#he kind of reminds me of a british actor who played a detective in a mystery series

[inexpressiblybeautiful]

I am so normal about this man

[ericdeggans]

How My Love for Sean Connery and Bond Led to a Serious Case of White Guy Hero Infatuation Syndrome

Like a lot of people all over the world, I have long considered myself a stone Sean Connery fan.

I often recited the juiciest dialogue bits from his Oscar-winning turn as a beat cop-turned crusader in he Untouchables (in addition to the speech everyone quotes, I loved how he told Eliot Ness he knew he was a treasury agent without seeing his badge because “who would claim to be that who was not?”) I watched the painfully clumsy 1986 B-movie Highlander mostly for his charming turn as Egyptian (!) immortal Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez.

And, of course his work as James Bond always set the ultimate example for urbane cool. Which explains why I often felt the theme song thrumming in my head whenever I wore a stylish suit or hopped off a plane in a cool city. For men from the generation before mine, he practically defined the sophisticated, stylish machismo found in the pages of Esquire and Playboy.  

For these reasons and more, I have always loved the rogueish Scotsman as an actor. And yet, when news of his death at age 90 spread across the world, I couldn’t bear to pay tribute to him on my social media pages, until now.

That’s because his passing highlighted my problem with a particular malady. I call it White Guy Hero Infatuation Syndrome. And I have suffered from it for many years.

Put simply, my fan’s brain knows that Connery’s landmark performances were the stuff of film legend – especially as Bond. Cool, authoritative, suavely menacing and mostly unflappable, his take on a secret agent who knows the best suit designers nearly as well as the best pistol manufacturers set the template for escapist espionage fantasies over the next half century and beyond.

His first line as the character – “Bond. James Bond.” – has become pop culture legend.

But as a media critic, I also have to contend with James Bond’s status as a relentless sexist and a British agent who walked the world as if it was made to be ruled by wealthy, capable white men. Watch him slap the behind of a pretty blonde who was massaging him poolside in 1964’s Goldfinger when CIA agent Felix Leiter turns up for a chat. “Man talk,” he tells her dismissively, sending her out of the scene.

Or check out how he treats Quarrel, the bug-eyed Black man who acts as a “fixer” for him in Jamaica during the first Bond film, 1962’s Dr. No. Scrambling across a beach to avoid the bad guys’ goons, Bond turns to Quarrel and tells him “fetch my shoes” -- as if he were his butler, rather than a local ally helping him avoid thugs with automatic weapons.

And there’s loads of scenes where Bond forces himself on women who quickly succumb to his charms – like Honor Blackman’s character in 1964′s Goldfinger – perpetuating a dangerous myth that a man can earn a woman’s love by pushing her into being romantic with him. (Or that a dismissive, vaguely annoyed tone with women – treating them like impertinent children or misguided simpletons – is also, somehow, irresistible to them.)    

When Connery played Bond, he played a character who was the embodiment of white privilege. He made it look sexy, virtuous and necessary – the natural state of things in a 1960s-era world that, outside the comfortable confines of Bond’s make-believe spy games, seemed to be coming apart at the seams. But in the America of 2020, it’s a symbol of how media can teach you to accept a limiting legend.

And this was a fantasy I bought into eagerly. As a kid, my mom and I bonded over the heroic white guys she loved on film and TV, mostly from westerns. Just this past December, as she was fighting cancer and months before she would succumb to an infection, we sat and watched Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall save the day too many times to count.

As I got older, I’d make fun of all the misogyny, racism and white centering going on in these shows – gibes which my mother, a proud Black woman who loved her people and culture, tolerated with a weary smile. “These are my guys,” she’d say playfully, swatting aside any idea that there was a deeper impact from gorging on stories which treated these virtuous white men as the noble, natural center of every story. I wish the issue were that simple; it often isn’t.

For me, it wasn’t just a problem with Connery. As a kid, I loved Eastwood’s 1970s-era Dirty Harry movies, where the taciturn cop with a Magnum pistol cut through all the nonsense to nab the bad guy. Same with Bronson’s Death Wish films, where the solution to rampant street crime wasn’t better policing, but a taciturn, middle class white guy with a gun shooting down street criminals. It’s a potent fantasy, especially if you’ve ever had to deal with the numbing bureaucracy of real-life law enforcement or the brutal violation of being a crime victim.

It wasn’t until I got older that I realized many of those bad guys Harry Callahan was hunting were young hippies and Black people – the kind of folks who, in real life when Dirty Harry was released in 1971, were trying to get America to face how it was chewing up poor, young men in an unwinnable, unnecessary war in Vietnam. It was a prime example of “copaganda” – convincing the audience that the excesses Detective Callahan committed to nail a person the audience already knew was a serial killer, was justified.

Even now, I wonder: Can I watch these movies and appreciate why they are thrilling, while rejecting the tropes that present a white male-centered world as just and appropriate? In my work on race and media, I’m often telling audiences that people who insist they are not affected by media subtexts are often the most affected by them. Couldn’t that be true for me, when it comes to heroes like Eastwood, Bronson and Connery?

(One caveat: Sitting in an arena in Tampa, watching Eastwood give his infamously strange “empty chair” speech at the Republican National Convention in 2012, broke me of my affection for his work. I have avoided watching new Clint Eastwood films since then. Click here to read my report on the empty chair speech for the Tampa Bay Times.)

In his later years, Connery denied or walked back quotes where he seemed to approve of physically hitting women in real life. His roles in films like Highlander, The Untouchables, Hunt for Red October, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen often featured him playing the older mentor to younger white guy heroes portrayed by the likes of Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin and Kevin Costner.

And so, as the question of Connery’s legacy in show business arises, the fanboy part of me is at war with the media critic. One side of me is lost in the absolute coolness of the suave masculinity he so often symbolized, particularly as the world’s most successful secret agent.

The other is painfully aware of the inequalities and oppression such portrayals enabled, and how much they may feed our real life fantasies for a powerful white male savior to set things right, even now. 

Especially now.

And saying these characters were a product of their flawed times somehow doesn’t seem enough.

This is a tough column to write, and not just because there are so many fans who want to focus on the best moments of Sean Connery’s life now that he’s gone. It’s difficult because he was a personal hero of mine for a long while – and remains one of my favorite performers – even as I acknowledge the terribly male-centric and white-superior ethos he embodied in so many roles.

This may sound like disrespectful nitpicking to hardcore fans and family. It’s never easy to sit with the more uncomfortable aspects of a great artist’s legacy. And the time after his death has been filled with heartfelt tributes to Connery, a man of great talent and no-nonsense sensibilities who was respected and loved by a great many people who worked with him.

Sometimes the media critic’s job requires being a buzzkill; insisting the public pay attention to troubling aspects of a film or TV show that we would all just rather sit back and enjoy. Because part of unwinding the effect of past portrayals is acknowledging their power in the present day.

Which means, every time I watch Connery stride to a baccarat table in Goldfinger, Dr. No, or Diamonds Are Forever, archly demanding a precisely constructed alcoholic beverage, I also have to remind myself of the damage done by too many characters like that offering too constricted a vision of what a hero looks and acts like. And I suggest you do the same.

It's the only way to balance a comforting myth with the reality of how that legend can, unwittingly, teach us to cling to ideas that ultimately hold us back.      

[jmsa1287]

A Year in Review: The 31 Best Episodes of TV of 2019

There's never been more TV than this year. Thanks to the launch of new streaming services like Apple TV+ and Disney+ (with more to come in 2020!), there is an infinite number of hours of content out there. And while not all those TV shows are worth a watch, mot seasons of shows genuinely contain at least one great-to-amazing episode. The 31 episodes listed below are the ones that stood out the most; that either became part of the cultural conversation or were not well-watched but still resonated in a way that deserved more attention. Whether it was the writing, the acting, a visual moment or a hilarious scene, these selected episodes rose above the cut to show what TV can do in this unprecedented era.

