematic home life which includes being sexually harassed by her stepfather. Wanting to escape their problems the pair set out on a spontaneous road trip / crime spree.

Switching between it’s two leads who take turn to narrate the story its clear from the start that both James and Alyssa are outsiders. James more obviously as he keeps to himself while observing his fellow students as he attempts to find the perfect victim to evolve his growing psychotic tendances which thanks to some Wes Anderson style framing (which sadly isn't carried past the pilot episode) we see has until now been restrained to various animals. Alyssa on the other side of things feels that she can’t connect with anyone around her as her so called friends want to talk to each other through text messages even when they are sitting across from each other. Equally with her explosive temper and general Don’t give a shit attitude especially with her mother seemingly more focused on living her life of domestic bliss to seemingly notice anything that’s happening with her daughter.

Thrown together the series initially is more focused on wether James will kill Alyssa or not, especially as his every other thought early on seems to be having fantasies of him killing her, but surprisingly its once the series moves past this and focuses instead on these two lost souls finding themselves through each other that the story really starts to find it’s grove with the pair finding themselves soon on the run from the law after a run in with an actual psychopath end messily.

Both Lawther and Barden are great as the leads and really manage to make this unlikely relationship work though the character of James does suffer from being at times limited especially for the first half of the series were he’s essentially limited to his psychotic fantasies and while his character is more redeemed in the second half of the series especially when we find out more about his troubled past. Alyssa however remains a fun and feisty character throughout especially when she’s seemingly unable to find any situation she can’t find someone to fallout with or to subject to her wrath.

Outside of the pairs Bonnie and Clyde antics, the show receives strong support from an interesting mix of characters in particular Gemma Whelan and Wunmi Mosaku as the detectives trying to track down James and Alyssa, while dealing with their own relationship being strained by a misguided advance but like everything in this series nothing should be taken on first impressions and this is certainly the case here as well and to watch them evolve over the course of the series only makes the world more believable as characters are given ample time to be fleshed out into multi-level characters rather than just being included to give a sense of tension to James and Alyssa’s journey.

Certainly this is one of the more unique series of last year it went largely unnoticed despite receiving a strong advertising push. Recently though the series got picked up by Netflix which is possibly the platform that it needs, especially as this fast paced black comedy is still worth discovering.

Boxset Binge #8 - Wanna Be The Strongest In The World

As of the time of writing we have just wrapped up another “Wrestlemania” which if your a wrestling fan is one of those events you wait all year for and with the WWE going all out to ramp up the spectacle its also one of the few shows even people who don’t usually watch wrestling the rest of the year will tune in for. With this in mins what better time to check out this wrestling anime.

Featuring one of the more random plot lines I’ve encountered as Haguwara Sakura a member of the girl / Idol group “Sweet Diva” decides to take revenge against the wrestler Rio who insulted her and her fellow idols by challenging her to a wrestling match. Arguably not the brightest of plans as she soon discovers herself with Rio easily beating her in their match. Now rather than just write off the whole experience Sakura instead decides to become a pro-wrestler and begins training with the all female wrestling company “Berserk” so that she can challenge Rio to a rematch.

Classified as an “Ecchi” anime which for those not up on your anime terminology means that its essentially a Softcore Hentai so big on fan service but without any of the uncomfortable sex scenes which lets face it a lot of the uninitiated assume that all anime is about. Still it would have perhaps would have been nice to get some kind of warning about what exactly I was going to get into as the fan service levels throughout this series are gratuitous to say the least.

Sakura is an instantly likeable lead for the series especially as she approaches everything with such a positive slant which really comes in handy for her especially when she spends the first half of the series being beaten down and forced to submit by every opponent she faces, with one of the commentators noting her losing streak of over 60 losses and yet somehow her devoted fans still continue to cheer her on, which lets face it regardless of if your the most lovable jobbler its hard to think that any audience is still going to be cheering for you when your rocking that kind of losing streak.

Entering into a gruelling training regime though Sakura is soon learning such valuable wrestling lessons as how to escape from submission holds and find a finishing move, all things that you would have thought that she would have figured out before stepping in the ring rather than seemingly just trying to wing it as a professional wrestler as seems to be her plan for the first half. Of course in the best sporting drama tradition by the time we are into the second half she is essentially a wrestling pro and able to defeat any of the grizzled pro’s who cross her path as the series build up to her matches against the world champion wrestler Jackal as well as the mysterious masked wrestler “Blue Panther”.

One of the strangest aspects of the show is how wrestling isn’t portrayed as a pre-determined contest but instead here is shown as an actual physical contest of fighting ability. Sure you still have to pin or make you opponent submit but seemingly no one is pulling any punches and also the reason that Sakura amasses such a losing streak as no sadist booker could really schedule her to loose that much. The actual wrestling though is exciting throughout the series though perhaps focusing a tad too much on submission moves which also serve to provide the majority of the fan service here.

Here in lies of the main issues with the series as the fan service here isn’t just the occasional panty shot but lingering crotch shots, while the competitors wrestle in the most flimsy of outfits which they constantly threaten (but never do) to spill out of. This combined with the whimpering cries of pain frequently coming from Sakura really can leave you feeling kind of sleazy watching the show, while I know just writing this now that I’m no doubt completely selling this to another sub-section of anime fan, but so is the nature of the beast when it comes to anime.

