This Is England '86

[ewerk 31199]

Thought the last episode was very good but Combo's arc was pretty rushed tbh. Maybe if they'd spent less time on pointless house party scenes and Gary dressing up like Clark Gable, it would have had more time to be fleshed out.

 

 

But then other people have complained that there wasn't enough of the good humour we saw in the film and that it was too dark.

 

 

Aye, but that's all it did, was to provide a bit of humour, none of it really added any value to the story line.

 

Agree with you on the rest.

[Renton 21993]

Thought the last episode was very good but Combo's arc was pretty rushed tbh. Maybe if they'd spent less time on pointless house party scenes and Gary dressing up like Clark Gable, it would have had more time to be fleshed out.

 

 

But then other people have complained that there wasn't enough of the good humour we saw in the film and that it was too dark.

 

You can't please all of the people all of the time. I don't think you needed to spend more time with Combo, because all his history was given to you in the film.

 

I only caught up with the last episode last night and thought it was excellent. I don't think lack of clarity/explanation is any sort criticism, because any question raised can be answered by implication.

 

How did combo turn up at Shaun's new house? Pissed up as he was, you'd guess he's been in the pub all night chatting to locals about who in the area has been up to what.

 

Why does it even matter though? Before Lol was told about the rape the sound cut out and it went into a brilliant music montage. We weren't explicitly shown how Lol found out, but it was clear that Trev told her the full story. Watching Trev telling the explicit story wouldn't have served the show as much as that montage did. Simililarly, seeing Combo getting pissed up with characters we don't know and all the chats he'd had that night (rather than go and see his dying mum, because he was too scared ) would have added nothing, other than a contrived exposition scene. Just knowing he couldn't face it and that he needed the 12 year old kid he left behind to hold his hand through it was perfect as far as I'm concerned.

 

If you're led through this stuff by the nose then it's no better than Hollyoaks.

 

Not convinced personally. Seems to have been quite marmite this series.

Edited October 5, 2010 by Renton

[tinofbeans 91]

Thought the last episode was very good but Combo's arc was pretty rushed tbh. Maybe if they'd spent less time on pointless house party scenes and Gary dressing up like Clark Gable, it would have had more time to be fleshed out.

 

 

But then other people have complained that there wasn't enough of the good humour we saw in the film and that it was too dark.

 

You can't please all of the people all of the time. I don't think you needed to spend more time with Combo, because all his history was given to you in the film.

 

I only caught up with the last episode last night and thought it was excellent. I don't think lack of clarity/explanation is any sort criticism, because any question raised can be answered by implication.

 

How did combo turn up at Shaun's new house? Pissed up as he was, you'd guess he's been in the pub all night chatting to locals about who in the area has been up to what.

 

Why does it even matter though? Before Lol was told about the rape the sound cut out and it went into a brilliant music montage. We weren't explicitly shown how Lol found out, but it was clear that Trev told her the full story. Watching Trev telling the explicit story wouldn't have served the show as much as that montage did. Simililarly, seeing Combo getting pissed up with characters we don't know and all the chats he'd had that night (rather than go and see his dying mum, because he was too scared ) would have added nothing, other than a contrived exposition scene. Just knowing he couldn't face it and that he needed the 12 year old kid he left behind to hold his hand through it was perfect as far as I'm concerned.

 

If you're led through this stuff by the nose then it's no better than Hollyoaks.

 

Not convinced personally. Seems to have been quite marmite this series.

 

I think HF has nailed it. I also notice the 2 more gritty episodes (3+4) were directed by meadows. they certainly were the better ones for me at least.