31. “Striking Vipers,” Black Mirror Season 5, Netflix 

30. “Smell Ya Later,” Killing Eve Season 2, BBC America

29. “Chase Gets the Gays,” The Other Two Season 1, Comedy Central

28. “Refugees,” Ramy Season 1, Hulu

27. “Finish It,” The Deuce Season 3, HBO

26. “Chapter 7: The Reckoning,” The Mandalorian Season 1, Disney+ 

25. “Life’s a Beach,” Pose Season 2, FX

24. “Easter,” Better Things Season 3, FX

23. “Chapter 8: Overview,” The OA Season 2, Netflix

22. “Reborn,” Servant Season 1, Apple TV+

21. “Stories,” Broad City Season 5, Comedy Central

20. “Blondie,” High Maintenance Season 3, HBO

19. “The Trials and Tribulations of Trying to Pee While Depressed,” Euphoria Season 1, HBO

18. “The Bad Mother,” Big Little Lies Season 2, HBO

17. “405 Method Not Allowed,” Mr. Robot Season 4, USA

16. “1:23:45,” Chernobyl Season 1 HBO

15. “Dundee,” Succession Season 2, HBO

14. “Episode 9,” Mindhunter Season 2, Netflix

13. “401 Unauthorized,” Mr. Robot Season 4, USA 

12. “Take Me as I Am, Whoever I Am,” Modern Love Season 1, Amazon

11. “Part Four,” When They See Us Season 1, Netflix

Ava DuVernay's achingly painful "When They See Us" miniseries about the persecution of the Central Park 5 is capped off with its brilliant final episode; a showcase for Jharrel Jerome ("Moonlight") who undergoes a transformation here unlike any other actor on TV this year. Playing Korey Wise, we see Jerome go from happy-go-lucky New Yorker to a victim of the vicious prison system who is beholden to his truth despite its consequences. It is a harrowing 88 minutes of TV that is both devastating and beautiful, carried on the shoulders of Jerome's unparalleled performance.

10. “A God Walks Into a Bar,” Watchmen Season 1, HBO

The penultimate episode of "Watchmen," the buzziest show of the fall, is the most Damon Lindelof has been during this stellar season of TV. "A God Walks into a Bar" is a revealing episode in the same way as the last season of "The Leftovers," Lindelof's previous project. The episode reveals that for all of its surrealness and commentary about race and gender in our world, the "remix" of the popular comic book series is, at its core, a love story. Lindelof sets the episode as a classic cosmic joke but as it goes on, it exposes itself to be full of heart and emotion; about two people from different parts of the universe (and different parts of the space-time continuum?) connecting. At a bar. Over beer, conversation, and eggs.

09. “Strawberries,” Ramy Season 1, Hulu

Unlike anything depicted on TV, "Strawberries," the peak of Hulu's comedy "Ramy," created by standup Ramy Youssef, is told in flashback, tracking a young Ramy in the days leading up to and after 9/11. Seeing the event play out from the perspective of a young Muslim child in middle school is heartbreaking and raw; a highlight that is thoughtful, meditative, funny and surprising.

08. "Shook One Pt. II,” Euphoria Season 1, HBO

It's not until "Shook One Pt. II" that "Euphoria" finally clicks and finds its groove. Playing out at a carnival, the episode raises the dramatic stakes for the show's young cast, where creator Sam Levinson's bold aesthetic choices complement the intense tension on display. Part thriller, part romance and all edge, this episode of "Euphoria" features stellar performances from Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, Jacob Elordi and more.

07. “Volume 7: The Magician" + "Volume 8: The Hanged Man,” Too Old to Die Young Season 1 Amazon

It was hard to pick just one episode of Nicolas Winding Refn's twisted noir cop saga "Too Old to Die Young." The controversial auteur made a perfect thing for streaming age; somewhere between a film and a series. NWR said himself that you can watch the episodes out of order, or start from anywhere, which is sort of true. But it's the back-to-back episodes towards the back half of the series, "Volume 7: The Magician" and "Volume 8: The Hanged Man," that stand out the most; a chaotic and insane set of events that turn "TOTDY" on its head.

06. “Posh,” PEN15 Season 1, Hulu

"PEN15" is hands down the funniest show of 2019 but it's the Hulu series episode "Posh" — a thoughtful and insightful examination of racism in the 00s — that is the show's highlight. In the episode, BFFs Maya (Maya Erskine) and Anna (Anna Konkle) make their own version of the Spice Girls with a group of mean girls at their middle school for a class project. They force Maya, who is Japanese-American, to play Scary Spice — the only woman of color in the insanely popular British girl group, because Maya is the only girl of color among them. It sparks a deep divide between Maya and Anna that is explored in the short episode with maximum effect.

05. “DC,” Succession Season 2, HBO

Over the last few years, Americans have made Congressional hearings they're own sort of perverse reality show. So, it's no surprise that "Succession" would go there and put members of the Roy family on display and under scrutiny. The main targets here are Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) and Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun), who have to answer a number of questions about Waystar Royco's handling of alleged sexual assaults and crimes involving the company's cruise line. "Succession" had been building up to this moment since early Season 1 and the payoff is both cringe-worthy and hilarious.

04. “The Great War and Modern Memory,” True Detective Season 3 HBO

Filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier's ("Green Room," "Hold the Dark") crack at a TV show is nothing short of spectacular. With "The Great War and Modern Memory," he establishes an unsettling mood and tone to the third installment of "True Detective," a somber story about two cops investigating the disappearance of two young children over the span of several decades. The episode is poetic and solemn, featuring two mind-blowing performances from its stars Mahershala Ali and a career-best Stephen Dorff. They're both in tune with what kind of show they're in, selling creator Nic Pizzolatto's writing, which coming out of the mouths of other performers would likely sound dreadful.

03. “Episode 1,” Fleabag Season 2, Amazon

Filming a dinner scene is not as easy as it looks. For the first episode of the second season of the outstanding "Fleabag" both writer/creator/star Phoebe Waller-Bridge and director Harry Bradbeer hit out of the park. It's a whirlwind of an episode where PWB's Fleabag character literally tells the audience Season 2 is a love story, which, of course, involves the so-called Hot Priest (Andrew Scott). "Episode 1" is fast, zippy, and manages to get most of the show's cast in one room, featuring wonderful performances from not only PWB and Scott but also Olivia Coleman, Sian Clifford and Brett Gelman. It's a chaotic half-hour of TV that has a kinetic energy unlike anything else this year, taking an awkward family dinner to its limits.

02. "Series Finale Part 2: Hello, Elliot,” Mr. Robot Season 4, USA

The series finale of “Mr. Robot” is as emotional as it is shocking. Sam Esmail sticks the landing with his hacking drama, turning a story about a vigilante and his crew trying to right the wrong world into a personal journey of a young man struggling with deep trauma. It’s a beautiful sendoff, that is fully satisfying and a magnificent accomplishment of modern television.

01. “Never Knew a Love Like this Before,” Pose Season 2, FX

"Pose" proved itself to be an uplifting and hopeful show, uprooting cliched and tragic stories about trans people we've come to see on screen and instead, opts to show us something beautiful. But its "Never Knew a Love Like This Before" that is 2019's best episode of the year — a heart-wrenching and unexpected boom and a reminder that trans people, especially trans women of color, are often in danger. Here, Candy (an out-of-this-world performance from Angelica Ross), who orbited around the main cast in the series, is murdered. She returns to her funeral in spirit, having in-depth conversations with her friends, enemies and frenemies. Pray Tell (Billy Porter) honors her by moving forward with her wish — a lip-synch category for the balls that he previously rejected. It's a beautiful story about the history of queer culture that's personalized in an unexpected way.

[sleemo]

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do

What is cooler than one multibillion-dollar box-office hit? Two multibillion-dollar box-office hits. 

British actor Daisy Ridley is about to have both to her name as she returns as Rey in the next instalment of Star Wars. Emma Brockes meets her as she prepares for superstardom. — ELLE UK, December 2017

A few weeks after the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Daisy Ridley, who plays Rey – Jakku scavenger, desert-planet survivor and feminist hero – went on holiday to an island off Croatia with friends from the crew. The actor, who was 23 at the time, had been warned that after the release of the movie – number seven in a franchise that has made more than $42bn (£33bn) – her life would dramatically change, and she was terrified. This was, after all, her first big-screen role. 

In restaurants, she scrutinised waiters to see if they were being too nice to her; she wondered if she’d ever be able to use the tube again. On holiday, her friends started calling her Linda, ‘as a jokey alias’, she says, ‘and then they started calling me Paranoid Linda’ when she became convinced a man was following them around and wondered if he was a private detective employed by the studio.

