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March 29, 2024, 08:38:32 AM

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Motherland - Season 3

Started by dead-ced-dead, May 11, 2021, 10:29:15 PM

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dead-ced-dead

I watched the first two episodes on the ol' iPlayer and there's a few good chuckles but I found it quite low energy as compared to seasons 1 and 2. Every time I see Paul Ready I can only think of him as Dr. Goodsir from The Terror.

phes

First two eps was a total laugh free zone here.

dead-ced-dead

Quote from: phes on May 11, 2021, 10:33:59 PM
First two eps was a total laugh free zone here.

Yeah, and the fact that it wasn't very funny put under a microscope just how unpleasant all the characters are.

Bently Sheds

The only likeable character is Anne & she's more of a cartoon sketch of a character than the others. Funny how there's a divorce theme to a few of these episodes, wonder why that is?

jobotic

These are the people who got us where we are and continue to profit from it.

They should a poisonous Kevin.


dead-ced-dead

Jobotic, are you having a stroke?

jobotic

No realising I'd posted when pissed then forgetting I can't modify it and accidentally pressing "quote" instead.

What am I like?


hungover is what I'm like

Drygate

I quite like it.

It's not as good as it could be obviously and has a lot wrong with it.

The Christmas one was funny, right?

frajer

I quite like it too. Even though it's pretty well-worn material, I find the cast are all watchable and there's some good turns of phrase.

Also I really enjoy Anna Maxwell Martin's quick and brittle million-teeth smile.

phes

Enjoyed the first couple of seasons but this barely stirred a chuckle. And it felt a bit bodged. What happened to Tony from men behaving badly's rampaging divorce, why is that woman getting a cancer all clear about 48 hours after chemo.. It all felt so awkward and unlikely. I get that motherhood must throw alsorts of unlikely types together but despite that it felt like diminishing returns as they sanded off all the corners to keep them all in each other's lives. Even that shouting woman from the IT crowd who provides some comic relief in S1/2 becomes a wet blanket in 3.

Custard

We banged the entire lot last night, as that's what people do these days innit

It started slow, and I agree the first two are surprisingly unfunny, but I thought it picked up speed after that, and the last two made us laugh a lot.

Bit weird it's only 5 episodes, but that must be Uncle Covid ruining things yet again, eh?

I really enjoy the cast in this, and hope it goes for at least another series or two, as it's just a nice easy bit of comfort comedy

olliebean

Didn't realise the whole series was on iPlayer. Did they mention that after the broadcast?

Episode 1 definitely didn't seem as funny the first two series. Perhaps Sharon Horgan (absent from the writing team this series) wrote all the best jokes.

I know we like to be a little more in-depth than this here on the Cook'd and Bomb'd forums, but I fucking hate this programme.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Anna Maxwell- Smith's character appears to hate her own children and her own mum. Chucking her ma's walking frame out of the house, indeed.Are we supposed to empathise with her? No wonder her husband apparently keeps on hiding from her. Also, very depressing to see how much  Posh English Bloke From " Buffy" has aged ( unless he's had " aged" make up put on him, to signify his concern for his missus).

phes

I didn't get any sense that we are intended to empathise with her early in the run. At least until later on when she admits she's aware she's an unsympathetic and dislikable character and feels lonely and unlovable

Bob-Kate

I was a bit whelmed by the first couple of episodes, but it does pick up. Watched 3 and 4 last night and there was a lot more energy.

No race car beds seen so far.

Custard

It is a drop in quality from the previous series, so maybe Horgan did bring most of the funnies to the table

kalowski

Funniest joke they've done in all 3 series is when Minecraft is pronounced like Mein Kampf.

Drygate

I watched the first 3 of s3 and really liked it.

I think Kevin has become more of a human compared to the first few and now less annoying. The Irish woman is still a caricature but the other characters are pretty good and well rounded for a 30 minute sitcom.

When was something funnier than this on TV? Must've been a long time...

Mobius

Quote from: Drygate on May 15, 2021, 01:59:37 PM
When was something funnier than this on TV? Must've been a long time...

Partridge, yesterday.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I was feeling rather lazy yesterday, so I ended up watching series 2 and 3 in pretty much one go. I didn't really notice a decline in laughs between them, even though 3 does obviously go for some rather more dramatic plotlines.

