Of journeys and destinations
Oct. 3rd, 2018 07:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessBlack Earth Rising - episode 4
Mixed. The composition of shots is always stellar. There were bits where I literally didn’t understand what had just been said – too oblique, more than accent issues. It's also possible I was tired and resented the demands put on my brain.
With the episode beginning with a lengthy admission of the cover-up from the soldier (the actor kept reminding me of Kevin Spacey), it moved on to give us a better idea of the three conspirators’ motivation (justice!) (!?) (replacing the current president, who ought to make a big splash when we finally meet her, with Alice) as one of the men at the top of the most wanted list for crimes against humanity in Rwanda popped up in London.
This meant that renaissance man Hugo Blick (he writes! Directs! Produces! Restrains himself from writing and singing the theme song) turned up as his defence lawyer, so reptilian and horrid that you wanted Michael to thrash him in court. Hey, if you're going to write yourself a part in your show, that's a good one.
Whether Michael would/could proecute became a thorny issue, as it was succesfully argued that the ICC wasn’t very safe, and Rwanda made a move to have the case tried there, which had all sorts of ramifications that I think I followed. Michael, who I think had had good news about his cancer, wasn’t sure what the right thing to do was. Kate was sure, though, and was angry with him for not doing it.
I was…not angry, but unconvinced at Michael (played by John Goodman) as an irresistible figure to women of all ages. He seems like a nice guy, with ethics and a willingess to question them, if overfond of doling out information slowly – he only finally admitted to Kate that he had prostate cancer. But, really, WHAT? So, I side-eyed the shift in Michael and Kate’s relationship. The Alice thing I could buy because they have a past.
Also, Alice staying in the UK seems more motivated by plot than in-universe sense to me.
The scene where Kate touched the blood on her old clothes was harrowing. She didn’t have enough to do, merely a bit of the ‘why? Why? WHY?’ interrogation technique and threatening Blake with her don’t-care crazy. Except she does care. The decision to help investigate for the Rwandan government seemed rash. Maybe how much they wanted Eve’s old file gave her pause.
It was predictable that the French (imperialist) father would kill himself, but they did wring out tension from the scene. I enjoyed the scolding lady from the ICC. I wondered if the lawyer’s new driver was the mystery guy who helped Kate in France.
Mixed. The composition of shots is always stellar. There were bits where I literally didn’t understand what had just been said – too oblique, more than accent issues. It's also possible I was tired and resented the demands put on my brain.
With the episode beginning with a lengthy admission of the cover-up from the soldier (the actor kept reminding me of Kevin Spacey), it moved on to give us a better idea of the three conspirators’ motivation (justice!) (!?) (replacing the current president, who ought to make a big splash when we finally meet her, with Alice) as one of the men at the top of the most wanted list for crimes against humanity in Rwanda popped up in London.
This meant that renaissance man Hugo Blick (he writes! Directs! Produces! Restrains himself from writing and singing the theme song) turned up as his defence lawyer, so reptilian and horrid that you wanted Michael to thrash him in court. Hey, if you're going to write yourself a part in your show, that's a good one.
Whether Michael would/could proecute became a thorny issue, as it was succesfully argued that the ICC wasn’t very safe, and Rwanda made a move to have the case tried there, which had all sorts of ramifications that I think I followed. Michael, who I think had had good news about his cancer, wasn’t sure what the right thing to do was. Kate was sure, though, and was angry with him for not doing it.
I was…not angry, but unconvinced at Michael (played by John Goodman) as an irresistible figure to women of all ages. He seems like a nice guy, with ethics and a willingess to question them, if overfond of doling out information slowly – he only finally admitted to Kate that he had prostate cancer. But, really, WHAT? So, I side-eyed the shift in Michael and Kate’s relationship. The Alice thing I could buy because they have a past.
Also, Alice staying in the UK seems more motivated by plot than in-universe sense to me.
The scene where Kate touched the blood on her old clothes was harrowing. She didn’t have enough to do, merely a bit of the ‘why? Why? WHY?’ interrogation technique and threatening Blake with her don’t-care crazy. Except she does care. The decision to help investigate for the Rwandan government seemed rash. Maybe how much they wanted Eve’s old file gave her pause.
It was predictable that the French (imperialist) father would kill himself, but they did wring out tension from the scene. I enjoyed the scolding lady from the ICC. I wondered if the lawyer’s new driver was the mystery guy who helped Kate in France.