Two years later, 25-year-old Daisy is sitting opposite me at a restaurant in downtown Manhattan, dressed in a shirt and capri pants in clashing blue-and-white prints, her hair still wet from the shower. She’s brimming with the kind of enthusiasm that reads on screen as charisma, and that helps to explain her meteoric rise from stage-school graduate with a few TV credits to her name to one of the most recognisable young stars on the planet. Paranoid Linda still makes an occasional appearance, she says, but mostly she has managed to adjust to life after two Star Wars movies.

Daisy clings to the fact that fame doesn’t need to have a warping effect. It also fits in with her belief that the best way to survive the pressures of high-voltage exposure is to try enjoying it. Everything is ‘amazing’ in her world and everyone is ‘remarkable’, ranging from her mum (‘a great person’) to Barbra Streisand, with whom she recorded a song in 2016 (‘a fantastic woman’), Harrison Ford (‘awesome’) and ‘Colly’ – Olivia Colman to you and me – who she starred with in Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express and who she found ‘incredible’, naturally. There is no hint of sycophancy here; it appears that Daisy is simply joyfully happy.

This cheerfulness has acted as a useful screen to hide behind during the years since she made Star Wars. Now her character, Rey, is back for The Last Jedi, the new Star Wars movie, directed by Rian Johnson. But Daisy found this one to be much more pressure than the first movie. ‘I suddenly felt a much bigger sense of re- sponsibility,’ she says. ‘I didn’t think I was good in the first film, and I was struggling with that.’

This is no humble brag. Daisy’s candour when it comes to her own performance is kind of startling. As a child, her general inability to disguise her feelings occasionally sent her into scatter-brained overdrive, an impulse that her loving London-based family: Mum, who works in internal communications; Dad, who’s a retired photographer; and two sisters – a model and a musician.

Daisy sometimes reads as posh – there is a certain ringing tone to her accent. In fact, she says, her family is more bohemian than posh. The accent, meanwhile, probably comes from boarding school. Aged eight, Daisy went to board at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Hertfordshire – not, she says, from any desire to be an actor, but because a friend of hers had gone to boarding school and it sounded like fun. ‘I was such a grumpy child,’ says Daisy, smiling at the implication that she can still, now and then, throw a big wobbler. ‘I used to get super-distracted – once I’d done my work, I would be annoying to everyone else – and my mum thought if I was busy, I’d be less distracting. I always sort of felt like I didn’t fit in.’ This anxiety wasn’t just a result of being a bookish teenager, but a feeling of unreadiness to go out and meet the world as an adult. ‘At 12 or 13, I didn’t know how to do make-up,’ she says, ‘and I still don’t know how to do my hair. And people wore high heels at that age!’

Even now, Daisy retains some small sense of herself as an outsider looking in. How could she not? Her CV at this point is extraordinary: as well as Star Wars, the actress has starred in Ophelia opposite Naomi Watts, and shot Murder on the Orient Express alongside Judi Dench, Penélope Cruz, Sir Derek Jacobi and Olivia Colman. It was on that last set that Daisy finally cracked. ‘I turned to Ken, wiped away a tear, and said, “I can’t believe I’m here, thank you so much.”’ Daisy adds, only half-jokingly: ‘“Did someone make you cast me?”’ (No, he said.) The self-deprecation is real. It’s not just the burden of fame or lame faux humility. There have been times in Daisy’s life, most notably after the first Star Wars movie was released, when she was literally uncomfortable in her skin.

At 15, she was diagnosed with endometriosis, a painful condition of the uterus lining that, along with other symptoms, can result in severe acne that is exacerbated by stress. You know, the kind of stress that comes when you find yourself the star of the biggest-grossing film of all time. ‘I was in my flat going nuts, and then my skin got really bad with the stress of it all, and I hadn’t been well – I had holes in my gut wall and stuff – and we were trying to figure out what to do with that because I’d felt poorly.’ She did what she always does in times of stress and turned to her family, moving first to her sister’s house, a few streets from their parents, then to a flat she rented on her own in the same west London neighbourhood.

Still, says Daisy, it was scary. It is difficult to think of a more in- tense introduction to Hollywood than winning a big role in a new Star Wars movie, nor a bigger professional leap than Daisy’s jump from small parts in the usual roster of UK dramas and long-running soaps – Casualty, Silent Witness, Mr Selfridge – to the first day of filming The Force Awakens in Abu Dhabi. She had only turned up to the audition when a friend mentioned she was going, too, and now here she was, on day one of the shoot, with a production assistant holding an umbrella over her to keep the sun off while she looked around and ‘freaked out’. And then JJ Abrams, the director, yelled ‘action’.

Daisy will never forget that first scene, in which she had to dismount from her Speeder bike and walk a short distance with BB-8 while saying something like, ‘We’re going to get you home.’ Is it true that, after delivering her line, JJ called her acting ‘wooden’? Daisy laughs. ‘It is true! After the first take, he goes, “Just a bit... wooden”, and then we carried on. But JJ is the kind of person who before a scene says, “Don’t fuck it up.” So he said, “Just a bit wooden”, and I was like, “Oh my God.” But it got better.’ She is still laughing at the discrepancy between how bad it sounds (quite bad), and how bad it was. ‘It’s only because that word “wooden” is so loaded. But it was just tense. And I thought, “OK, loosen that shit right up and it’ll get better.”’

In fact, Daisy found JJ Abrams and the rest of the production crew to be incredibly nurturing, to the extent that she was rarely aware of the Star Wars ‘ma- chine’. It was a friendly set, she says, where she mostly hung out with John Boyega, the 23-year-old Brit who plays Finn, and with whom she had the greatest number of scenes, although her best friends were among the crew. JJ Abrams had deliberately hired hair and make-up for Daisy from the team who had worked on the Harry Potter franchise because, she says, ‘aside from the fact that they’re amazing, he knew that they had looked after Emma [Watson], Daniel [Radcliffe] and Rupert [Grint] for however many years. I felt very well taken care of.’

Harrison Ford, meanwhile, reminds her of her dad – ‘They both have an earring and are fucking awesome,’ – and the first time she shot a scene with him, he gave her a hug and said, ‘She’s so adorable’, and she felt right at home after that. (Mean- while, when her real dad visited the set, he went up to Mark Hamill and, in classic dad fashion asked, ‘So, who do you play, then?’) 

In fact, the most difficult thing about the whole Star Wars experience has been reconciling the terrible warnings she received about how life would change with the reality of what actually happened – that, and the anxiety of shooting the second film. In the first instance, ‘Everyone asked me, “Are you ready for your life to change?” And that gets into your mind.’ Throughout this period, she tried to hang on to a piece of advice given to her by the late Carrie Fisher – not to shrink away from the success, but to enjoy it – ‘And that was wonderful.’ Beyond that, she threw herself back into work. ‘At work, you’re normal, you’re not the anomaly, unlike in other situations.’ 

Surely she has occasionally been starstruck herself? ‘Absolutely not,’ she says. ‘I’ve never idolised anyone, really. I never had a crush thing. So when I met Barbra Streisand, for example, I was blown away, not because of her work, but because she’s a fantastic woman.’ It was JJ Abrams who recommended Daisy to Barbra, who was looking for a young star with a good voice to feature in Encore, her album of 2016. Daisy ended up singing with her on the song At The Ballet from A Chorus Line, and finding a new role model for herself. ‘I went to her house and we talked about [psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl] Jung because my dad loves Jung, and we were talking about dreams, and I left and got super emotional, not because she’s famous, but because she’s amazing. Part of her reputation comes from being a woman. If it was a man being “controlling” about his career, people would just say he knows what he wants.’

One of the things Daisy has struggled with in the wake of grow- ing fame is the responsibility of being told Rey is a role model for young girls. She has been asked about feminism and has had to scramble, on occasion, to form an opinion, not because she is bland or apolitical, but because everything she now says has the potential to come back and haunt her. For someone struggling with self-doubt, this can have a paralysing effect, and it is testament to Daisy’s seriousness that she has the sense to acknowledge it.

Of course, whatever kind of attitude you have, being a beautiful young woman in Hollywood means you are exposed to constant scrutiny. Daisy, like Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence before her, will have to weather the salacious interest that undercuts anything she has to say and, if she seems less confident than her peers, it’s not only part of her charm but also, paradoxically, speaks to some deep-seated security that one assumes comes from Daisy’s family; it can take greater courage to admit to one’s weaknesses than to cover them up with bravado or a fake kind of self-confidence.

