The Honourable Woman

[Mrs Miggins]

Just watched episode 2 of this and I think it could be shaping up into something quite good.

The one bum note is Maggie Gyllenhaal - who I usually adore - but she seems to be going for the Dick van Dyke Prize of annoying English accents. It does have the marvellous Stephen Rea playing a spook who is shaping up to be almost as good a character as his Gabriel Gatehouse in The Shadow Line from a couple of years ago. It's the same writer.

Janet McTeer as the head spook is awesome. She was fantastic in the scene with the American general. And I can't wait for Eve Best's character to kick off which she will at some point I'm sure. It would be a waste otherwise. And Katherine Parkinson! This thing is chockful of terrific female talent.

7 episodes so a fair amount of time for the plot to unravel. Lots of secrets and lies so far. I'm looking forward to it. Hope it doesn't disappoint. It could do as it seems a bit worthy. And the usually marvellous Maggie G is already getting on my tits.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

I think Maggie G is great in this! Her accent sounds fine to me Oh well, opinions.

But the main thing is that it looks like the plot is going to slowly unravel over the course, and the cast is stellar enough to carry off the space and silence, the thought that is only shown by a glance, or a gesture.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

J
7 episodes

Meant to mention this in my previous post, but that's a good sign. Is that how long it'll take you to tell the story, at the pace you want? OK, fine, have a 7 week slot.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

There is something really odd about her accent. It sounds fine and then suddenly I just think "nobody talks like that". It can't quite put my finger on it. Perhaps invoking DvD was a bit harsh
And 7 episodes yes - a decent amount of time for the plot. I'd like more ideally.

 

[gosub]

Eve Best has already kicked off, recognised the gait of the women who kills the taxi driver from Nurse Jackie. Glad someone started a thread, its like Hugo Blick has his own rep company, so many actors were also in the superb shadowline.

 

[belboid]

Hmm, so Nessa's bodyguard/lover was hired because he had an 'excellent sense for risk' but he didn't bat an eyelid when her woman tells him 'my mum does the accounts at the stone works at night'???

I think even I'd have sensed that something might be slightly amiss with that.

 

[DRTAvailable]

Seen all three episodes now. The plots have been signposted from ep 1. The acting is decent, though a few of the actors have been miscast. The writing in episode 3 was poor. And while it's great to have some older actresses showing what they can do with meaty roles, the amount of cosmetic surgery on show makes this a little like watching cosmetic surgery heavy US shows.

 

[youngian]

If there was ever a spin-off I liked to see more of Stephen Rea's slightly sinister spook. Not quite as good as Alec Guiness's Smiley. But better than Gary Oldman.

There was a lot of wingeing on Twitter after the first episode of the Honourable Woman from people who didn't understand what was going on in; well sit down, shut the fuck up and engage yourself for once you spoon fed big babies.

 

[belboid]

dunno of that last episode really needed to be wholly devoted to what we all had pretty much worked out anyway.

Tho the way Attika asked if Nessa was actually 'the company' was interesting, as was her (Attika's) ability with a chain. There's more to those gals than they're letting on so far.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

Hmm, so Nessa's bodyguard/lover was hired because he had an 'excellent sense for risk' but he didn't bat an eyelid when her woman tells him 'my mum does the accounts at the stone works at night'???

I think even I'd have sensed that something might be slightly amiss with that.

Ha ha, though to be fair to him he did start to sense that something was amiss when he stood in the middle of the derelict, isolated and obviously abandoned building in the dead of night - with those pig corpses dangling from the ceiling in the foreground. But alas he was too late.

 

[JimW]

I'd watch Lindsay Duncan doing the proverbial reading of the phone book, so she is another plus for this for me. Have enjoyed it but not without its flaws,as noted above.

 

[gosub]

dunno of that last episode really needed to be wholly devoted to what we all had pretty much worked out anyway.

Tho the way Attika asked if Nessa was actually 'the company' was interesting, as was her (Attika's) ability with a chain. There's more to those gals than they're letting on so far.

