Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

BBC's (Soon to be Netflixed) Bodyguard

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    BBC's (Soon to be Netflixed) Bodyguard

    Thought it was alright, sometimes super tense (usually involving people with interesting vests) , sometimes super cringe worthy - no sex please we're Brexiters etc...Not overly complicated plots, lots of potential villains, and the old king of the north stepping up to the next level.
    Nice to see a weekly slot, not (yet) on a major streaming format that people talk about, and looking forward to the following episode.

    NB The Previously on... bits at the start showed some VERY big heavy lifting on clues of what to come, almost spoilers in some cases.

    #2
    Watched the first episode to see what the fuss was about. Not my cup of tea.

    Comment


      #3
      I thought it was probably one of the best of these types of things recently . The main thing was that it was just the right side of stupidly having to suspend your disbelief. I mean obviously all these things have to be full of ridiculous coincidences to work but this had no more than your average (or even very good) Bond movie. However, there wasn't any Homeland or 24 instances where you just turn the TV off. There was certainly enough moments of suspense (the elongated vest one that you mention even with the ludicrous walk to Camden). There were enough surprises last night with everyone kept guessing until the end which is what you want out of one of these dramas. The ones I have watched to compare it recently were Undercover which was half a good story and half a ludicrous story but well acted and The Night Manager which was camper, not quite as well acted but a much better story (than Undercover). I'd put The Bodyguard about the same as The Night Manager if not a bit above as the surprises were more, well, surprising. I also thought that the surprise death in the middle of the series added more jeopardy to the key scene last night (if that makes sense). Just found out that last night's was the most-watched (live, I assume) TV programme in a decade and deservedly so. Rubbish ending, of course, and I certainly don't want to see a sequel (although I think there is one) but well done to the BBC for producing this and The Nigh Watchman.

      Good point about the clues in the Previously on... part but I didn't really pick up on it and I am usually good at guessing the ends to these things.

      Comment


        #4
        Bodyguard was entertaining, but the whole thing left me thinking less of Jed Mercurio as a writer.

        I've really liked Line of Duty so far, and even though it does repeat itself and recycle situations and tropes, until now I've just assumed it's the price you pay for having four series of something. The same show with the same characters is bound to go over old ground at some point.

        Jed Mercurio had a completely fresh start with Bodyguard, but I was shocked at how often it reused the Line of Duty template:

        SPOILERS BELOW!

        1) A Police Officer main character (Steve Arnott/David Budd) played by a diminutive, grumpy Scottish man who can't act (Martin Compston puts on a bizarre Cockney accent in Line of Duty)
        2) The main character has come down from a job in Army/Police to a supposedly less involved one (Soldier to Bodyguard and Anti-Terrorism to Corruption)
        3) The main character has sex (or is alleged to) with a character played by Keeley Hawes
        4) The intentions of the character played by Keeley Hawes towards the main character are unclear, and it seems like she is deceiving him
        5) The main character has suspicion cast on his account of a serious incident by other Police Officers
        6) Every strand or twist in the plot is moved along by a character staring at a computer screen for five minutes, then looking shocked/angry as they discover a secret about another character
        7) A character transfers investigation of an incident to another department, making everyone suspicious
        8) The Police follow a false lead about a fatal bombing/shooting
        9) A bad guy working at the top is pulling the strings
        10) A main character gets 'shockingly' killed off when you don't expect it (Keeley Hawes in Bodyguard and Danny Mays in Line of Duty)
        11) A number of characters in high-end positions (politicans/Police) whose intentions are unclear at the end of the series, setting up a new one perfectly
        12) The actual bad guys set the main character up and make his Police colleagues think he's the real bad guy

        It was remarkable how similar it felt. At some points during Bodyguard, I genuinely thought you could replace some of the characters with ones from Line of Duty and nobody would notice.

        Comment


          #5
          Garcia was watching this recently and I asked him if it was any good, and he said, you're not going to believe the number of terrorist attacks that the UK has to deal with in this show.

          Comment


            #6
            Glad to read other posters' dissatisfaction with this series. It just seemed like the BBC celebrated its own greatness and many people bought it.

            SPOILER ALERT

            The last episode was just nonsense and really didn't require any knowledge of previous episodes: fella wakes up in a suicide vest; needs to take it off but doesn't know who to trust. Traitor is a lady introduced in the final episode, crook is woman caught in the first episode.