She has also learned to sit back and relax a little, although shooting the second Star Wars movie, in which she had fewer scenes with her pal, John Boyega, made her briefly very stressed. ‘It’s not this big adventure that I’m on with John [unlike in the first movie]. I was thinking I did the first one because I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into and I was having loads of fun, and suddenly I’m realising what this actually is, and I can’t fucking do this.’

She says all this with a smile to acknowledge how neurotic this was. ‘I’m highly dramatic – so it’s all “oh my God”. And [director] Rian [Johnson] just said, “We’re going to do this, and these are the scenes, and this is how it’s going to work,” and finally I was like, “Oh yeah, this is working.” The fact is sometimes you’re not good at your job, and sometimes you’re better at your job.’

Having that kind of experience helps, but Daisy still has moments when she has to check herself to make sure it’s all real. There was one night on the set of Murder on the Orient Express when she found herself sitting around playing cards alongside Sir Derek Jacobi, Olivia Colman, Penélope Cruz and her husband Javier Bardem, who had come to support his wife. (Judi Dench had retired early to bed.) The next day, she and Sir Derek sat around doing the crossword. Even Paranoid Linda couldn’t worry the fun out of that one.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is out on 14 December.

— ELLE UK, December 2017

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 28th April 2019 (Jonas Blue, Lil Dicky, Rita Ora)

Top 10

We have a couple new arrivals this week, but the biggest story is still how this song clings on to the top spot, as “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus still at number-one for a second week, and both the meme and constant discussion surrounding the song continue to spread to the point where it’s a cultural phenomenon.

The rest of the top 10 is incredibly less interesting. “Piece of Your Heart” by MEDUZA and Goodboys is up two spaces to number-two. It could make a play for the top.

Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved” is also down a spot to number-three.

Down one position from last week is Billie Eilish’s “bad guy” at number-four.

Tom Walker’s “Just You and I” isn’t moving at number-five.

Avicii’s posthumous hit “SOS” featuring vocals from Aloe Blacc has boosted up six spaces to number-six, becoming Avicii’s first ever posthumous Top 10, as well as his tenth Top 10 in general, and Aloe Blacc’s third.

Up a spot from last week is the Jonas Brothers with “Sucker” at number-seven.

Russ (Splash) and Tion Wayne’s “Keisha & Becky” stabilises its spot at number-eight, down a spot from last week.

Elevating a single space from recent controversy is “Here with Me” by Marshmello and CHVRCHES at number-nine.

At #10, to round off our top 10, is “Talk” by Khalid, up a space and returning to the top 10.

Climbers

Wiley’s “Boasty” featuring verses from Stefflon Don, Sean Paul and Idris freakin’ Elba is up five spaces to #12, whilst “All Day and Night” by EUROPA featuring Madison Beer enters the top 20 at #14, up eight spaces from last week, becoming the first top 20 hit for EUROPA as a group, as well as Jax Jones’ seventh, Martin Solveig’s third as well as Beer’s first ever (Congratulations). Other than that, “Pretty Shining People” by George Ezra is up nine spots to #25, and his other song “Shotgun” is up seven to #30, so there must have been some sort of boost to the album sales, but generally, that’s all we have.

Fallers

We have a few more of these, or at least it seems these songs are more notable. “Giant” by Calvin Harris and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man finally gets its streaming cuts due to dumb UK chart rules and is down 10 positions to #16, whilst “Boy with Luv” by BTS featuring Halsey collapses 16 spaces down to #29 as K-pop always does, “Disaster” by Dave featuring J Hus is down six spaces to #33, whilst “wish you were gay” by Billie Eilish as well as “MONOPOLY” by Ariana Grande and Victoria Monet seem prepared for a premature exit, down 11 and 10 spots respectively to #37 and #40.

Dropouts & Returning Entries

I’m going to assume YNW Melly has had his streaming cut as “Murder on My Mind” is completely out of the Top 75 after dropping out from #38. Speaking of, “Options” by NSG and Tion Wayne has very unfortunately dropped out from #23 due to this dumb chart rule, which directly affects certain genres, i.e. urban music like hip hop and R&B (as well as EDM, for that matter) that is boosted prominently from streaming, from never having any longevity and not becoming as big as hits on the year-end than they deserve. “Options” would have been locked if it weren’t for this rule, as I think it would have lasted many more weeks. The other drop-out is from Ariana Grande and it’s “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored” from #39.

NEW ARRIVALS

#39 – “Carry On” – Kygo and Rita Ora

Produced by Kygo and Afsheen – Peaked at #8 in Norway

Yes! I finally get to talk about Pokémon! I know what you’re thinking, what? Why? It’s just Rita Ora collaborating with some massive EDM producer like she always does, and while you’re right, it’s for the Detective Pikachu film, which isn’t currently out but I am going to see it at some point. I’m excited to hear this soundtrack as well, although I’m not exactly expecting Kygo and Rita Ora to deliver anything particularly good, or interesting, or Pokémon-related for that matter. Pokémon songs for the anime films have never directly related to the film plots, though, and usually were kind of boring, motivational songs with very vague lyrics, which is understandable as they had to be rushed out every single year. Anyway, this is Kygo’s seventh Top 40 hit and Rita Ora’s 21st, which is impressive, and is it any good? No. Of course it isn’t, and I’m mostly indifferent on this tasteless drivel that EDM producers put out in general with female pop singers where it sounds like the singers have been artificially sped-up, with mixing that’s overly-drowned in reverb and an instrumental as dry as clay years after it is first moulded. The piano melody here isn’t bad, but it isn’t unique and doesn’t carry Rita Ora’s incredibly weak hook, and in general her performance here sucks, like that random “Woo!” she adds in that pauses the song entirely just to halt his momentum, to add nothing at all! There’s barely a real drop here, so it just feels like a constant onslaught of nothingness and high-pitched vocal samples, which I somewhat like for its effort not to make a club banger but rather a tropical house ballad straight out of the dregs of 2016, and it’s not the last new arrival we have that does that here, but this is the only one I’ll talk about in this episode, more on that later. Anyways, this isn’t worth much analysis. It’s dreadfully boring but it’s not exactly long and doesn’t overstay its presence for THAT long, I suppose, it’s just disappointing for a soundtrack that is supposed to provide the music for what is looking out to be a film full of personality with actors oozing charisma. I’m looking out for the Sonic the Hedgehog film’s soundtrack a bit more now, albeit just for the novelty of a Dr. Robotnik cover of “Gangsta’s Paradise”. Next.

#27 – “No Diet” – Digga D

Produced by Ghosty

Digga D is a UK drill artist, as most of the rappers we see on the charts are in 2019. I’ve only vaguely heard of him before, so I think it’s safe to assume that the extreme marketing for the song involving a lot of different companies and individuals, including Mixtape Madness, is what landed this on the charts as Digga D’s first top 40 hit, as well as the video which is about trafficking crack cocaine in Coca-Cola cans... sure. Anyway, is the song itself any good? Well... the beat is incredibly minimalistic like most UK drill, with just an ominous piano line as the backing for a skittering hi-hat and bass-heavy trap beat – those 808s, by the way, are pretty insane. Digga D isn’t really saying anything of interest or anything different than the other guys, but the beat is good enough to carry him a lot of the time, and I love his weird sounds he uses for the ad-libs. It reminds me of a British Migos, where instead of repeating the line, he just makes unintelligible nonsense words and stutters. The singing on the second verse is pretty janky in relative to when it appears in the verse, and while Genius says this and the supposedly playful lyrics are what sets it apart, I don’t see the juxtaposition here, I just think it’s kind of surreal in how bipolar this song feels. There’s an ominous, eerie and menacing beat, violent and braggadocious lyrics from Digga, and then a bunch of silly, humorous ad-libs over it. This song has an identity crisis first and foremost, and while we’re at it...