This is far from the deepest anime out there but at only 12 episodes and it certainly has its flaws such as the overwhelming and arguably unnecessary fan service but it still makes for an enjoyable filler between shows and especially if you can’t face another 112+ episode arc and while it might tease what the prospect of a second season at the time of writing one has yet to happen though personally I would certainly be down for a second round.

Boxset Binge #7 - Girls Und Panzer

Perhaps because it’s been awhile since I’d watched any anime that I felt myself drawn to check out this series,  which also has the distinct advantage over most other anime of being a mere 12 episodes compared to the 100+ episodes that most series seem to be stretched out currently.

Set in a world were schools are based upon converted aircraft carriers and Tankery is a class which can be taken alongside flower arranging and tea ceremonies. Now arriving at Oarai Girls Academy it’s a world that Miho is looking to escape from despite her family’s legacy with the sport as the result of an incident during a match for her previous school Kuromorimine Women’s College which left her traumatised and reluctant to compete in the sport again.  Unlike her previous school though Oarai hasn’t fielded a tankery team in over twenty years and in a case of bad luck for Miho has now decided to reboot its program despite only having a ramshackle collection of old WW2 tanks.

Now essentially forced to compete again, Miho teams up with her new friends which include the boy crazy Saori, the gentle Hana, the tank obsessed Yukari and lethargic yet genius Mako who manages to learn how to drive a tank minutes after scanning through a handy instruction manual. The other tank crews of course being none the less thrown together with each tank being fielded by a different social group including the student council, a disbanded volleyball team who give all their commands like they are on a volleyball court, a group of history buffs who all dress like different famous generals and a trio of frenzied hall monitors who perhaps take their duties alittle too seriously.  Needless to say they all manage to embrace their roles on the team, much like Miho who soon rises to become a skilled tactician as the series goes on.

This is an anime which essentially rests on the idea of its audience getting behind schoolgirls engaging in tank battles for sport if controlled ones were they strike at each with impressive looking explosions which surprisingly never kill anyone taking part. Equally this show somehow manages to switch between gentle light hearted comedy and intense drama during the tank battles especially when the girls constantly find themselves being outnumbered by the teams fielded by the rival schools especially with their seemingly being no rules on the amount of tanks any team can field in a match.

The tank battles are truly the highlight of this show with these scenes combining high angle shot with views though the tank’s rangefinder to great effect. At the same time with each opponent the girls face providing their own tactics it ensures that the battles are constantly exciting to watch, more so when they often rest on a skillfull play from Miho to gain the win. The fact that they are played so seriously only coming as more of a surprise especially when the teams are shown customising their tanks to match their personalities when they first get them, only to suddenly and without reason become uniformed as soon as they enter the Tankery tournament .

The tanks for the most part are animated with a sense of realism to them however the limitation of this are frequently thrown out of the window when required as she frequently see tanks moving with the same kind of grace and drifting skills not seen since the likes of “Dominion Tank Police”. Despite these far-fetched moments of super skilled tank driving it somehow manages to not seem to fantastical and instead only adds to the excitement of the action scenes, even if we know that there’d be zero chance of such things working in real life.  

Outside of the battles scenes the series tends to fall apart slightly with many of the characters being given little to no depth outside their surface colourful characters, with many being known better for the group they belong to or their looks than any kind of personal qualities. Elsewhere plotlines are equally less developed with Miho’s family issues being quickly wrapped up despite being introduced as a major plotline for the series. That being said the series moves at an enjoyable pace and helps to gloss over a lot of the flaws as you instead find yourself looking forward to the next battle rather than what’s happening outside of the tournament.

While everything is wrapped up in this series it still has left me interested to see more and while the recent spin off film picks up after the series, I’d still be keen to see another short series like this to further utilise these characters and unique premise. At the same time its light nature and limited episode run makes it a non-threatening starting place for the non-anime fan looking for something a little different.

Boxset Binge #6 - Braquo (Season 1 & 2)

Currently it would seem that the American drama powerhouses such as HBO and Showtime are the ones currently dominating the market when it comes to quality TV drama and as a result when it comes to picking new shows to watch, that I often find myself opting for the American presentations, especially when the quality of the acting and especially the writing has frequently proven, that they are the ones truly setting the benchmark for TV drama. More so when you consider the abysmal BBC productions being churned out with predictable writing and often with production values which would make even the SYFI movie of the week blush, while further frustration only being caused by their refusal to attempt anything risqué (unless it features lesbians) for fear of reprisal (just look at the current state of “Doctor Who” for a prime example of their shortcomings), leaving the likes of Channel 4 Productions and more recently Sky Productions to provide even the slightest hope that the TV drama market might not now be an American dominated arena.  Still it is as I make such sweeping statements that this French drama would appear seemingly from nowhere and turn everything on its head.

Now before you go any further I should warn of potential spoilers ahead, due to the fact that this review is covering both seasons of the show as one uber boxset binge.