            It was watchable, but the plot was ropey and it's made me question just how good Line of Duty really is, which can also suffer from far fetched finales, but nothing like Bodyguard.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by steveeeeeeeee View Post
              SPOILER ALERT
              ...
              Traitor is a lady introduced in the final episode
              Eh? She's been in every episode of the series, in fact she's one of the first characters we're introduced to in the first episode.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Fussbudget View Post
                Eh? She's been in every episode of the series, in fact she's one of the first characters we're introduced to in the first episode.
                Bloody hell, you're right, never noticed her until the end.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Bloody hell, I didn't realise that steveeeee actually meant she was introduced in the final episode. I thought he was making a point about her being anonymous and extrinsic to the post - still inaccurate but a bit more understandable

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I didn't see the first episode, my mum filled me in for episode 2, but just didn't notice the traitor lady until she was negoting with the bodyguard.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by steveeeeeeeee View Post
                      It just seemed like the BBC celebrated its own greatness and many people bought it.
                      The bits with real news and current affairs presenters being all questioning and dynamic were really grating when compared to what they generally manage in the day job.

                      I think that the series might have benefitted from a less gritty style. All of Mercurio's tricks for making us think that we're getting the genuine article - initialised departments! jargon! little bits of business with flak jackets! - just served to underline how hokey the story actually was.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        SPOILERS


                        My wife and I watched the latter four episodes of this tonight after seeing the first two a couple of weeks ago.

                        Can anyone tell me why the first half of the series was made by people who could fashion a moderately diverting conspiracy thriller and then the second half was handed to the creative team behind Scooby fucking Doo?

                        Every single plot twist and contrivance beyond around the halfway point was utterly stupid (even by the standards of the genre) and the final episode appeared to be written by giving each separate line to a different 8 year old hopped up on Haribo and Red Bull.

                        I suspect Keeley Hawkes asked to be killed off when she was as soon as she knew which way the script was going from there on in.

                        Absolute bloody nonsense.
                        Last edited by Ray de Galles; 15-10-2018, 13:24.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Certainly don't think it lived up to the hype surrounding it, but it was okay. Killing Eve, on the other hand, is tremendous. Sharp and funny and probably presents the espionage business in far more realistic terms with the incompetence and dumb luck that leads them on the right path rather than clever and inexplicable deductions you see in most productions of this genre. And it's the little touches that make it, like Sandra Oh revealing her phone unlocking code to Villanelle in the latest episode.
                          (I'm watching in real time for those of you that have watched it all on i-player)

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Yeah, that’s our next one as I loved ‘Fleabag’ and have heard a lot of good things about it.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Yes, I can recommend "Killing Eve"

                              Comment


                                #16
                                I watched this over three days on Netflix. I think I enjoyed it a bit more than others. The last episode was too much, but it seems to me that something happens with these things: (1) writers start to think about series 2 so they opt for cheap endings and (2) writers just don't know how to end a show properly. There is no finer example of stupidity than True Detective (1 for sure and 2 was no better). So I was good with Bodyguard up until he wakes up with the bomb vest. I think they could have found a more creative way to get where they wanted to go in terms of which officer was corrupt and which bomber had done what. But I appreciated the twists and turns along the way that did mean a lot of guesswork.

                                Fleabag is very good, but nothing like this (although there are some twists). That one is more comedic drama.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  I mentioned ‘Fleabag’ because Sean brought up ‘Killing Eve’ which is by the same writer, Phoebe Waller-Bridge (who also stars in ‘Fleabag’).

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Just binge-watched this. It was rubbish. But I enjoyed it well enough.

                                    SPOILERS

                                    I thought when they brought Nadia back in for interview mid-series that she was probably the bomb-maker - the giveaway was that so many women were (commendably, but unrealistically) cast in positions of power, so why not her within a Jihadi organisation? Turn over the stereotypes and all that. But it was the most unconvincing plot thread of all the unconvincing plot threads that she looked so (convincingly) terrified strapped in a suicide vest in episode one on the train, but suddenly became the hardened ideologue in the final scenes. Her reason for not blowing herself up on the train was so flat that they might as well have dropped a huge wet flannel with a big sopping flop on to the interrogation desk to round the scene off.

                                    David Budd goes to meet the honey trap in a bar, knowing she's a honey trap for a ruthless organised crime ring, and agrees to go to a small private bar downstairs. Quite stupid, that. I really don't understand how script writers think they can get away with this stuff. "Let's see if we can have the main character do something really and inexplicably fucking stupid and hope no one notices." Like someone said upthread, Scooby-Doo would do better. It's like that moment in a horror movie when the terrified group in the haunted forest/house decides to split up.

                                    Whole final episode a weary, extended version of the far superior The Hurt Locker. And lots of other stuff, the more I think about it. But when you're watching you don't really think about it, you let yourself get carried along, especially if you've invested precious hours of your life in the first 3-4 episodes.

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      Good thread this. Decent if far fetched show, but only half as good as Line of Duty. Harsh comments on Martin Compton (Lurgee?). I thought his acting was a highlight.

                                      Put me down as another who enjoyed Killing Eve.

                                      Comment

                                      Working...
                                      X