Black Mirror: Series 2 - Episode 3

This last episode highlighted issues of politics, satire and technology.

The story follows failed comedian Jamie Salter who voices a cartoon blue bear Waldo, whose appearance on a satirical comedy show. In this setting it was interesting to see how Waldo, portrayed as a children's character, was used in quite a grotesque satirical way in order to attack politicians and other figure, while Jamie expressed no interest in politics and was only in it for the comedy. In turn Jamie's struggle with life compared to the success of Waldo helped to create a believable and connectible character.

It was interesting to see how Jamie was constantly pressured into entering the world of politics as Waldo's success spiralled. This success came after a passionate speech that Jamie makes through Waldo about the state of politics and how useless it could be and used just to further a career. This is especially seen with the prospect that Waldo could win the election which would be a really weird situation. Although this doesn't happen, it raises good questions about the influence of technology, especially how it has become a central part of the political campaigning machine.

It was also good how Jamie's relationship with Gwendolyn Harris works well to add a bit of light to the episode and makes it more terrible when during the speech mentioned above on a televised debate show, he attacks the main rival Liam Morgan but also Gwendolyn after she rejected him because she was told by her campaign manager to not associate with him. This led to Jamie refusing to do anymore of Waldo, but under pressure relented and then tried to convince people to not vote for Waldo and left the van in which Waldo was created. It was also a sad ending to see that Jamie had become homeless while Waldo the brand had gone worldwide.

Daniel Rigby gave a great performance as Jamie, really holding the episode, while Chloe Pirrie, Jason Flemying, Tobias Menzies, Christina Chong, James Lance and Michael Shaeffer all gave good performances and really working to make it a strong story.

Black Mirror: Series 2 - Episode 2

This was an initially creepy and unusual story with a very surprising twist.

The episode opened with an intriguing mystery of Victoria Skillane who wakes up in a bedroom, not being able to remember who she is. It was interesting and creepy as she adventured outside to find everyone filming her every move. This was an weird and good idea explore and reflect as this does seem to be a thing nowadays that whenever something happens people start filming it. The apocalyptic situation is well thought through and was a scary concept.

The tension is built up again with the introduction of Jem, Damian and Baxter, especially as Baxter, who had initially saved Victoria and Jem from the voyageurs: the people constantly filming, then turned on them and was about to torture Victoria before being shot dead by Jem. The constant use of flashbacks also helps to create more mystery and intrigue around the truth identity of Victoria and why this world exists.

The revelation of the truth was in itself twisted and such a shock. Victoria was revealed to be an accomplice to the kidnap and murder of a toddler by her fiance. She had filmed the whole thing and was found guilty and sentenced in a kind of eye for an eye situation where she has to suffer this strange world everyday and then be made to remember in front of a baiting group as part of a reality tv show. This is a very twisted concept of punishment and it was kind of strange to feel sympathy for Victoria especially when her mind is being wiped by some electrodes while having to watch the footage she filmed.

Lenora Crichlow gave a fantastic performance as Victoria, really allowing for me to connect with the character and maintain that even when the character's true identity was revealed. The rest of the main cast, including Michael Smiley, Tuppence Middleton, Ian Bonar, Nick Ofield, Russell Barnett and Imani Jackman, all gave great portrayals of their characters enabling me to believe in the fake world that they aimed to create.

Mary & Martha

This was a powerful one-off drama about the effects of malaria on two mother's lives.

This was the story of two mothers, Mary and Martha, whose sons George and Ben tragically die of malaria after visiting Mozambique. Mary and Martha are contrasting characters with differing lives but they are united in grief and work well together. The chemistry between is well developed and the two act as very strong and empowering individuals. Their journey shows the need for help and resources that Africa needs in order to combat, not just malaria, but diseases in general.