Set around a squad of tough and frequently rulebook-ignoring cops, led by Eddy Caplan (Jean-Hugues Anglade), who acts like a father figure to the other members of his squad which include the drug-addled and volatile Theo (Nicolas Duvauchelle), the Man Mountain and chronic gambler Walter (Josepth Malerba) and the feisty and permanently leather jacket clad Roxane (Karole Rocher). Working frequently in the grey area between the police and criminals, their methods constantly question which side of the law they belong to while sharing an unbreakable bond to keep their off-the-book mission from their superiors. Season one sees the team, attempting to clear the name of their former colleague and squad leader Max, who commits suicide after being wrongly accused of corruption. Season two see’s Caplan being sent undercover to infiltrate a gang of former mercenaries known as “The Invisibles”, who have stolen 400 kilos of gold, while adjusting to the fallout from the events at the end of season one.

 

Created by the former cop turned director Olivier Marchal, who previous drew on his experiences to bring us films like  “A Gang Story” as well as the incredible and painfully overlooked “36”, with this series truly being the acumination of his work so far as he appears here on directing and writing duties to craft a truely gritty police drama, which has already drawn comparisons to both “The Shield” and “The Wire” and despite being short seasons with each one consisting of eight episodes, it never feels as if anything is being sacrificed due to lack of run time and if anything only feels like a tighter and much faster paced show than some of it’s American contemporaries which generally clock in around 21 episodes per season. With such a tight schedule, Marchal has the advantage of being able to suddenly drop in moments of actions, rather than having to spend several episodes building up to them, though never at the same time feeling the urge to telegraph these moments, which frequently come by surprise and even more often without warning.

Caplan’s crew while showing little regard for police procedure are not a lawless band of thugs, even though their actions often put them dangerously close to crossing the line between the police and the criminals they hunt. Still with their unwritten code of honour they do what they must to get the job done, while frequently getting mixed up in the dark Parisian underbelly as Caplan more than once throughout the series makes a deal with the devil in order to further his investigation. As an interesting counterpoint to the often questionable actions of the team is Internal Affairs officer Vogel (Geoffroy Thiebaut), who will do anything to ensure that Caplan is exposed for his laundry list of infractions, while Vogel himself is played out with a suitably villainous edge as he ruthlessly bends the rules to suit his obsessional quest for justice, while only becoming more twisted and dangerous as the series goes on, with his action over the course of the first two seasons only being smaller moves in his much larger game plan, with the finale of season 2 setting him up as truly a key player in the events of season 3, which right now cannot come quick enough.

Vogel however is just one of the many interesting characters, who appear over the course of these first two seasons, making it far from surprising that it has drawn comparisons to “The Wire”, with season 2 being given more time to explore the shady dealings of the Parisian underworld in particular the Arifa gangster family, whose matriarch (Annie Mercer) is possibly one of the more ruthless crime family heads to be seen of late, especially with her psychotic sons on hand to carry out her various wims, while engaging in a bloody turf war with the local Armenian gangsters. Still rather than being a second thread story as it would first appear, their story is soon cleverly woven into the main plot line, especially when Madame Arifa gets involved in a gold trade with The Invisibles whose own motives are the slowly revelled over the course of the second season and proving like so many things in the series that nothing is ever as black and white as it would first seem.

“Braquo” is a high end production throughout with series creator Marchal clearly wanting to prove that French drama is equally comparable to the output of the American drama powerhouses like HBO, while certainly not holding back when it comes to the violence, which while frequently explicit never is on the side of gratuitous or shock value. What is equally refreshing about the series is the fact that it is being broadcast subtitled, rather than being given any kind of questionable dub track and with the talented cast assembled here, it only makes it more of a benefit to be able to watch it in it’s native language, while subtitle haters will no doubt be sweep up like the rest of us in the fact paced drama to really care to much about them, especially when this is one of the few dramas to deserve the honor of being classed as unmissable.

Boxset Binge #5 - Todd and the Book of Pure Evil (Season One)

 

Sadly it has been over eight years since Buffy was last on our screens and frustratingly in the meantime we have been left with no real series to oppose its reign as the all supreme defender against the forces of darkness, let alone fill the void it left in out lives when it ended. Personally I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that we wouldn’t be getting a show to fill that void, even though the Buffy and Angel universes had continued to expand via the graphic novel series, a format which to date has also given us the closest candidate with the incredible “Hack / Slash”. Then one night I stumbled across “Todd and the Book of Pure Evil” on SYFI a series which was not only reminiscent of the glory days of Buffy, but by the end of its first season had also become a strong contender to its throne.

Set around Crowley High, a high school based in a small town secretly founded by Satanists. Its here stoner and lifelong metal head Todd (Alex House) and his one armed best friend Curtis (Bill Turnbull), have teamed up with feisty Goth Jenny (Maggie Castle) and the super intelligent nerd Hannah (Melanie Leishman), to track down the book of evil. A book which not only has a mind of its own, but also grants the wishes of those who process it, often in much darker and sinister ways than they intended.

