While not having a TV (or needing a license) I from time to time waste an hour or so watching the BBC iPlayer. I'm a particular fan of Nordic crime dramas like The Killing or The Bridge. The French also seem to do a good job on L'Engrenages shown here as Spiral.
The Wire, HBO's Baltimore-set drama is obviously a precursor and huge influence on all these shows and it's wonderful to see realistic drama which doesn't lie about the nature of its characters. Or the nature of the state.
Contrast this then with new BBC offering By Any Means. Auntie Beeb describes it thus;
"Drama following a clandestine unit living on the edge and playing the criminal elite at their own game, existing in the grey area between the letter of the law and true justice.
Led by the sharp and elusive Jack Quinn, alongside straight-talking Jessica Jones and digital whizz-kid TomTom Tomkins, this brilliant team will stop at nothing to catch the criminals. Receiving their target from the mysterious Helen, they weave a web of cunning and deception to deliver their unwary targets into the arms of justice."
Let me rewrite it like so;
Melodrama following a unit of what would really be a state Death Squad if they had any balls at all. Legitimising fit-ups of people they don't like.
Comprised of a number of cardboard cut-outs who couldn't act their way out of a paper bag, this team of shitheads will stop at nothing to spread the view that the State really needs more powers to put down the "criminal classes".
Receiving their targets from a mysterious establishment figure they weave a story that exculpates the real criminals that are running the country from any necessity to observe the rule of law or act in any interest other than their own.
As my old Grandfather used to say about the "Law & Order" lobby. "It's their law to keep us in order". The truth of shows like The Wire and Spiral is that they understand the nature of the state as a "body of armed men" to paraphrase Karl Marx.
The cuddly characters that make up the team in By Any Means aren't the kind of folks who ran "Stakeknife" a spy in the IRA's Internal Security Unit. "Stakeknife", publicly named as Freddie Scappaticci ran what was colloquially known as the "Nutting Squad" for years, executing IRA members and others who had fallen foul of internal discipline. A number of real touts were killed as well in order to preserve Scappaticci's cover.
The cardboard characters that act in By Any Means aren't the kind of folks who ran Brian Nelson and his associated Loyalist Death Squad in Ireland and gave him carte blanche to kill with impunity.
They aren't the characters who fitted up the Birmingham Six or the Guildford Four. They are not the characters who will be busy putting someone in the frame for the Anarchists who attacked and destroyed a Police Firearms Training Centre at Portishead near Bristol.
By Any Means still has the power to redeem itself. Only one episode has been shown so far. But I have my doubts. Until then it is just a shabby and untruthful piece of propaganda for the view that the State should be more merciless in hunting down those who oppose it.
Shabby because it shrinks from the truth of what this entails in terms of unmitigated murder. Untruthful in the sense that this show pretends these things only happen in the realm of make-believe.
The title may be lifted from a saying associated with Michael X but that could simply be coincidence rather than any knowing reference. There continues to be no sign of doing anything other than insulting the intelligence of the viewer.
The quality of the writing, production and acting does not inspire confidence for the future of this show.
The Wire, HBO's Baltimore-set drama is obviously a precursor and huge influence on all these shows and it's wonderful to see realistic drama which doesn't lie about the nature of its characters. Or the nature of the state.
Contrast this then with new BBC offering By Any Means. Auntie Beeb describes it thus;
"Drama following a clandestine unit living on the edge and playing the criminal elite at their own game, existing in the grey area between the letter of the law and true justice.
Led by the sharp and elusive Jack Quinn, alongside straight-talking Jessica Jones and digital whizz-kid TomTom Tomkins, this brilliant team will stop at nothing to catch the criminals. Receiving their target from the mysterious Helen, they weave a web of cunning and deception to deliver their unwary targets into the arms of justice."
Let me rewrite it like so;
Melodrama following a unit of what would really be a state Death Squad if they had any balls at all. Legitimising fit-ups of people they don't like.
Comprised of a number of cardboard cut-outs who couldn't act their way out of a paper bag, this team of shitheads will stop at nothing to spread the view that the State really needs more powers to put down the "criminal classes".
Receiving their targets from a mysterious establishment figure they weave a story that exculpates the real criminals that are running the country from any necessity to observe the rule of law or act in any interest other than their own.
As my old Grandfather used to say about the "Law & Order" lobby. "It's their law to keep us in order". The truth of shows like The Wire and Spiral is that they understand the nature of the state as a "body of armed men" to paraphrase Karl Marx.
The cuddly characters that make up the team in By Any Means aren't the kind of folks who ran "Stakeknife" a spy in the IRA's Internal Security Unit. "Stakeknife", publicly named as Freddie Scappaticci ran what was colloquially known as the "Nutting Squad" for years, executing IRA members and others who had fallen foul of internal discipline. A number of real touts were killed as well in order to preserve Scappaticci's cover.
The cardboard characters that act in By Any Means aren't the kind of folks who ran Brian Nelson and his associated Loyalist Death Squad in Ireland and gave him carte blanche to kill with impunity.
They aren't the characters who fitted up the Birmingham Six or the Guildford Four. They are not the characters who will be busy putting someone in the frame for the Anarchists who attacked and destroyed a Police Firearms Training Centre at Portishead near Bristol.
By Any Means still has the power to redeem itself. Only one episode has been shown so far. But I have my doubts. Until then it is just a shabby and untruthful piece of propaganda for the view that the State should be more merciless in hunting down those who oppose it.
Shabby because it shrinks from the truth of what this entails in terms of unmitigated murder. Untruthful in the sense that this show pretends these things only happen in the realm of make-believe.
The title may be lifted from a saying associated with Michael X but that could simply be coincidence rather than any knowing reference. There continues to be no sign of doing anything other than insulting the intelligence of the viewer.
The quality of the writing, production and acting does not inspire confidence for the future of this show.
Watch The Wrong Mans on BBC. It has men with guns, a woman as a hostage, a secret agent, missing money and it is funny. All you need on an autumn evening...well almost
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