Yes, we're paying for another service. It seems inevitable if you want to catch the greats. And before this we signed up for Sundance Now to watch "The Bureau." Not regular Sundance, cable Sundance, it's not on there. And as for regular Sundance, they aired "Deutschland 89," which we were eager to see, but it was dubbed! That won't do, why not give us the option? Furthermore, are the people who are actually watching the show such lowbrows that they can't handle subtitles? I don't think so.
Oh yeah, concurrent with the airing of "Deutschland 89," there was also the latest season of "The A Word," which you can probably watch on demand, assuming you've still got cable, I can now see why people are cutting the cord, is there really anything necessary there? Most streaming shows fall into two categories, at least two categories that I will watch, crime and family/relationships. As for fantasy and horror, never mind superheroes, I've never been into them. I know that makes me part of the minority, then again I never ever read comic books growing up, never mind had a collection, other than "Casper" and "Archie" when I was a little kid. I prefer the family/relationship shows, but the good ones are few and far between, like comedy, they're harder to do than action/crime. And maybe most people want to be torn away from the regular world when they fire up the flat screen, but I still must say two of my absolute favorite streaming shows are "Bonus Family" on Hulu and "The A Word" on Amazon/Sundance. "Bonus Family" is Swedish, but the issues are just the same, blended families, relationships...how much do you give and take, do people judge you based on your income? As for "The A Word"...just like there's a gay member of every extended family, there's also a person on the spectrum. But that's not all "The A Word" is about, it's shot in the beautiful Lake District and the interpersonal relationships... I just need to hound you on these two shows again, because if you like this genre, they're two of the best, you'll be thanking me when you finally watch them.
But that's not what "The Bureau" is about. "The Bureau" is about the French CIA, the DGSE.
Now if you just want to dive into one political show, start with "Borgen," not only is the show great in plotting, but the lead actress, Sidse Babett Knudsen, is absolutely spectacular. Watch a couple of episodes on Netflix, you're either in or you're out. But "The Bureau" takes more time...
Detective work, police work, intelligence work, just like legal work, is slow. It's sped up and dramatized on screen, but in real life... So, "The Bureau" is at times tedious, but then it's tense. The first season is mostly set up, and you won't know exactly what is going on. But the second! It all comes together, many say the second season is the best French TV ever. I'm not sure that's true (and I must remind you on Tuesday the last season of "Spiral" starts airing on MHz and if you haven't watched this French series, most of which is available with your Prime subscription, you're missing out on one of the absolute best police procedurals of all time, better than the ones from America), but the second season of "The Bureau" is great.
You see other countries have access and presence in countries that are off limits to us. The footage in the Middle East is worth the price of admission alone. We don't see these countries in U.S. productions. But the reason "The Bureau" gets so great is because of the TENSION! It's equivalent to a movie. You know, you're sitting there holding on to the arms of your chair, immobile, freaked out about what might happen. "The Bureau" is a commitment, but it is truly great, I highly recommend it.
After signing up for Acorn, we watched "The Hour." There are multiple productions with similar titles, but this is the one about an English TV news show in the fifties, starring Ben Whishaw, who you'll remember was so great in "London Spy." The second season is better than the first, and there are only two seasons, and if you're into period pieces, marveling at what once was, and you want to know about the news back then, dive in, but "The Hour" is not at the level of "The Bureau." Nor is the second show we watched on "The Hour," "Keeping Faith." Oh, "Keeping Faith" is better than most American TV, and the star, Eve Myles, is a tour-de-force, but I won't say this is must see TV, but "Line of Duty" is.
"Line of Duty" got honorable mention in my bible, the "New York Times" listing of last decade's best foreign shows: nyti.ms/3pII25q But before diving in, I checked it out on RottenTomatoes. Once again, there are multiple productions with similar titles, but you can view the ratings here: bit.ly/3hIDlFR And for those who do not want to click through, let me say that "Line of Duty" gets 98% on the critics tomatometer and 96% on the audience score. THIS, I'll check out!
And like so many shows, you don't know where "Line of Duty" is going at first. And yes, the first episode is violent and bloody, but that's just the set-up, the rest of the episodes are not this way, to this extent anyway. And it takes a while to figure out where the show is going, what's happening, and then it becomes clear, "Line of Duty" is about police corruption.
Now I hate to reveal any plot points of streaming TV shows, because it's best when they're brand new, but in this case I've got to convince you to pay for Acorn and stream this show and those are two big thresholds so...
You'll be trying to figure out who is guilty all the way through. You'll be stopping the stream to discuss it. And at the end...it's not black and white. That's as much as I'm going to say.
Well, I'm also going to say... No, I won't, because that will ruin it a bit too.
My point is "Line of Duty" is an adventure. Vivid. Engrossing. The characters become three-dimensional, you're not sure who you're rooting for and then there's the essence of community...to put it Bob Dylan's way, "to live outside the law you must be honest." But if you're part of a group and you live by that...you're squeezed out. We've all got constant moral dilemmas in our lives, and "Line of Duty" illuminates this.
We're not through yet, we're in the middle of the third season, of five. They're short, five episodes in the initial one, six in the remaining ones. The show is not dragged out.
So...
At some point I'll make a list of my likes in order. At this point, I'm just reflecting on what I'm watching now. Once again, if you're new to streaming, start with "Happy Valley," that's my number one streaming recommendation, it's on Netflix. AND IGNORE RECOMMENDATIONS, SCREW THE NETFLIX ALGORITHMS! Netflix and the rest of the streaming outlets will never steer you to the productions they do not own, that are not watched by many people, and most people are sheep, they just go where everybody else goes, but when it comes to art you must go down the road less taken, that's where the rewards are, and there are rewards in the shows I've highlighted above.
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