Based on the short film of the same name written by Max Reid and Craig David Wallace who returned to develop the short into a series alongside Charles Picco and Anthony Leo, while aiming to retain the feel of the original short as he expands on his original idea, as the mismatched team fight a new evil each week as different student stumbles across the blook and in turn unleashing a new terror on the school. Still unsurprisingly for a show being spearheaded by SYFI, this show seems to have flown under the radar of most folks, but when you showing it on a channel better known for DTV movies and questionable series which no one else really wants to show, it’s not going to be too surprising that most folks missed it. I know I for one was surprised that the channel had managed to pick up a show of this quality.

The group of questionable heroes are all born misfits, who have all in one way or another embraced their own individual social statuses, be it through a fierce exterior or sheer delusion, yet the quest for the book unities them together despite their differences, as it forces them to work together as what could be seen as a slightly less polished version of Buffy’s scoobies. However unlike the scoobies, none of them process any kind of special powers or abilities with the sole exception of Hannah’s intelligence, which largely provides the solutions to each weeks problem and in many ways it makes for a refreshing change from just having a group of super powered individuals saving the day each week, while in many ways it almost feels like a throw back to the equally cult and much fondly remembered “Eerie, Indiana”.

One of the main problems for any show of this type will always be trying to find a fresh new way of spinning the material, let alone giving the audience something they haven’t seen done a hundred times before and to this extent, the show delivers in spades for not only is our supposed hero grossly incompetent and more of a danger to himself, but the creatures he that he faces with the rest of the gang are truly the main strength of the show with this 13 episode first season seeing them battling a monster made of human fat, a giant baby aswell as a monster sized talking penis to name but a few, with the show constantly managing to surprise you with each episode with just what they are going to come up with that week. Still it has to be said that compared to Sunnydale High, it is slightly more hazardous to be a student at Crowley high especially if your in possession of the book, as it ultimately marks you out for a grisly demise like a red shirt on “Star Trek”. Still such frequent deaths is but one of the many tricks which the show keeps up its sleeve with the gore quota being one of its key draws, especially as this show certainly has no qualms about killing off characters and even less so if it means that they can do it in some form of spectacularly gory way and with the deaths including a deep fat fryer, being torn apart by a rabid mob and even being crushed by a giant baby, the show really ensure that each episode has atleast one pay off moment

 Despite the surprisingly short episodes for a series of this type, with the episodes only running for 30 mins, it hasn’t stopped the writers from cramming in as much profanity, graphic violence, snappy dialogue and random horror nonsense as possible, in an intoxicating combination which leaves you not only craving the next episode, but also wishing that they were being given a more substantial 45 min run time.

The cast are all great in their various roles, with House and Turnbull making for a great comedy pairing, while completely believable as the clueless stoner heroes. Leavins however is the real draw of the show, with his almost permanent sarcastic tone, especially when dishing out his questionable advice as the school councillor and it was fun to see him go from being a mole for the local Satanists sect to finally becoming one of the team, before finally turning a full 180 by the end of the first season. Still despite having a cast with zero star power, it’s safe to say that like the Buffy cast, it’s likely that they will soon become house names, especially once the show finds the audience it truly deserves, especially with its decidedly cult status at present, though it is great to see Jason Mewes finally getting a regular role as the school cleaner and dispenser of slacker wisdom Jimmy, which allows him to finally break away from his all to well known role as “Jay” in best friend Kevin Smith’s films.

In these days were it constantly feels like you have six or seven different shows on the go, it can be hard to find the time to see every new show, but this is one which is really worth making the time in your viewing schedule for. 

Boxset Binges #4 - Dead Set

Currently here in the UK, they are attempting to flog a dead horse as thanks to zero public demand whatsoever “Big Brother” has been brought back from the TV Graveyard for yet another series, as fame hungry wannabe’s sit around and become voyeur fodder for the general public….well this would usually be the case if anyone was actually watching. Still what better time to finally watch Charlie Brooker’s satire of the Big Brother phenomenon as he brings a horror twist to things by introducing hordes of frenzied zombies.

Set during a fictional season of “Big Brother” (the makers of which bizarrely are also behind this satire), we open on eviction night were the latest housemate is set to leave the house, while meanwhile the Britain is being rocked by widespread riots. Struggling to keep the show running smoothly, show runner Kelly (Jaime Winstone) also has to deal with her foul mouthed and abusive boss Patrick (Andy Nyman). Things only get worse when a man bitten earlier by a zombie breaks into the crowd causing mass infection to breakout as the crowd are quickly infected turning them into a rampaging horde which soon breaks into the studio and turning the Big Brother house into the sole sanctuary from the zombie hordes, while the housemates continue with the show unaware of the chaos erupting outside of the house.




Originally shown weeks after the end of the ninth series of “Big Brother”, Charlie Brooker’s take on the show not only manages to satire the show with his usual sharp humour and keen eye for the smallest of details, but he has also managed to find an original zombie plot, which is certainly no easy task especially with so many zombie films being churned out in the last few years, usually as direct to video efforts and more often than not recycling for the umpteenth time the same tired storylines.

