Restless - BBC1 espionage thriller based on William Boyd

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

yes ... and the reason for the title eh? even as if she had set it off by accident, Romer was not interested until she/daughter showed up ....

a very welcome entertainment

[mercia]

Wouldn't a blow to the head have worked as effectively

indeed, or another pencil in the eye

2B or not 2B

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

indeed, or another pencil in the eye

- the "fake blood dept" had fun with that scene, didn't they?

[Serial_Apologist]

2B or not 2B

As opposed to H for all - which this story definitely was not about...

Why did Romer find it necessary to commit suicide at the end? Was it guilt, or the fact that he had been rumbled? HAD he been rumbled, or was he "one of our's"? So many questions made it lifelike in one sense. That said, I don't think Russia ever "in fact" intended "having Europe" - the allegation that underpinned the whole plot; that myth has been debunked in more recent Pentagon papers, iirc.

[Richard Tarleton]

What are actors given to smoke in period dramas these days? You'd think the poor dears would be coughing their lungs out on those untipped gaspers.

[Hornspieler]

As opposed to H for all - which this story definitely was not about...

Why did Romer find it necessary to commit suicide at the end? Was it guilt, or the fact that he had been rumbled? HAD he been rumbled, or was he "one of our's"? So many questions made it lifelike in one sense. That said, I don't think Russia ever "in fact" intended "having Europe" - the allegation that underpinned the whole plot; that myth has been debunked in more recent Pentagon papers, iirc.

I enjoyed the acting, the settings and the motor cars (except what was a 1938 Austin 16HP saloon doing in the middle of New York?)

Part Two was a let down after the excitement and anticipation of the first episode.

Too many flashbacks. (American viewers would have needed subtitle prompts like "MEXICO 1941", "LONDON, England", "OSTEND, Belgium 1940")

Indicating the time frame by having everybody chain-smoking untipped cigarettes is a bad way of setting the scene.

... And too many questions unanswered - Did Romer commit suicide or have a heart attack or was he silenced by "them"? (and who would "them" have been working for?)

Indeed, why was Alfie shot? Was he in league with Romer? Or the Russians? Or just between Eva and the door?

Ah well, back to re-runs of Foyles War for me.

HS

[Resurrection Man]

I enjoyed the acting, the settings and the motor cars (except what was a 1938 Austin 16HP saloon doing in the middle of New York?)

Part Two was a let down after the excitement and anticipation of the first episode.

Too many flashbacks. (American viewers would have needed subtitle prompts like "MEXICO 1941", "LONDON, England", "OSTEND, Belgium 1940")

Indicating the time frame by having everybody chain-smoking untipped cigarettes is a bad way of setting the scene.

... And too many questions unanswered - Did Romer commit suicide or have a heart attack or was he silenced by "them"? (and who would "them" have been working for?)

Indeed, why was Alfie shot? Was he in league with Romer? Or the Russians? Or just between Eva and the door?

Ah well, back to re-runs of Foyles War for me.

HS

You'll have to read the book

[Nick Armstrong]

Part Two was a let down after the excitement and anticipation of the first episode.

Too many flashbacks.

... And too many questions unanswered - Did Romer commit suicide or have a heart attack or was he silenced by "them"? (and who would "them" have been working for?)

Having caught up with Part 2 tonight, I'd have to agree - after my enthusiastic recommendation of Part 1. I didn't really believe the dénouement... although I thought it was clear that Romer did commit suicide, by injecting himself (as Eva correctly guessed he would). Presumably just because he knew he would be unmasked now, having failed to kill Eva after her cover was blown by the photo in the paper. It didn't quite satisfy however.

Some of the locations were strange, weren't they? The road to Albuquerque looked more like Dartmoor than New Mexico, to me (with a lizard added for local colour). And after the scenes expressly set in Cambridge, it was rather lazy (and confusing to someone who used to park his bike there for 3 years) to use Senate House Passage as "London"...

[PJPJ]

I enjoyed the acting, the settings and the motor cars (except what was a 1938 Austin 16HP saloon doing in the middle of New York?)

Far worse, there was a post-war Triumph Roadster in the USA/Mexico in 1941, and sporting a modern two-tone inauthentic paint-job. [That's the Bergerac-mobile for those who wonder what I mean.*]


* https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=tr...w=1366&bih=653

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... I thought it was clear that Romer did commit suicide, by injecting himself (as Eva correctly guessed he would).

Yrs, I thought this, too.

Presumably just because he knew he would be unmasked now, having failed to kill Eva after her cover was blown by the photo in the paper.

But I thought we were given a strong hint that Romer hadn't done this and was genuinely perplexed when Eva accused him of this. Of course, he could have been trying to lie to her, but why would he at that stage? And there's a brilliant irony that all Eva's anxiety was unnecessary after all! But then, why the need for Romer's suicide?

It didn't quite satisfy however.

No, it didn't. A pity; the first part set up such exectations! (I was hoping, too, that, having made such a point of Eva's not being given firearms training, her sudden possession of a pistol would be made clear. It wasn't.) I'll just have to read the book to see if Boyd made things clearer.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

i was left feeling as if any possibility of plot should be considered possibly true, that nothing was entirely settled .... that mopther/daughter routine was entirely neglectful of the young grand/son left dangling in the car at the end ...

well if i have to read the book to get it all why bother with this up then down adaptation?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

.... that mopther/daughter routine was entirely neglectful of the young grand/son left dangling in the car at the end ...

- that final scene, so packed with telling images, is what makes me wonder if I just missed a lot of detail as I followed the story!

well if i have to read the book to get it all why bother with this up then down adaptation?

Oh, I dunno: I didn't know of the novel's existence before this adaptation, so it was effective as an advert!

[Mr Pee]

The road to Albuquerque looked more like Dartmoor than New Mexico

You've clearly never been to New Mexico...or Dartmoor for that matter......

[Nick Armstrong]

You've clearly never been to New Mexico...or Dartmoor for that matter......

Only Dartmoor. I found it difficult to believe New Mexico looks like that!

And it turns out it was South Africa, anyway... http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/med...ey-atwell.html

[amateur51]

Only Dartmoor. I found it difficult to believe New Mexico looks like that!

And it turns out it was South Africa, anyway... http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/med...ey-atwell.html