Overall, it's a very funny and likeable show. Diane Morgan was the early standout, but the whole ensemble soon gelled.

I like that Julia seemed to grow a modicum of backbone over time. I'm not the most forthright person myself, but she was such an extreme wet blanket in the first series that I ended up actually losing sympathy for her. There comes a point where it seems like she's just inviting stress. It sort of reminded me of Curb Your Enthusiasm, except that Larry is fairly phlegmatic about all the unreasonable twats that surround him. I was rather disappointed with the resolution of the builder plotline, as I really wanted to see her finally put her feckless dick of a husband in his place. I wonder if the rushed copnclusion was due to the episode order being cut down at the last minute.

Amanda and Mr Goodsir
Spoiler alert
bonking
[close]
was rather a clichéd development.

Quote from: Bob-Kate on May 13, 2021, 07:56:43 AM
No race car beds seen so far.
Racecars are no laughing matter!

paruses

I whizzed through S2 over the last few days having enjoyed S1 beginning of last year. Can't remember if the characters are more unlikeable in S2 but they seemed unbearably so at times. Enjoyed it though and started S3 today.

The opening Nits episode - is that a weird Covid parody? And if so is part of it pro anti-maskers and lockdowns? Maybe it would have hit the zeitgeist 12 months ago but I just found it odd and limp and unnecessary. Also one tiny point - revealing Anne to be the former head of product development at GSK worldwide stood out as a Joke. I doubt it will ever be mentioned again.

Quite enjoying it and I like finding Holly Walsh's stuff. Always seems to have heart (even though it's a bit hard to find in this sometimes).

H-O-W-L

Saw a trailer for this in passing when filling my tankard earlier and I legitimately thought Joanna Lumley was dead for some reason. Legitimately relieved to find out she isn't.

EDIT:

Ah, fuck, no, it's Diana Rigg that is!

dead-ced-dead

I made it to episode 5, and I agree that it really picks up towards the end of the season. I was surprised by how well the show delivered on the melancholy by episode 5, I found myself genuinely moved.

Lucy Punch's eyetwitch was wonderful, the 'not knowing anything about catholicism' a bit grating.

QuoteThe opening Nits episode - is that a weird Covid parody?

That bit rang very true here, having had to organise/run many, many staff briefings in the last year or so (and they show no sign of ending ... ).

Drygate

Wasn't it more that nits were being likened to covid - having to isolate, spreading it without knowing, etc than what it's like to run things post-covid?

paruses

Thinking back the nits / briefings thing was perhaps because they were writing / filming this at the beginning of the first lockdown when it was all new and unusual.  I don't know about when this was flimed or the lag between filming and lockdown but I assume the nits plot existed already and they wove some easy parody into it. There is no other mention of Covid in the whole series (not that there has to be or should be).

Finished it now. Picks up from episode 3 onwards I think.

I liked how they flattened Meg out from her polyglot global fixer role. The whole storyline was too neat but enjoyable. Did Anthony Head lose all that weight for the role so he could win an Oscar? He looked exponentially older in this series than the last. I hope he's alright.  Actually quite liked the resolution to the Garry issue - nice to put a bit of depth on that. I got the impression the actor playing the shepherd is far far posher than all of the farmers I know - he didn't quite ring true for me but I liked the storyline. Amanda and her mum's very brief bit was good too. Subtly done.

The Anne thing bugged me all the way through. I know she always stands up for herself at the end of a series but she stands up for herself in the way a kid at school would snap and have an eppy and then be back to being bullied. There is no way she was senior management at GSK.

Any idea if there's going to be another series? For something that doesn't make me laugh much and in which I dislike 90% of the characters, I really enjoy it.

Drygate

Good point about the farmer. Although, it would probably be too unrealistic if someone from London was interested in an "farmer" type though.

The "senior management at GSK" thing was a bit much, but my waif thought it was a good example of what life is like pre and post children. Before kids, you've got a career, life is on the up, you're going places, literally and figuratively, then you have kids and your just a mum. Obviously that's an extreme it's not like that for everyone one, but it does happen. So if they'd just said she was a PA at GSK, it wouldn't have been addressing that point as succinctly.

Would be nice to see Kevin really going off the rails in series 4, maybe turning into a kind of Travis Bickle type character.

phes

It's Always Sunny in Chorlton-cum-Hardy