It did show a good side to Africa, with its beauty, animals, its modernisation and the great work of that volunteers can achieve. In turn it showed the devastating effects of malaria, with the condition itself, the difficulty to get help in time and the way the death of George was shot in a fast paced manner was effective in showing how the disease rapidly takes the sufferer's life. The aftermath scenes are very powerful and emotive allowing for me to develop a great connection and concern for the characters.

Both women's reaction are very understandable and Richard Curtis' script goes far to make it a heart-breaking and yet positive story. This positivity came with their determination to make a change that led them to fight and tackle the political policy machine in order to increase aid tot he children affected. The scene in the committee was so powerful, well scripted and performance making it an important message about the work countries need to do in order to help prevent malaria.

Hilary Swank and Brenda Blethyn gave superb performances as Mary and Martha, along with Lux Haney-Jardine as George and Sam Claflin as Ben who also gave good performances. The supporting cast did well including Frank Grillo, Ian Redford, Bongo Mbutuma and Nokuthula  Ledwaba.

Spies Of Warsaw

This two-part period spy thriller was a great one-off epic.

 Based on the novel by Alan Furst, this story felt different from a usual spy drama, which was mainly due to the central character Lt. Col. Jean-Francois Mercier. He wasn’t the usual spy, who enjoys mingling with the wealthy, womanising and seeking the big action, but instead felt more like a normal person who didn’t like the pomp and ceremony and spied in a very secret and well organised way in order for him to remain undetected.

Mercier's relationship with Anna Skarbek was also different as it wasn't the usual thing of the woman just falls for the man. Mainly by the fact that Anna is in a relationship and the supposed death of her partner Max Mostov leads her to flee to Spain, while Mercier is sent to Czechoslovakia. It was good how having the two start an affair and then get torn apart allowed for me to want them to find each other again and reunite, which later happens. The two character alone do a lot to keep the story going and showing different aspects of the pre-war Europe that we may not know much about.

The setting of the story, in pre-war 1937 Warsaw where the emerging presence of the Nazis and the prospect of war make it a very interesting background. This setting allowed for much of the tension to be created as Mercier tried to discover what the Nazis were planning and at the end of the story where Mercier and Anna had to escape Warsaw, while a Jewish couple took their own lives after becoming informants for Mercier and pursued by the Nazis, which was done in a very touching and appropriate manner.

There were great performances from David Tennant as Mercier and Janet Montgomery as Anna, with good portrayals from Ellie Haddington, Piotr Baumann, Marcin Dorocinski, Radoslaw Kaim, Linda Bassett and Allan Corduner.

Black Mirror: Series 2 - Episode 1

This was a compelling opening episode to the second series dealing with a very interesting concept.

Centring around the idea of being able to talk to a virtual version pasted love one constructed from their social media content, the story of Martha's struggle in the aftermath of the death of her boyfriend Ash was very interesting. I have myself thought about how it could be possible to construct a clone version of yourself from the content we place on social network sites and this story shows the positives and negatives of this possibility. The scheme in the story uses public information at first to allow people to talk via email to the virtual versions of their love ones and then allowing the use of private information enables for a more authentic version to emerge. An idea which is terrifying and intriguing at the same time.

I can see how the idea would help people to cope with the grief but at the same time it would stop the person from moving on. It also fed into this idea of how much social media has integrated into their lives and how much control it could have over us. This can certainly be seen when the software was able to replicate Ash's voice and then when she moved onto the next level. This was where Martha was able to 'brew' a physical clone of Ash, which when revealed was creepy.

The character of Martha was a strong and very easy to sympathise with and it was understandable how she changed from disgust at initially learning of the scheme to her later use of it. She held and carried the story way and she makes me consider what I would do in that situation. Her development throughout worked well and her conflicting emotions over what she did were interesting to see, especially as she realises that the clone was not really Ash and how it couldn't portray the real character of its namesake. When she tells the clone to jump over a cliff it was very powerful and the ending left a few questions in the air.

Hayley Atwell and Domhnall Gleeson gave great performances and really made the story strong and powerful.

Lewis: Series 7

This new and final series was very strong despite a change in format.