The fictional housemates are very much like their real life counter parts, with Brooker drawing inspiration from several of the more memorable housemates, while the group on the whole are the usual group of fame hungry wannabe’s with perhaps the exception of Joplin (Kevin Eldon) whose is attempting to use the show as his own soapbox for his own views on society. Meanwhile the rest of the group are happily playing up for the cameras while they live blissfully unaware in their own little world, which has been created by the show. Due to their lack of contact with the outside world, they are quick to dismiss Kelly as another task that the producers have set for them and it’s only after Kelly turns a zombie’s head into a pancake using a fire extinguisher, that they finally except that something might be not quite right.

Outside of the housemates, the series also follows Kelly’s boyfriend Riq (Riz Ahmed) who having been left stranded at a train station after his car is stolen is attempting to make it to the studio to reunite with her, also unaware of the chaos erupting at the studio, were Studio boss and general selfish bastard Patrick and recent show evictee Pippa (Kathleen McDermott) are holed up from the zombies currently roaming the studio hallways after the initial rampage has subsided. The three storylines soon becoming entwined into a single story once the groups reunite, but help to give a full picture of the outbreak with Riq teaming up with a fellow survivor Alex (Liz Mae Brice) who certainly is more clued up on the situation than most of the characters, having already gotten hold of a firearm and running on full blown survivor mode, especially shown by the fact she has sourced a rifle which seeing how this is England is certainly not an easy thing, especially with the Firearm laws making guns anything but readily available to members of the general public, which is an aspect sadly not highlighted further, a minor plot niggle not only with this series but any of the previous British Zombie films which came before it.

Brooker has seemingly wrote “Dead Set” to be made on a small budget, especially with the action taking place mainly in two key locations, which are the Big Brother house and the studio, though we do get a few moments of the world outside the studio, via Riq’s own journey with Alex from the train station which takes him through abandoned villages and woods and it’s almost refreshing to not see another attempt at the epic abandoned cityscapes of “28 Days Later” (2002) and by keeping the action in a decidedly rural setting it gives the audience something they haven’t seen done a hundred times before, which when it comes to the zombie genre is no easy task. Still little focus is given to the so called real world outside of these glimpses with the few scenes outside of the studios only furthering the impression that it might be the safest place for them, while helping to give a real sense of isolation from any form of uninfected humanity, while seemingly automated radio broadcasts try to maintain calm amongst the general public, while advising of the country being evacuated to France.

The biggest surprise here though is just how visceral the violence is, especially when it was originally shown as a five part TV series, which would normally mean holding back on the violence, only here it pretty much pushes it way beyond anything we have seen in recent zombie films as these zombies are a real throw back to the gut munchers of the 80’s, as bodies are torn apart as entrails are pulled from torsos with sadistic glee with Brooker openly admitting that he drew inspiration from George A. Romero’s Dead saga, as clearly homaged by one of the characters expletive heavy death which is almost a straight copy of Capt. Rhodes’ death from “Day of the Dead” (1985). The majority of the heavy violence is saved for the rampage finale, which again has a similar feel to the finale of “Dawn of the Dead” (1978), yet Brooker has still managed to craft enough original shocks to make this more than a George Romero highlight reel, as Fire extinguishers, scissors and hatchets are just a few of the makeshift weapons used in the fight against the undead hordes, while also answering the question “Do Zombies enjoy hot tubs?”
Unsurprisingly these are not the same shuffling hordes that Romero favours, but instead the more modern frenzied kind, with “28 Days Later” being a big inspiration clearly for the visual style of the series, especially with the heavy use of handheld cameras and shakily shot footage during the attacks, which proves frequently more distracting than dramatic, but with the amount of gore on display throughout it does at least make up in spades for what your not getting to see.

My main gripe here is with the pacing which might work well when shown in it’s episodic form, but when put into it’s feature length really struggles in the first half with certain scenes feeling more like filler than anything essentially, leaving it feeling in need of trimming down especially with a run time of around two and a half hours making it unintentionally possibly the first zombie epic.

Despite feeling alittle bloated in it’s run time “Dead Set” is still certainly one of the better entries in the Zombie genre in the last couple of years, especially with so many direct to DVD entries only watering down the mythos in much the same way that Paranormal romance is for Vampires, but this series reminds us that there is still life left in the shuffling corpses of the undead.

Boxset Binges #3 - Breaking Bad (Season One)

Opening with the sight of a pair of discarded trousers flying in slow motion through the desert air, we quickly cut to Walter (Bryan Cranston) frantically driving his AV slash mobile drug lab through the desert, wearing nothing bar his underwear and a gas mask and from this moment it’s safe to say that this is one series which really knows how to hit the ground running, as these frantic opening moments are soon followed by a quick video confession, before Walter steps out into the road pistol drawn as the approaching sirens grow ever closer, as he looks set to go out in a blaze of glory, before suddenly cutting back to the beginning of his story, for Walter isn’t just another drug dealer, but a downtrodden high school chemistry teacher, who is struggling to pay the bills and subsidising the money he earns teaching, by working a second job at a car wash for his abusive (and wacky eye browed) Russian boss. Still when Walt finds out he is suffering from terminal lung cancer things seem to be only getting worse for him. Still it’s only after going on a ride along with his brother in Law and DEA officer Hank (Dean Norris) as Hank's team raid a local Meth lab, that Walt suddenly realises there might be a way to solve all his problems.
Soon it’s not long before he’s hooked up with his former students turned Meth dealer Jesse (Aaron Paul), using his extensive chemistry knowledge for a slightly less than legal means.