#24 – “Earth” – Lil Dicky

Produced by benny blanco and Cas—

Nope. No, sorry, not touching this one. I appreciate what it’s doing for charity but I have a LOT to say about this song and trust me, it is not overwhelmingly positive, so, no, I’m not covering this one, at least not like this, and not right now. I might do a full-length review at some point but I think it’s much more likely that I talk about this at the end of the year, if you get the gist. For now, to replace an actual review, let me just list the guest stars, because technically, this is a song by Lil Dicky featuring Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Halsey, Zac Brown of his eponymous band, Brendan Urie of Panic! at the Disco, common fungus Hailee Steinfeld, Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart as Kanye West, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Shawn Mendes, Charlie Puth, Sia, Miley Cyrus, Lil Jon, Rita Ora, Miguel, Katy Perry, Lil Yachty as an STD, Ed Sheeran, Meghan Trainor, mother-father gentleman PSY, professional basketball player Joel Embiid, Tory Lanez, John Legend, Bad Bunny, Kris Wu, Leonardo DiCaprio and the entirety of the Backstreet Boys. Does that count as a review for Lil Dicky’s second UK Top 40 single? I don’t care, I’ll talk about in length when I want to. Trust me, I’m planning ahead.

#23 – “What I Like About You” – Jonas Blue and Theresa Rex

Produced by Jonas Blue – Peaked at #1 in Belgium

Oh, yeah, this, okay, well, Jonas Blue exists, I guess, and I’m supposed to review everything he puts out because everything this dude makes charts... and sucks. I don’t really have a problem with the dude, but nothing he makes is all that interesting, and he’s the epitome of carelessly generic EDM and dance-pop. This particular track features vocals from Theresa Rex, Danish pop singer who you won’t know by name and she doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page, but you will know the voice of from “Solo Dance” years back, which she had uncredited vocals on (I’m glad they stopped not crediting the vocalists on EDM tracks, especially since, you know, they do all the heavy lifting in terms of singing). The production here is pretty tropical, I guess, with some handclaps and a weak synth drop that has a few orchestral stabs to replace any unique instrumentation. None of the vocal melodies catch on yet and I’d much prefer “Solo Dance” to this. What else am I supposed to say? I know I’ve taken the easy way out with these two songs, but honestly we’re at a standstill in the charts right now where it should really be more interesting than it is.

Conclusion

Even if I didn’t review it, I don’t care, Lil Dicky and friends still get Worst of the Week for “Earth”, with Dishonourable Mention going to Jonas Blue and Theresa Rex for “That’s What I Like About You”, or something to that effect. In fact, there’s no Best of the Week or Honourable Mention, the Dishonourable Mention is tied as Kygo and Rita Ora’s “Carry On” exemplifies the exact same problem. God, what a crappy week. Follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank for more pop music ramblings and Top 20 rankings, and I’ll see you next week!

[the-independent-spt-yahoopa-blog]

Fortitude's Sofie Grabol interview: 'I love it when you ask another actor, ‘What are you doing today?’ ‘Oh, I’m eating a baby!’ It’s hilarious'

The Killing killed British indifference to foreign-language TV drama. When the breath-taking Danish detective drama was first broadcast on BBC4 in 2011, it was a game-changer.

It proved that we could be gripped by brilliant storytelling, whether in English or Danish, or any other language for that matter. The huge success of that series – which won a BAFTA award in 2011 - paved the way for an influx of riveting 'Nordic Noir' shows such as Borgen and The Bridge.

An enormous part of The Killing’s appeal lay in the mesmeric qualities of its lead actress, Sofie Grabol. She brought a rare magnetism to the role of the ice-cold, homicide detective Sarah Lund. She reached such levels of international popularity that her trademark Faroese jumpers became a “must-have” item online.

Even the Duchess of Cornwall owns a Lund sweater, given to her by Grabol in 2012 when she made a royal visit to the set. On the same visit, Prince Charles revealed that The Killing was one of the very few shows that he and his wife loved watching together.

The actress even received a glowing review from that unlikely TV critic, the then Prime Minister David Cameron, who disclosed that that he and his wife Samantha enjoyed nothing more than spending an evening watching The Killing together in bed.

“It’s our idea of relaxation,” he said. “I think it’s just brilliant. We should be making more television like that in this country. Isn’t Lund wonderful? Lund rather reminds me of Samantha. Lund and Samantha are very cool.”

And now Grabol is grabbing the headlines in this country once again. She stars in the second series of Sky Atlantic’s sweeping supernatural drama, Fortitude.

And Simon Donald’s chilling (in every sense) drama, the 48-year-old Danish actress plays Governor Hildur Odegard. Having in the last season led the remote Norwegian town of Fortitude through the cataclysm of a plague of prehistoric wasps released from the permafrost, Hildur is now confronting another lethal, otherworldly threat to her isolated Arctic community.

Within moments of the opening titles, some very disturbing creatures are walking the earth, the sky is illuminated by an ominous 'blood aurora' and characters are darkly quoting WB Yeats: “The centre cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” We are left in no doubt that something wicked this way comes. Welcome to Fortitude, the most deadly town this side of Midsummer Murders.

Grabol is the polar opposite to Lund. Where the detective was detached and distracted, the actress is charming and charismatic. And rather than the perennial chunky-knit Faroe Islands sweater, she is wearing an extremely chic all-black ensemble.

Unlike Lund, who didn’t crack a smile in three series of The Killing, Grabol also has a delightful sense of humour. She is amusing enough in English - I can’t imagine how funny she must be in her first language of Danish.

For instance, she tells a self-deprecating anecdote about her Danish accent. “It’s funny because in my mind, I don’t have an accent! I did a play at the National Theatre in London, where I was supposed to be Scottish. I said to the director, ‘I can’t speak Scottish! Just speaking English is enough of a challenge.’

“So I spoke the best English I could and thought, ‘This is brilliant!’ Then Sir Ian McKellen came to see the show one night, and afterwards he asked, ‘How did that actress get that amazing Danish accent?!’ I was doing my best, but I do obviously have a big fat Danish accent!”

In the same way, the actress jokes about the enormous amount of support The Killing has enjoyed in this country. "In Danish, the word 'killing' means ‘kitten’. I think that’s very appropriate because that’s how we feel. You Brits have taken us in!”

Grabol, who is divorced and has two children, is equally entertaining on the subject of the “out-there”, sometimes gory nature of Fortitude. She loves the fact that the production doesn’t hold back. “Being Scandinavian, I really enjoy that, like a child.

"We Nordic people like little stories and little expressions and don’t give too much away. That makes us really good at details and credibility, but we’d never dare to go where we go in Fortitude. So for me to be in a project where wasps come out of the permafrost in a biblical fashion is absolutely brilliant. I love it when we go that far.”

Hitting her rhetorical stride now, the actress continues, “I also love it when you go into the make-up room in the morning and ask another actor, ‘What are you doing today?’ ‘Oh, I’m eating a baby!’ It’s hilarious.”

The second season picks up just nine weeks after the end of the last series, and it does not shy away from showing the catastrophic effect of the disaster the town has suffered.

Grabol, who has been given a clean bill of health after undergoing treatment for breast cancer in 2013, reflects that, “The first series was about surviving and about life and death. In my personal life. I recognise that in any real crisis you use all your resources, but actually it’s the moment after that’s really interesting. Who am I now? Why am I alive? What has happened?

"That atmosphere of having survived and the same time being completely lost is fascinating. The community in Fortitude is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s carrying a lot of scars, definitely.”

The catastrophe in the first series has certainly left its mark on Hildur. “She’s not in a great place,” the actress muses.” I think she’s traumatised – or maybe I’m just projecting my own life! She is a doer, she’s a solver. She’s a woman of power and leadership. So the worst thing for a person like that is that she couldn’t guard her town. I see her as the mother of Fortitude.

“We’re so used to watching crime stories where the characters are very driven. I think it’s really interesting that my character and others have these moments where they just fall into a void.”

Fortitude, whose second series confirms the show’s reputation for attracting major stars by featuring Dennis Quaid (Far From Heaven) as a troubled fishermen, Michelle Fairley, (Game of Thrones) as his poorly wife and Ken Stott (The Hobbit) as a martinet government official, is shot in Iceland. The icebound island doubles for Svalbard, the northernmost town in the world and a place too far-flung to allow filming.

The drama conjures up the sense of desolate isolation that pervades the town. The 2000 inhabitants of Fortitude are outnumbered by the 3000 polar bears, who stalk the ice just beyond the town limits. In fact, it is illegal to leave the town without a gun.