The change in format from the usual two hour stories to two one hour parts was strange at first, but the stories were written well and created effectively which allowed for it to not lose any of its appeal and traditional feel. Furthermore, the adding of the cliffhangers at the end of the first parts of each story were dramatic and built up in a good way to keep the audience wanting more.

The series also did well to conclude the main characters of DI Robert Lewis and DS James Hathaway in subtle ways in order to not detract from the stories which have always be the central point of each episode. This was mainly seen with Lewis and Laura Hobson finally becoming an item and it was good to see Lewis in a good place which allowed for him to decide to retire and offer Hathaway to take his place.

Overall, the show has done very well to achieve a good list of stories that explored the classic and modern aspects of Oxford life, questions over love and death and the various motives behind murder. The main cast, supporting cast and guest cast have all contributed and made the show a great success.

Meanwhile, in this series, Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox give strong performance, along with that of the recurring cast of Rebecca Front and Clare Holman. The guest cast also were good including Edwin Thomas, Tuppence Middleton, Peter Davison, Taron Egerton, Harriet Ballard, Camilla Power, Lucy Speed,, Jane Slavin, Miranda Raison, Alison Steadman.

Breaking Bad - Series 2

This series saw the show continue to become more stronger.

This series, due to the Writer's Strike of 2008 which cut short the first series, started by wrapping up the series 1 continuity in the first few episodes. It was interesting to see how in wake of Tuco's demise, Walter and Jesse started to take his place as distributors and I liked how they learnt how to deal with problems and build their empire and how this would cause more conflict among Walt and Jesse. This also allowed for the dark side of the drug world to be shown, especially through Jesse meeting a kid left alone in a crack house and the murder of the kid's father and his friend Combo. The introduction of Saul Goodman, Gustavo 'Gus' Fring and Mike Ehrmantraut, also helped to make Jesse and Walt's influence more prominent and powerful.

The series also focused more on how Walt's lies and actions impacted on his family life and how it caused it to start falling apart. Within this, more stronger characterisation of Skyler and Walter Jr took place, allowing them to grow more effectively and hold their own against the development of other characters. The build up of lies and trying to deal with the criminal world saw Walt neglecting his family, especially with him missing the birth of his daughter in order to make a deal with Gus and prompting Skyler to leave him. One character in particular who had a great deal of good development was Hank, which took place after he was traumatised from his showdown with Tuco and the bomb explosion in Juarez. This saw him become more of a deeper and well thought out character that I could sympathise and connect with.

It was good to see more development into Jesse with his family throwing him out and having to try and fend for himself. Through this and the many traumatic events that happen to Jesse throughout the series including the death of his girlfriend Jane Margolis, I see how much Jesse was tested and had to grow up a lot. In contrast, Walt become more darker and determined to see the operation increase, while after learning that his tumour had decreased it was interesting to see how he sought the excitement and instead moved into a willingness to commit crime instead out of the need to. This helped to further his development a lot and move the character into new territory. His darker side can also be seen when, after Jane had relapsed and Jesse became addicted to heroin, Walt watched as Jane choked on her vomit and died, and then left, leaving Jesse to think it was his fault.

Walt's action can be seen as very terrible after the mystery of the pink teddy and the other teasers seen in numerous episodes was revealed to be the result of a deadly and destructive plane collison caused by Jane's grief-stricken father, showing how Walt's action are starting to have far reaching consequences. Although the old Walt still comes through by his support of Hank and how he saved himself and Jesse from dying in the desert. Although the quick deterioration of their friendship comes as an interesting way to end the series.

Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul gave superb performances, along with Dean Norris who did very well with Hank's new development.  Anna Gunn and RJ Mitte also gave strong performances, while Raymond Cruz gave a very convincing and good performance as the crazy Tuco Salamanca.  Bob Odenkirk, Giancarlo Esposito and Jonathan Banks did well to add a lot of new areas of exploration for the show.