The baby was a given, but all the rest, whose compromised and how (just about every one) sets up a good game of chess between Stephen Rea and Eve Best, he's going to unpick it all and end up as C

 

[belboid]

So...Shlomo obviously won't have planted the tap, but who did? Nessa, Ephra, or Attika? hmmmm, Nessa's most likely, imo

 

[gosub]

Ephra, well he must have signed off on the comms room which is at least as big a deal as the signal splitter

 

[ChrisD]

seems to be getting a bit too far fetched... but good acting& direction is holding it together for me.

 

[MrBen]

I like it.

 

[belboid]

Well, I don't think that that entirely worked, but it wasn't bad at all. Nessa managing to get away again was rather crap really, tho also entirely obvious. Why bother kidnapping her when they could just have declared her dead at the scene? Couldn't have been hard to do.

And didn't she run stupidly? She should have got off with the cop from Salamander.

 

[Kaka Tim]

Saw the first episode last night.

s'alright but its sloooooowwwwww. Could all have been done in 20 minutes. Too much dialouge/action free 'atmospherics' - usually with some dreary string section sawing away.
Jimmy Mc govan's maxim for writing engaging drama is to have 'interesting characters and a simple story' - this was the other way round.

The central character is not interesting - they've have given her an 'interesting' past in clunky 'tell not show' style - but she comes across as over earnest, reasonable liberal and - consequently - utterly bland.

Cant believe they've given it 8 fucking parts - not sure i can sit through all that. Big budget and over indulged writing/prodcution team. I mean - you have a big chunk of the first episode with the main character giving a long boring speech about her business plan - my fantasy script editor was red lining that with a vengeance.

Its not edge of darkness thats for sure.

 

[Kaka Tim]

There was a lot of wingeing on Twitter after the first episode of the Honourable Woman from people who didn't understand what was going on in; well sit down, shut the fuck up and engage yourself for once you spoon fed big babies.

Sorry - but its incumbent on the writers to write drama that is engaging and accessible (which this isn't) - the best writing can do that and still have something that is exciting, original, informative and challenging.

Berating the audience for being 'lazy' is elitist crap.

 

[belboid]

Sorry - but its incumbent on the writers to write drama that is engaging and accessible (which this isn't) - the best writing can do that and still have something that is exciting, original, informative and challenging.

If it's not engaging, why are you still planning to watch? It was a bit too long, IMO, but not massively so. The ending could have been a bit better, but it was still one of the best bits of telly this year.

I don't really understand why

Spoiler

the Russians and Chinese would suddenly veto Palestinian statehood

tho

 

[Kaka Tim]

If it's not engaging, why are you still planning to watch? It was a bit too long, IMO, but not massively so. The ending could have been a bit better, but it was still one of the best bits of telly this year.

I don't really understand why

Spoiler

the Russians and Chinese would suddenly veto Palestinian statehood

tho

Cos the subject matter is potentially interesting - and i like political thrillers - but i can see why people were moaning after episode 1. And Ive invested time in this programme and there might be enough of interest for it to be worth the effort.

 

[lolo]

i thought this show was great, there were a couple of episodes which i felt had far too much exposition but all in all i really enjoyed it

 

[Frances Lengel]

It was fucking boring.

 

[Spymaster]

The one bum note is Maggie Gyllenhaal - who I usually adore - but she seems to be going for the Dick van Dyke Prize of annoying English accents.

We've been watching this on Netflix as we missed it on tv.

At first I thought her accent was pretty much perfect but there was something that grated a bit. After watching 5 episodes I've realised that whilst the accent is fine, she's often impersonating Margaret Thatcher.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

We've been watching this on Netflix as we missed it on tv.

At first I thought her accent was pretty much perfect but there was something that grated a bit. After watching 5 episodes I've realised that whilst the accent is fine, she's often impersonating Margaret Thatcher.

It's weird isn't it I could never quite put my finger on why but it's just...wrong.

 

[Spymaster]

It's weird isn't it I could never quite put my finger on why but it's just...wrong.

I know what you mean. It's not the accent itself but the cadence and manner of delivery and it's more evident in some scenes than others.

It struck me tonight in the scene where the Palestinian bloke admits that they've got the kid and blackmails her over the contract. Watch her response and tell me she didn't learn that from watching loads of Thatcher tapes, and all of a sudden it makes sense!