Next of Kin (last two episodes)
Feb. 9th, 2018 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessNext of Kin – episode 5
A new family trait we discovered with grave significance – leaving the phone behind. Omar got the prize idiot award, going off half-cocked, knowing the police were involved to reach out to his nephew. I thought the ground had been set up nicely in the scene with Mona in the van, that he was reaching out to her, trying to assert their similarities, because he had a vague awareness at the funeral that he needed to fill the Kareem-shaped gap in the family. And of course, he didn’t know the half of it, ignored the warnings and paid for it.
That was less hard to swallow than I thought it wold be from the trailers - but we’re still left with Guy working for the man bankrolling the terrorist organisation with two cells that his nephew got caught up in.
I hope Sami, who is understandably disturbed, doesn’t see Omar till his face is better. I also wonder if he’ll be all ‘fine, go treat people, good doctor Mummy’ after all this. (Not worried about Mona’s survival for a second because there’s an episode to go.) Nice little contrast with Danny there, although Mona is staying in the country to treat her patient. The grandmother’s story to the stepmother was revelatory, although maybe if you’d had that conversation ten years ago, the family dynamics would be better…
At the start of the episode, Guy and Mona were separated (bet he wouldn’t be staying at a Travelodge if he hadn’t been banking her brother and terrorists cells by accident), but by the time Mona had seen her brother get beaten up, they were back together. And it seemed as if there was more truthfulness between them – although we don’t know if she told him that Danny had called and that she was acting on police advice ‘sure, go in, we’ll be several minutes out if they start getting violent, if, for example, you’re gobby and they’re jumpy terrorists’.
As for the police, not entirely useless – I get the ‘for the greater good’ restraint. Danesh seemed to be coming up with ways to survive (even if he only seemed capable of thinking five minutes ahead) and with him, I’m very much of the ‘made your bed, lie in it before they blow the whole bedroom’ school of thought, especially because Sami (and the kid he nearly blinded) is a casualty of it. Although, again, everyone’s complicity was shown.
Some of it is incredible, but there’s just enough about the family dynamics and the way a bad situation gets worse going on.
Interesting that the white lorry driver was part of the cell, indeed, their bomb maker.
Next of Kin – episode 6
It felt a bit less cohesive than I’d expected, partly because for most of it, Mona was on the periphery of the main action, just reacting to all she’d been through and knew after being rescued. There was a moment where you could almost believe the other terror cell would go for Sami’s school JUST BECAUSE.
The sequence after Khaled’s people fired Guy was ultra Jack Davenport, all morally offended and then enraged when they got personal. Cue the punching, cue the visit to Khaled, who got away with his part in everything because he was rich.
What happened with Danesh was inevitable – Omar made extremely valid points from his hospital bed about the boy’s choices. Danny continued to be quite smart about the phone number, although he didn’t know enough to trust the police and pushed the other bomber (but, again, you terrorise his auntie and expect him to be compliant?) We also got to hear his regret about his choices, and like the police officer, knew enough to know that he’d helped foil the attack. But with that knife to his throat, he couldn’t give his evidence against Khaled.
I actually liked that they gave so much time to the family – especially the women processing what Danny had done, Mona wandering around heartbroken and in shock, needing the comfort of her loved ones. The six months later showed the family in action, while the teacher still spewed hate and the terrorist sponsor’s nice big nuclear plant got opened, and Vanessa fumed at him impotently.
Ending with the clip from the family video didn’t quite resonate for me – I felt we only glanced at what Danny’s little half-sister must have thought, and I was more invested in Mona, Guy and the extended family than imperfect dad Kareem and his stupid son.
Still, we had plenty of time to appreciate Archie Panjabi angsting exquisitely.
A new family trait we discovered with grave significance – leaving the phone behind. Omar got the prize idiot award, going off half-cocked, knowing the police were involved to reach out to his nephew. I thought the ground had been set up nicely in the scene with Mona in the van, that he was reaching out to her, trying to assert their similarities, because he had a vague awareness at the funeral that he needed to fill the Kareem-shaped gap in the family. And of course, he didn’t know the half of it, ignored the warnings and paid for it.
That was less hard to swallow than I thought it wold be from the trailers - but we’re still left with Guy working for the man bankrolling the terrorist organisation with two cells that his nephew got caught up in.
I hope Sami, who is understandably disturbed, doesn’t see Omar till his face is better. I also wonder if he’ll be all ‘fine, go treat people, good doctor Mummy’ after all this. (Not worried about Mona’s survival for a second because there’s an episode to go.) Nice little contrast with Danny there, although Mona is staying in the country to treat her patient. The grandmother’s story to the stepmother was revelatory, although maybe if you’d had that conversation ten years ago, the family dynamics would be better…
At the start of the episode, Guy and Mona were separated (bet he wouldn’t be staying at a Travelodge if he hadn’t been banking her brother and terrorists cells by accident), but by the time Mona had seen her brother get beaten up, they were back together. And it seemed as if there was more truthfulness between them – although we don’t know if she told him that Danny had called and that she was acting on police advice ‘sure, go in, we’ll be several minutes out if they start getting violent, if, for example, you’re gobby and they’re jumpy terrorists’.
As for the police, not entirely useless – I get the ‘for the greater good’ restraint. Danesh seemed to be coming up with ways to survive (even if he only seemed capable of thinking five minutes ahead) and with him, I’m very much of the ‘made your bed, lie in it before they blow the whole bedroom’ school of thought, especially because Sami (and the kid he nearly blinded) is a casualty of it. Although, again, everyone’s complicity was shown.
Some of it is incredible, but there’s just enough about the family dynamics and the way a bad situation gets worse going on.
Interesting that the white lorry driver was part of the cell, indeed, their bomb maker.
Next of Kin – episode 6
It felt a bit less cohesive than I’d expected, partly because for most of it, Mona was on the periphery of the main action, just reacting to all she’d been through and knew after being rescued. There was a moment where you could almost believe the other terror cell would go for Sami’s school JUST BECAUSE.
The sequence after Khaled’s people fired Guy was ultra Jack Davenport, all morally offended and then enraged when they got personal. Cue the punching, cue the visit to Khaled, who got away with his part in everything because he was rich.
What happened with Danesh was inevitable – Omar made extremely valid points from his hospital bed about the boy’s choices. Danny continued to be quite smart about the phone number, although he didn’t know enough to trust the police and pushed the other bomber (but, again, you terrorise his auntie and expect him to be compliant?) We also got to hear his regret about his choices, and like the police officer, knew enough to know that he’d helped foil the attack. But with that knife to his throat, he couldn’t give his evidence against Khaled.
I actually liked that they gave so much time to the family – especially the women processing what Danny had done, Mona wandering around heartbroken and in shock, needing the comfort of her loved ones. The six months later showed the family in action, while the teacher still spewed hate and the terrorist sponsor’s nice big nuclear plant got opened, and Vanessa fumed at him impotently.
Ending with the clip from the family video didn’t quite resonate for me – I felt we only glanced at what Danny’s little half-sister must have thought, and I was more invested in Mona, Guy and the extended family than imperfect dad Kareem and his stupid son.
Still, we had plenty of time to appreciate Archie Panjabi angsting exquisitely.