Created by Vince Gilligan, who fans of “The X files” might recognise, especially as was responsible for not only writing some of the more memorable one shoot / monster of the week episodes across the nine seasons the show ran, but for also helping to wrap up both “The Lone Gunmen” and “Millennium” offshoots with their final episodes disguised as X files episodes and it’s nice to see that rather than retread over similar ground on another sci-fi show, that he has instead taken the natural humour of “The X Files” and transferred it into this first attempt at an original project of his own.

Bryan Cranston who plays Walter is probably best known for playing the hen pecked Hal in “Malcom in the Middle” and to an extent it’s a role he reprises here, to great effect as the downtrodden Walter, who after giving up a promising career to teach high school chemistry is just a guy who seriously can’t get a break and although it’s familiar material for Cranston, it’s his gradual slide to the darker side of his personality, were he truly shines and it’s only later in this first season when these darker moments become more frequent, that it become clearer why the shows creator Vince Gilligan lays on Walters trouble so thickly, for it’s discovering that he has cancer that like Lester's midlife crisis in “American Beauty” (1999), that it creates the trigger point needed to induce a radical switch in personality and Cranston truly sells this role, as he more than convincingly switches between mild mannered Walter the science teacher, while verging on becoming a psycho as he Meth cooking alter ego especially in the final couple of episodes, which is only added to by his newly shaved head.

While watching this first season I found the constant urge to draw comparisons between this show and “Six Feet Under” due to both having a streak of pitch black humour throughout, while being set in a profession not exactly known for being the greatest source of humour, though the majority of this humour like “Six Feet Under” comes from both Walter and Jesse trying to muddle their way into the big leagues of the Meth trade, based more on the quality of the Meth that Walters chemical expertise creates, rather than any kind of “Scarface” (1983) style rise through the ranks, especially when they frequently find themselves out of their depth, while towards the end of this first season soon coming to release exactly how much they need each other.

Something which might raise a gripe with some of you, especially for the more detail orientated is the lack of focus on the addictive nature and effects of meth addiction, which in this world see’s it as the casual drug of choice and no doubt could easily have been replaced with the production of Marijuana and with Walter being a Biologist instead of a chemist, but seeing how “Weeds” cornered that market, the other drug choices are limited with Heroin being still far too taboo and Cocaine too predictable, it seem that Meth was pretty much the only workable option remaining. Still the lack of concern which Walter shows in regards to the people he supplies, is something which is strangely over looked, even when Walter is at his most Naive and straight edged, with Walters only real concerns being the money they are making from the product and hiding this secret double life from his wife.

The other main gripe that comes with this series is all to do with the pacing which is only all the more evident when Walt and Jesse don’t really start cooking Meth seriously until the final episode of the seven episode season, with the other six episodes being looking instead at their misguided beginnings and general clashes of personality, until their grand realisation of how much they need each other, but this still amounts to what seems like a lot of running around, for only the smallest amount of progress, which makes it clear that Gilligan is in no hurry to rush this story along, preferring to concentrate on characterisation than spectacle.

Despite a few gripes, this is overly a great first season and definatly worth giving a look, especially if you’re like me and like a healthy dose of black humour in your drama, while Cranston is riveting as Walter and truly sells the role, while by the end of this first season I was already eager to hunt out season 2 and seeing were the series goes next, especially after the strong foundation setup by this first seasons

Boxset Binges #2 - True Blood (Season 1)

Okay lets start by clearing up a couple of things, the first and most important being I really don’t like vampires, which lets face it are the most humdrum of the horror monster back catalogue and basically an excuse for certain guys to grow their hair long, hang around in trench coats pretending to be all moody and dark....usually failing badly. This opinion is especially driven home, with there being only a few notables exceptions in the genre popping up occasionally, more often than not these films involving said vampire being portrayed by an acting master like Christopher Lee or Bella Lugosi.
The second notable point is the recent explosion in the “Paranormal Romance” genre, since publishers cottoned onto the fact that “Twilight” made a pile of money for Stephanie Meyer, creating a boom in the market as publishers began pumping out ropey romance novels, which no one would usually care about, except perhaps the more hardcore of the mills and boon crowd, but because these story were usually reworked to cram some vampire love interest into the story. From this wreckage of a genre, which we used to commonly refer to as “books for women not getting enough” (thanks to a certain member of our "Stitch and Bitch" knitting circle for pointing that one out) when I was working at Borders, however out of the masses of imitators emerged Charlaine Harris to pick up the fans left wanting more after the end of the Twilight saga with her “True Blood” series, so it was really only a matter of time before someone found a way to cash in on the series, luckily for Harris it was HBO who got in first turning the first book of the series into this first season, with the added advantage of having Alan Ball adapting, who is probably best known for writing both “American Beauty” (1999) aswell as one of my favourite TV shows “Six Feet Under” which if anyone was going to write a show about vampires, that I was actually going to like, it was probably going to be him and maybe explain what the hell it is about vampires, that seems to get women so darn frenzied.
So as I sat down to watch the first season, after hearing all the usual fans talking about how good it was, I have to admit I was sceptical not only about watching the whole boxset, but making it through one episode.