Grabol thinks the drama captures that idea of utter remoteness. “It shows this community that is beyond our culture. People come to Fortitude from all over the world. But what kind of people would wind up in this place?”

She adds that the producers ensure that the cast experience first-hand the sensation of being cut off from the rest of the world. “It helps to film in Iceland where you get that feeling of real isolation. All the actors are put in a hotel far away from everyone else in a very, very isolated place. There is nothing to do there except get very close to each other.

“That whole feeling in Fortitude of depending on each other and being close in a very big space – we get to know that as people. There is a great group dynamic. They’re such a lovely cast – although sadly a lot of their characters have died!”

Before we part, we have to touch on the subject of a possible revival for The Killing. Grabol smiles that maybe one day it will return and just keep on going: "Like The Mousetrap here in London!”

Or perhaps she could reprise Lund in 20 years' time? Grabol laughs one last time. “That's a good idea!

“Sarah could end up like the Danish Miss Marple!”

All episodes of Fortitude season 2 will be available on Sky Box Sets after the first episode airs on Sky Atlantic on Thursday 26 January 9pm

[readexplorerepeat]

Got Scared? Best Horror/Mystery TV Shows to watch

We are BIG fans of horror, mystery, sci-fi and supernatural genre shows.  It’s the mysteriousness of the plots that twists our minds into this never-ending web of happiness.  It’s food for our minds, I guess, if I had to simply explain it.  So I put together my top 10 shows to watch, if you want to feed your mind with our kind of fuel. From number 10, to my number one, they are all worth your time.

 10. LUCIFER (Fox)

This show just aired its first season over the winter/spring 2016 on Fox.  I wasn’t so sure about it, as it seemed kind of dumb. The devil himself decides to take a vacation from his devil-ing duties in Hell and moves to L.A. only to meet a beautiful lady detective, and help her solve crimes. I watched the first episode, and then the second, and the third, and next thing I knew, I was into it.  It has the perfect combination of crime, drama, comedy, and mystery. The plot of the series got better as it went on (I was a little afraid it was not going anywhere), as more characters are introduced and a more substantial storyline is revealed.  Plus, Lucifer is British, and, well, he’s quite charming.

 9. ARROW (CW)

Arrow first aired in 2012 and since it's debut, it has stolen a piece of my heart. Stephen Amell, who plays millionaire (spoiled-brat-womanizer) Oliver Queen, is a fantastic actor. After a boating “accident” Oliver gets stranded, alone, on a remote island, where he must learn to find his real-self in order to survive. Throughout the show, flashbacks of Oliver’s life on the island explain why he does the things he does, as he returns home. Oliver adopts the alter-ego/vigilante identity that everyone knows as “The Green Arrow”.  This storyline is so rich, dark, and full of surprises that you will not be disappointed.  

RELATED: NETFLIX NIGHT

8. SHERLOCK (BBC One)

I love everything to do with Sherlock Holmes.  From the many movies and books to the random stories incorporated into other shows; so when I learned about the series Sherlock (starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman) I squealed. The episodes in this series are broken into only three, one and ½ hour, episodes.  Each episode is like a mini movie in itself. The ingenuity, and the level of acting, along with the cleverness of the plot is just marvelous. The only thing I dislike is the fact that the seasons are so far apart. You must wait over a year (or two) for a new season to be released.  Season 3 ended in 2014, and season 4 is set to be released sometime this year, hopefully.  

 7. HUMANS (AMC)

The first season came out in 2015 and it was only 8 episodes. This show explores a world where artificial intelligence takes a step forward, and humans are trying to deal with it, both morally and technologically. In this story, “synths” (as they call AI-robots) are here as helpers and each household has one to assist with chores. But a few synths are not who they seem to be. They are more than intelligent; they feel, they reason, they remember. And there is, Leo. A human who also has part synth in his body (must watch to know why).  He will do anything to find his synth family and be reunited them, before they are destroyed.  

 6. SLEEPY HOLLOW (Fox)

A spin off on the original movie. Yes, it has a headless horseman, and the iconic Ichabod Crane. It is filled with witches, demons, and even angels. I was very skeptic at first because a whole TV show dealing with a headless horseman can get old after a while; but they found a way to make it interesting and, now going on season 4, they’ve introduced other folk characters and villains to keep things fresh. Can’t wait to see what season 4 brings!

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 5. AMERICAN HORROR STORY (FX)

What’s really neat (if you can call horror and gore neat) about this series is that while all 4 seasons consists of (roughly) the same cast of actors, the story lines change from season to season. A haunted house,  an insane asylum in the 40's, a coven of witches in New Orleans, and a traveling circus/freak show in the 50's. Season five which hasn't been released yet on Netlix was my favorite so far alternating time periods in a haunted hotel. (Lady Gaga nailed it in her TV debut!). It should be available in October 2016 at the same time that Season 6 will debut on TV.

 4. DAMIEN (A&E)

What I like about this series is the fact that it reminds me of the Omen; which was a big part of my childhood mystery/thriller-watching upbringing. The Omen was one of my favorite horror movies, and the whole idea of Damien Thorn fascinates me. In this series, Damien starts off not knowing he is the Antichrist. Now 30 years old, he’s lived his life as a news photographer, photographing the world's most dangerous zones, without a scratch. But, when mysterious deaths start to occur all around him, he realizes something is wrong. Little by little he learns his fate. The question is, will he allow the monster in him to be woken?

 3. BATES MOTEL (A&E)

Another spin-off of a classic. Roughly based on the storyline of the movie Psycho, Bates Motel integrates the good-ole Norman Bates, and his crazy, but not-so-crazy mother, Norma. The depth and the way the characters are written, combined with outstanding acting, makes this series one of my favorite. Its mysterious, terrifying, twisted, sad, real, and surreal all at the same time. It’s one of those things that makes you say “well, this could happen in real life” or “I wonder how many people think like that”. Yeah, it’s spooky because it’s very realistic. By the way, this show gets better and better with each season.  

 2. THE WALKING DEAD (A&E)

No horror/thriller list is complete without mentioning zombies. But, for those who don’t know, this show is way more than just dead walkers. It’s about people, and the aftermath of the end of the world as everyone knows it. It’s about the most inner feelings of our society, it’s about how far, we as humans, would go to survive and to defend our family. It’s not about the zombies at all (well, yeah, just a little bit about the zombies), but about the depth of the characters and their individual stories. This show is amazing as far as the complexity and the freedom it provides to explore human behavior in a end-of-of the-world setting.

 1. SUPERNATURAL (CW)

And now my number one pick. Supernatural. 11 seasons of awesomeness. We have been watching this show since the beginning, that’s back in 2005. I mean, after 11 seasons (going on 12) it becomes part of your family. In fact, the Supernatural fandom considers itself a family. Dean and Sam Winchester are two brothers that were brought up in a world of demons, ghosts, ghouls, witches, and angels. A world where they grew up hunting (the family business) supernatural creatures, in an effort to keep their world secret from the rest of humanity. Throughout the course of 11 years, they have made friends with angels and demons alike, and have fought Lucifer himself when preventing Armageddon from happening (thanks boys). I love this show because it has the perfect combination of action, horror, mystery, comedy, not to mention that the Winchester boys are delicious eye-candy (insert cheesy smile here). The main actors, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Misha Collins are constantly involved with the fandom, as well as their own charities and events to help society overcome many “real ghosts”, like mental illness, and depression, which are overlooked and dismissed by many.

Besides my top 10 favorite thriller tv shows, are others that I actually just started to watch.  Preacher on AMC is a great one so far (only a few episodes into the first season). And of course there's the cable TV shows like Game of Thrones and Dexter - but that's another review.  So many great shows to choose from! What's your favorite and why? 

*** READ MORE IN OUR DIARY!**

Always,

Mia

[redsoapbox]

Hinterland /Series 3

Hinterland, BBC Wales’ uncompromising crime drama returns to our screens this month (S4C, who initially financed the development of the programme, broadcast the latest series of its Welsh language version Y Gwyll last autumn), for a third and, if co-creator Ed Talfan’s recent comments are anything to go by, final season. Whilst Talfan was at pains not to rule out the programme returning in another format sometime in the future (a cheery Christmas special, anyone?), his view, subsequently echoed by Hinterland’s lead actor Richard Harrington (DCI Tom Mathias), suggests that the current series of this ground-breaking bi-lingual cop show is set to develop in such a way as to enable the story to come to a natural conclusion. 

