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gervase_fenNot seen this one before, but knew it by reputation ("What's Mrs Gale doing in Fort Knox?") The casting of Mervyn Johns as The Man Who Loved Dickens (and a Dickensian Christmas) is spot on, and given that the plan for Steed involves fatal premonitions, his participation brought to mind both The Halfway House and Dead of Night.
The actors - specifically Edwin Richfield, Robert James and Alex Shaw - all have faces that lend themselves to Robert Ward Baker's and Gerry Turpin's Expressionist, high contrast cinematography. (This feels like the Dickens of David Lean's films rather than the books.) The telepathy MacGuffin is really a black magic one with the caballistic runes filed off - but I'm not complaining given the chance to see Diana Rigg cosplaying as Oliver Twist.
More contemporary is this eight part comedy/drama/thriller from Netflix, which I enjoyed mainly because it reminded me of other entertaining shows from creator Alexi Hawley (Castle, The Rookie) - good chemistry among the performers, diverting premise - but moves from second to third gear in the season finale when everything that could go wrong on a clandestine CIA mission to infiltrate an asset into Belarus does. Episode one contains a jarring moment of 'enhanced interrogation' suffered by our naif viewpoint lead (Noah Centineo), and indeed the violence and action on screen is definitely Netflix as opposed to Network television. Centineo's preppy, slick, superficial rookie lawyer is satisfyingly dismantled, losing more than the fingernail that gets whipped out in the first episode. I hope it gets a renewal because of Laura Haddock's ruthless performance as the asset Max, as elegant and as physically adept as Emma Peel.
The actors - specifically Edwin Richfield, Robert James and Alex Shaw - all have faces that lend themselves to Robert Ward Baker's and Gerry Turpin's Expressionist, high contrast cinematography. (This feels like the Dickens of David Lean's films rather than the books.) The telepathy MacGuffin is really a black magic one with the caballistic runes filed off - but I'm not complaining given the chance to see Diana Rigg cosplaying as Oliver Twist.
More contemporary is this eight part comedy/drama/thriller from Netflix, which I enjoyed mainly because it reminded me of other entertaining shows from creator Alexi Hawley (Castle, The Rookie) - good chemistry among the performers, diverting premise - but moves from second to third gear in the season finale when everything that could go wrong on a clandestine CIA mission to infiltrate an asset into Belarus does. Episode one contains a jarring moment of 'enhanced interrogation' suffered by our naif viewpoint lead (Noah Centineo), and indeed the violence and action on screen is definitely Netflix as opposed to Network television. Centineo's preppy, slick, superficial rookie lawyer is satisfyingly dismantled, losing more than the fingernail that gets whipped out in the first episode. I hope it gets a renewal because of Laura Haddock's ruthless performance as the asset Max, as elegant and as physically adept as Emma Peel.