Okay I'll admit it, I really liked this first season, not only for it’s great writing, but for how frequently it managed to surprise me over the twelve episodes, which make up it’s first season which seemed actually quite short, especially when most shows tend to have a twenty four episode season, but seeing how the focus it would seem is on turn each book in the series into a season of the show, it was probably for the best as it saves the material from being stretched too thin, which is always the worry with a straight adaptation.

Set in the small Louisinna town of Bon Temps, the series follows the telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and her relationship with the vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) and their attempt at having a normal relationship, in a society were Vampires have not only been acknowledged as existing, but are now recognised as legal citizens, after the creation of a synthetic blood called "Tru Blood" which has provided an exceptable subsitute for vampires to feed from, along with a supply of willing volunteers, who it seems are in endless supply especially with Vampire sex proving a growing popular craze. Meanwhile a crazed killer is stalking the town, killing women seemingly all connected with Sookie’s oversexed brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten).

For myself one of the strong points of Ball’s work, has always been with the supporting characters, who here are really a colourful bunch, from Sookie’s outspoken best friend Tara (Rutina Wesley) and her cousin Lafayette, who has a hand in most of the illegal dealings in town from working as a Gay Prostitute to selling vampire blood (or V as it’s known) which when taken by humans provides an addictive high, which over the course of the season Jason becomes increasingly addicted to, while getting involved with fellow V junkie Amy (Lizzy Caplan)

One of the most refreshing aspects of the series, is how the vampires arn't just another carbon copy of every other freaking vampire we have seen before and most reconisably aren’t still under the impression that they are in the 1800’s, but just wearing modern clothes, as although the Vampires here might make references to the era’s in which they were turned, with Bill in perticualr having a flashback episode to his former life as a civil war soldier, they are still highly modernised and concerned with current issues, in perticular the discrimination they face, from society in perticular the Zealot Christian group “The Fellowship of the Sun”, with the whole fight for equal rights for Vampires, in places though out the series bearing numerous references to the Gay rights movement, with a sign declaring “God Hates Fangs” appearing in the opening credits, along with the phrase “Coming out of the Coffin” also being mentioned.

Bell already established his love of death and gore with “Six Feet Under” and once again it is present here, with bloody staking and violent deaths, it’s nice to see a mainstream series such as this, not caring whether it is isolating key parts of the Vampire fanbase, especially those with a penchant for sparkly vamps, as thankfully these vampires still have a severe dislike for sunlight, highlighted by the worst rescue attempt ever by Bill and bites are bloody oozing affairs, with the level of violence and gore actually taking me by surprise throughout, having expected to see nothing more violent than what had already been seen in “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” or it’s darker spinoff “Angel”, so kudos on once again bringing gore back to the genre.

I guess my main gripe with the series has to really be with casting hatchet, which is swung far too broadly throughout the first season, as several likable characters fail to make it through this first season, with some of the targets being truly disagreeable and certainly characters I wanted to see more off, while more irritating characters remained. True it might make it all the more interesting not knowing whose gonna make it through each episode, but when you look at the sheer amount of main characters, facing the wrath of the hatchet, it verges on comical and raising more than a few grumbles from myself, as I saw another of my favourite characters removed.
The other grumble with the series has to be with Anna Paquin, whose accent changes in pitch to a nice southern drawl to a pitch which is like a cheese grater in your brain, which is bad for a supporting character, but when it’s your lead actress is kind of more of a problem, still I guess there is the benefit of copious gratuitous nudity, with something for everyone, which will no doubt keep some of you with the series, but then gratuitous nudity does tend to patch over a lot.

So it seems there might be life left in the Vampire genre, which hasn’t been overly romanticised or turned into more sterilised garbage for the masses and despite it’s faults I’m already looking forward to watching the second season, even if I’m now the wiser as to why women are still getting far to excited about vampires, aswell as to see if Ball can continue to build on these foundations he has laid with the first season, or whether it will all fall apart as he gets caught up in the human drama, which essentially was were “Six Feet Under” failed in the later seasons, were it pretty much forgot that it was supposed to be about dead people, though I guess it will be interesting to see whether this show can still keep the interest once the Vampire novelty has worn off, especially with the Paranormal Romance market, only becoming all the more saturated with imitators.

Boxset Binges #1 - The Wire (Season 1)

So come 5am Monday morning, most of the UK will be getting up early, to watch the final episode of “Lost” which is due to be telesynched with our US cousins, as we finally find out the truth after six seasons of twisting plots and misdirection. Well that is everyone bar myself who has only just gotten onto season 4, mainly as a result of “Sky” buying the rights from the terrestrial “channel 4” so I kind of fell behind and got caught up with other shows in its absence. Still in these current times, were good drama is so prominent, which it’s safe to say is nothing to do with the output we have from the studios over here in rainy England, but rather from the American powerhouses such as HBO, who have in recent years turned series into almost mini movies. So drenched is the market with quality series, it has now pretty much reached the point, that you have to decide by the end of the first episode whether your gonna actually commit to the series and try and squeeze it somehow into your no doubt already packed show watching schedule.
I guess it is no surprise because of this that the popularity of the boxset has increased so much, which in many ways is often the best way of watching a series, in one big ole boxset binge, which its safe to say is also probably the best to watch “The Wire” especially, when faced with such a huge cast of characters to memorise, let alone the scope of the series, which covers more ground with its first season, than most series will do in three.