That opinion, rather than being an admission that Hinterland’s power to enthral is somehow on the wane is, in fact, a reference to the harrowing backstory of the tormented and traumatised Mathias having finally worked its way to a (presumably) satisfying narrative resolution - there was even a hint in the season opener that Mathias may soon be dipping his big toe into the sea of love again, for goodness sake! And, there’s the rub; Hinterland is a detective drama where the plot often takes second place (sometimes third, if you, like me, spend a fair degree of the show’s 90-minute running time ruminating on the mysterious beauty of Ceredigion), to the psychological excavation of Mathias’s battered subconscious. If Mathias is finally allowed to come to peace with his past, then the dark undercurrents that have swept him along his particular path of destruction will have disappeared along with much of the psychological tension that motivated our anti-hero.

For those coming to the show late on in its run, a quick de-brief may be in order: DCI Tom Mathias has returned home to Wales after serving for a decade with the London Metropolitan Police, unfortunately, though, it’s not to be a happy homecoming; we soon discover that Matthias is desperately trying to escape a tragedy in his recent past. Harrington, a very fine actor who had previously caught the eye as Dr. Allan Woodcourt in the rip-roaring BBC adaptation of Dickens’ Bleak House (2005), plays the broken Mathias in a pent-up manner that echoes Humphrey Bogart’s portrayal of doomed gangster Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest (1936); all gnarled, internalised rage, a loner constantly on the verge of violent despair. By the close of series 2, Mathias is hunkered down in a static caravan at the cliff’s edge, weighing up whether or not to take his own life. 

Richard Harrington and Mali Harries

On the surface, Series 3, Episode 1, (for some reason each individual episode no longer has a title), opens with a routine enough scene in which Mathias is simply seen washing his face and staring bleakly into the mirror above the washbasin. However, his morning drill is intercut with interior shots of his torched caravan (the climax to series 2). After he has finished scrubbing up, he hangs a towel over the mirror, deliberately blocking-off his reflection as if drawing a veil over his time spent in solitary confinement there and even, perhaps, over his period of mourning for his young daughter. The camera is positioned directly behind him, an approach which continues outside as he stares at the broken shell of his caravan. It’s a camera angle that re-occurs multiple times over the 90 minutes, making it clear that we are witnessing the unfolding events through the eyes of Mathias himself. 

The twin-track plot of the opening episode (scripted by Debbie Moon, who also penned the excellent “Ceredigion” episode in series 2), centres around finding the arsonist who set fire to Mathias’s caravan (there is an obvious suspect carried over from the last series), and solving the murder of the local minister Elwyn Jones, who has just been found bludgeoned to death in his own home. Working through the clues to a crime, though, isn’t really what this show is all about; plots are specifically tailored to mirror Mathias’s internal struggles with grief and guilt (here, one of the leading suspects may be motivated by the death of a child to seek revenge), and have a more aesthetic function than is usual in a mainstream detective drama. Which is probably just as well, as both family members that I watched the episode with unmasked the killer very early on! 

Whilst the show’s stark, rural setting helps define the show, it also severely limits the scope of the programme makers to come up with a believable crime for Mathias to investigate, a point co-creator and director Ed Thomas stressed to Wales Arts Review back in 2014 ‘The kinds of stories we can make in Hinterland is quite narrow. It’s not going to be a massive international drugs bust story or fast moving. It’s dictated by the locals and that’s blood, belonging, history, families, loss, loneliness and the landscape.’ He may as well be describing the plot layout for season 3’s opener! 

With the above restrictions in mind, it’s always interesting to see how Hinterland varies its plot palette (answer: with great difficulty) and how the creative team behind the show make full use of the distinctive landscape (answer: panoramic views of lowering skies, derelict farmhouses, and woodland hideaways). The opening episode of series 3 follows a familiar pattern - there are scenes with Mathias winding his way through mountain roads (both Shetland and Vera tread a similar path), together with standard shots of the sea crashing against, and recoiling from, Aberystwyth seafront. 

Hinterland, however, doesn’t have to rely on clichés to engineer its unique atmosphere; filmed largely in the area between Tregaron and Machynlleth, executive producer Ed Thomas makes full use of Ceredigion’s breathtaking scenery; lingering shots of isolated farmhouses stitched haphazardly into the stark countryside are peopled with sickly, dysfunctional men and women, hemmed in by the blackened mountains, the closing sea and their own demons. These bleak, imposing landscapes are used to frame the action, with as much of the investigation as possible taking place on the road; witnesses and suspects are often questioned in farmyards or outbuildings (in this episode a vet is interrogated while washing lambs blood out of the back of his Land Rover!), so that the spell of the show isn’t broken. This doesn’t happen by chance; Ed Thomas made a conscious decision at the series’ outset to restrict our view of modern day Wales - so don’t expect too many scenes set in sprawling shopping malls or plastic pubs. And although Aberystwyth is a coastal town, the expanse of the sea remains unexplored too; sifting through the dark depths of the human mind is, and always has been, the true business of Hinterland.  

As Mathias continues his investigation into the minister’s murder, a family portrait at the scene of the crime and a half-drunk bottle of whiskey kept in a desk drawer is enough to dislodge more of the DCI’s buried memories, almost making him keel over with misery. The scene plays out with a grim-faced Mathias slumped in a chair clutching a packet of painkillers, or possibly, anti-depressants. There’s not a word spoken, but it’s exactly the kind of scene that makes Hinterland such a compelling watch. Harrington (under)plays to perfection here, resisting the temptation to ham up his character’s relapse. 

For a moment it seems as though Mathias isn’t quite ready to emerge from his cocoon of despair, but the relapse is only temporary, and a scene with the landlady of his B&B (the very fact he is prepared to live in shared accommodation signifies that the healing process is fully underway and that Mathias is ready to take his place in the world again), is clearly designed to show the detective at last contemplating a life outside of the confines of Aberystwyth Police Station. Later, when consoling the bereaved Lyn Edwards, he is almost able to joke about their shared mental health crisis. When Edwards asks how he can offer his wife hope ‘when all I want to do is close my eyes and never wake up’, Matthias’s response ‘If you find the answer to that one, will you let me know’ is as honest as it is heartbreaking. Importantly, though, he is prepared to accept the possibility of an answer-a prospect he wouldn’t previously have countenanced. 

As the net closes in on the murderer in the family, the second plot strand begins to take precedence. Iwan Thomas, the suspected arsonist, confronts Mathias’s boss Chief Superintendent Brian Prosser (Aneirin Hughes) with allegations of a high-level police cover-up into abuse at a local children’s home (the subject of the very first programme in season 1). The rather sketchy, unexplored figure of the seemingly untrustworthy Prosser has been one of Hinterland’s noticeable failures. Always looming in the shadows, and clearly the keeper of sinister secrets, he has remained a character in search of a back-story throughout the show’s history. His role in the denouement, here, though, was truly shocking and served as a powerful reminder that Hinterland can still pack a knockout punch when the storyline demands it. 

With Hinterland drawing to a close, it’s worth reflecting on the show’s success. First off, it shouldn’t be underestimated that Wales now has its very own top-notch detective. Mathias, as emotionally zipped up as his trademark wax jacket, deserves to be ranked right up there with Morse, Tennison, Regan and Hunt in the pantheon of truly memorable British crime-busters. Whilst Harrington all but carries the show, there was fine support from his colleagues, especially Mali Harries as DI Mared Rhys. Hinterland’s co-creators Ed Thomas and Ed Talfan should obviously take a bow too; it was a truly visionary idea to make a bilingual crime-noir, and to commit to shooting the programme back to back in English and Welsh was a real labour of love for all concerned.  In addition, Hinterland proved to be a commercial success too; fitting neatly into BBC4’s super-cool subtitled slot on Saturday evenings, being shown across much of mainland Europe as well as being streamed to American and Canadian audiences via Netflix. 

[13thfloornz]

Liz Gunn shares her thoughts on James Taylor’s concert, last night at Vector Arena…

“This is our first gig of our Down Under Tour. What a wonderful way to start the tour!” said the very tall, ever-slim and self-effacing James Taylor to his appreciative Auckland audience of largely baby boomer generation at Vector Arena last night. The love was mutual. 