Set in Baltimore, Maryland this vision of the city is a far cry from the happy and slightly warped world, which so many John Waters movies, have lead us to believe it is. Created by former police reporter David Simon, who also created “Homicide: Life on the Streets”, aswell as the mini series “The corner” both of which were based on his books and served as a suitable inspiration for the show, with each of the five seasons taking a different aspect of the city to put under the microscope, with this first season looking at the low rise projects known as “The Pit” were D’Angelo Barksdale (Larry Gilliard Jr.) has just been demoted from his position in the high rises to the pit, by his crime boss uncle Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris), after shooting a dealer in front of a civilian during a confrontation, a murder he is acquitted of after a key witness changes their story, bringing him to the attention of detective Jimmy McNaulty (Dominic West), who is recognised as a good detective, while at the same time constantly seen as a pain in the ass by his superiors, due to his constant highlighting of the department failings, especially when it comes to investigating Barksdale’s criminal activities during his conversations with Judge Phelan (Peter Gerety), who inturn embarrasses McNaultys superiors into creating a detail to investigate these activities, with a focus on the dealings happening at “The Pit”, using a mixture of surveillance as well as the wiretaps which the series takes its name from.

One of the most common problems I have found that people, including myself have with this series is the sheer amount of characters and depth of the story, which can leave you kind of confused as to what is actually happening, especially for the first few episodes, which is were most people tend to faze out and it’s not something that’s helped by the shows refusal to constantly repeat itself, like so many other crime shows, which tend to highlight the important information, by having characters frequently talking about the same things, or through heavy use of flashbacks and voice over, all of which are noticeable absent here, as subjects are usually only repeated when new information is found which links to it, forcing you to listen closely to conversations, which is another reason why the boxset is really the best way to watch the show, allowing for you to go back and relook at some conversation or scene, you might have missed out on, during the first viewing.
At the same time you can’t help but admire the scope which Simon has incorporated into the series, refusing it seems to focus on just one side of the story, as the action not only switches between the police, but Barksdale’s crew aswell with the main focus of their side of the first season, being his nephew D’Angelo and his attempts to work his way out of “The Pit”, while being forced to deal with the bumbling nature of the crew he is forced to work with. Still not content it would seem with these two aspects of the story, Simon expands the scope further to include informants such as the junkie Bubbles (Andre Royo), whose battle to get clean is also a key focus of the first season, aswell as the loose cannon Omar (Michael K. Williams), a sawn off shotgun carrying, gay stick up man with an axe to grind against anyone involved with Barksdale, after a revenge hit is carried out on his lover, in retaliation to Omar robbing one of Barksdales stash houses. These two characters in particular prove to be key characters in this first season, while also helping to fill in the gaps in this world, which Simon has created and helping to provide a fuller picture, rather than keeping the focus purely on one area or the other, even if it does at times make it hard to see how everything links up, but these supporting characters aren’t filler as Simon cleverly manages to link everyone together, as you soon realise that every character is part of the same bigger picture and a reminder that not everything is as black and white as it seems.

Despite not being big on physical action, despite the occasional burst of violence which appears mainly towards the end of this series, it still manages to remain highly griping as the crews on both sides of the law, battle for their survival, with McNaulty and his fellow officers working the wire, having to constantly work against the superiors who are keen to shut the operation down and Barksdale’s crew constantly trying to stay one step ahead of the law, with smart dialogue used to drive the action forward, with the show being packed with numerous memorable and subtle scenes, which help the show to stand out from the numerous others, which prefer to rely more on the action, while with “The Wire” we get great scenes such as D’ Angelo using a chess game, to emphasis his work ethic and views on this world he is part of, a scene of such subtly and metaphorical for their situation, it is doubtful that other crime shows would be bold enough to even attempt it.






From the outset thirteen episodes might seem like a brief run for a season, but it certainly doesn’t feel like your getting short changed in any way, especially with the story being so rich and in depth, it almost feels as if it was any longer, it would run the risk of being bloated, rather than helping make anything easier to follow, though it is clear by the end of the final episode that the series still has plenty of options, for were to go next, even though had the show not got passed this first season, it would have still felt complete and not as if things have suddenly been brought to a grinding halt, like so many series cut brutally short.

Despite the smart writing and fantastic characters, the series has ended up becoming kind of an underground hit, as despite constant praise from the critics, the networks and lousy scheduling have prevented it in many ways from being a bigger show than it was and it’s really through word of mouth that this show has gained the majority of it popularity, despite having now long since finished, its still talked about like a new show, so personally I’d recommend on this occasion you believe the hype as this is one show thoroughly worth making some time on the viewing schedule for.