Taylor is one of the best-selling music artists of all time with over 100 million records sold and the first non-British signing by the Beatles to their Apple label, back in the day, after Paul McCartney was bowled over by the heart in his writing and his mellifluous vocals.

The first thing that hit me, hearing him live, is how fully he has retained those dulcet tones which are the hallmark of his singing, right through his now 68 years. It’s a voice that has an almost unnerving youthful quality to it, and in only one song did I detect any strain negotiating the higher notes. For many of the songs, it was as pure as the vocalising on that huge hit album Sweet Baby James which was received as a folk-rock masterpiece and sold hugely when it was released in February 1970.

For a career to span that length of time, and to be able to fill a large arena like Vector (with upper levels curtained off) is a huge feat. And a reflection of his unquestionable talent. It’s not just the effortlessly tuneful soulful voice, but also an endearing, even slightly goofy charm, and an ability to connect with his audience with humour and a quiet humility, in between the songs while he changes a series of acoustic guitars. He seems to warm the audience as much with his joking asides as with the relaxed vocals. “ Here’s a Buddy Holly tune” he intoned before his second song,” which we like to do with some frequency, if not every day” and he launched into -what else?- Every Day.

  In one of his later asides he promises that the night will include  “ ..some new tunes”. A pause. Then with that self-effacing sweetness,  “Not many. And we’ll get it over with quick. It’s like taking off a band aid- just get it over with quick” . The audience laughed and breathed a sigh of relief. They have come for the hits that have served as part of the musical backdrop to their generation, and most want that dish warmed up and served again.

I wondered, in spite of the laughter, whether that is what James Taylor the Artist also wants in his heart of hearts? How do you sing the same songs- as beautifully lyrical as they are- night after night, tour after tour, for forty-plus years, and still keep them fresh? It’s like asking a great actor to come on stage every night for over four decades to deliver the same play, the same lines, and each night present the play as if it’s the first time it has been performed. Even the greatest, most in-this-moment kind of performer could struggle pulling off that feat.

And the bigger question is whether it feeds the soul of the artist who might feel caged by the very success that has brought him the audience adoration. I suddenly understood why Bob Dylan refuses to be snagged by his own success and simply performs what he wants, with no catering to audience expectations. I suspect James Taylor is too empathetic a character to disappoint his audience expectations thus.

That said, where JT (or Stringbean as is his other nickname) seemed to me to really glow in his performance,  was with his most recent material. He said it would be like the pain of a bandage being pulled off but I found it quite the opposite.

Beautifully worked, sung from his heart, with his total engagement in the meaning and the lyrics, these latest songs will stay with me long after last night’s show.  Today Today Today is from Before This World, his 16th album and the first in 13 years. It acknowledges his own surprise that he is still here.  In his introduction to the song, he tells us it harks back to his original signing to Apple in 1968 after auditioning for Paul and George when the Beatles were at their zenith.” I was like a chiuawawa on methamphetamine” he quips, but then counters with “ It was like someone opened a door and my life was on the other side of it” . A heart-melting image.

What human could not relate to that? The dream of living a life doing the thing that makes your heart sing- and in the case of JT, has made the world’s heart sing for decades? The song has a little country feel to the folk-rock descending scale of major to minor notes. But perhaps it’s his delivery of the lyrics that most touches me: The bell is about to ring/The big girl she’s about to sing/Today, today, today/The world will open wide/And I’m running with the tide/It’s time to cut this side/And I must not miss my ride/Somehow I haven’t died/And I feel the same inside/As when I caught this ride/When first I sold my pride/The way ahead is clear/My heart is free from fear/I’ll plant my flag right here/Today, today, today.

That line ’Somehow I haven’t died’ refers to the relentless struggle he faced for much of his early career,  marred as it was by a ferocious and voracious heroin addiction which eventually cost him his marriage with Carly Simon. Even his friend John Belushi expressed his concern to Taylor at JT’s self destruction in a warning that was eerily prescient for Belushi himself.

Taylor today seems in a calm, good-humoured and contented space, and from this fullness, is happy to give of himself to his loyal audience. He spent the entire 20 minute half time break sitting on the edge of the stage greeting fans and then jumping down for photos as more and more gathered around him. Something I have never seen at any concert. Tremendously endearing.

During the first half of the show he had served up those big hits, ranging from Country Road with his capacious lungs holding the final note impossibly long (perhaps a breath-controlled nod to his opera singing mother!), to Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight– the only song I felt would have been better in a lower key for his warmed-honey tones which don’t need to be asked to strain for any note.

There were two songs about his much-loved home state of Carolina-  Copperline (the perfect key for his voice and a beautifully understated arrangement) and Carolina On My Mind, the song he wrote in an overwhelming homesick patch in 1968 at Apple Studios even though he was  “surrounded by this heavenly host of musical angels who were making the White album”  because “I missed my family”  (an audible sigh of adoration from many of the mothers in the crowd! No wonder his female fan base is so strong). It was a very slow version of the song, almost soporific, but fitting for a song of sadness and longing. Personally I would have liked it pacier, and he still needs to feel that raw heartbreak of sickening home ache EVERY time he sings it, if he wants the full beauty of the lyrics to land right inside the heartspace of his audience.

He cannot sing in a perfunctory way without compromising the very power of his own song writing. Although his voice can carry much, it needs the emotion behind it to penetrate and thereby make his songs rise from ‘good’ or even ‘great’, into the stratosphere of ‘special’. Perhaps my favourite of the first half was Sweet Baby James from the eponymous album. A lovely introduction on the guitar and his voice simply stunning in its flow.

No, I am mistaken.  The absolute high point of the night for me, followed that song. It was Shed A Little Light , with words so needed in  today’s Trump Era, that I am including them at the end of this review. Powerful and moving.

The second half had highlights from his back catalogue including You’ve Got A Friend and Up On The Roof.  Yet again, though, the high point of this half was his newer work, a song written in a friend’s cabin in Montana. The rendition was fresh and deeply-felt in the way JT sang, and I recommend listening to the lyrics of Montana. And you could listen to another from his latest album, called You and I Again. He introduces it as “ A new love song but not a song about new love. It’s about love over time, maybe even more than one life time”. I wonder to myself if lines like this are a reference to his third wife: cause I can’t escape this feeling/that we’ve been this way together, you and I.

Therein lies the key to James Taylor. He writes and sings songs from his life. Songs of his heart. Songs looking for answers and finding reasons. He has given the world songs that touch lives and made Taylor Swift’s parents give her that Christian name. He writes songs to say “Let’s care for one another”. And he shows it in his way with people. I include below, a backstage photo taken last night with two friends, Anna and Brayden. Note JT’s open arms. The human touch. That is the hallmark of his music.

My wish for James Taylor is that he find renewed reasons to offer up those songs that reflect him now, today,  and to trust that the audience will love those as much as they love the songs that remind them of their youth from these last four decades. For me, those latest songs took the show last night from ‘good’ to ‘great’.

Liz Gunn

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Michael Flynn:

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Here, as promised, the lyrics for my favourite of the night:

Let us turn our thoughts today

To martin luther king And recognize that there are ties between us All men and women Living on the earth Ties of hope and love Sister and brotherhood That we are bound together In our desire to see the world become A place in which our children Can grow free and strong We are bound together By the task that stands before us And the road that lies ahead We are bound and we are bound

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist There is a hunger in the center of the chest There is a passage through the darkness and the mist And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

(chorus) Shed a little light, oh lord So that we can see Just a little light, oh lord Wanna stand it on up Stand it on up, oh lord Wanna walk it on down Shed a little light, oh lord

Can’t get no light from the dollar bill Don’t give me no light from a tv screen When I open my eyes I wanna drink my fill From the well on the hill

(do you know what I mean? ) – chorus –

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist There is a hunger in the center of the chest There is a passage through the darkness and the mist And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

Oh, let us turn our thoughts today To martin luther king And recognize that there are ties between us All men and women Living on the earth Ties of hope and love Sister and brotherhood

Read more:  James Taylor – Shed A Little Light Lyrics | MetroLyrics

        James Taylor – Vector Arena February 4, 2017 Liz Gunn shares her thoughts on James Taylor's concert, last night at Vector Arena... “This is our first gig of our Down Under Tour.