Reviews

The Man Who Died, or Mies joka kuoli (2022) is a lovely, strange little series from Finland. The main character is so disconnected from his emotions that after he hears terrible news from his Doctor he stays in his suit and goes back to work. He sees his wife with the delivery man and still doesn't respond. He waits and watches as the poison continues to kill him. He sees his Doctor several times to obtain medication that allows him to continue to investigate. The slow burn of how his character comes alive and learns to love, at this moment of great tragedy, takes a few episodes to build up, and it isn't until very late that he shows his cards to those who have worked against him. But through the excellent writing, we see how his and his new love's mutual admiration for mushrooms brings them together to solve this mystery and save his little mushroom business. The ending is especially touching.

We started Mare of East Town because Kate Winslet is a wonderful actress and although she was quite good in it, the show itself was terrible in so many ways. If we are to believe the set up, this community is close knit and caring, yet every person is able to lie and manipulate those around them. So many threads are dropped quickly, like Mare's athletic ability. Mare's new boyfriend is barely part of the story. Each twist has another twist and the whole arc way too long and tortured. Perhaps this story would have worked better over 4 episodes but with it lasting over seven meant there was way too much soap opera, way too many scenes of friends sitting around and drinking beer, with too many tertiary characters. Too many rebuffs of Mare. She is an emotional punching bag for many of her supposed friends, daughter and Mother. The same scene is repeated over and over again. We get it, her Mom is hard on her, takes her for granted, is funny, etc. Etc. But it was not all needed to make the mystery taught. The weakest episode is the one in which Mare's new partner is murdered. His death is not necessary and creates a trauma too early to make the energy of the seven episodes work as a whole. In the last episode we find out Mare's new boyfriend is leaving for another job while Lore, her best friend first takes out her frustration on Mare without accepting any responsibility for her own choices, in the final moments, Mare opens the attic, releasing the the sense of guilt she felt at not being able to help her son. Yes, we get it, but does it work? Does it have a narrative flow? Is the writing strong enough for the long tedious moments that are supposed to be powerful? One last thought is that the music is quite poorly written and at times made watching the show nearly interminable.

Two stars is probably one too many for this series because this is a terrible, truly nonsensical series. This series asks you to believe it is the dark ages, with a cop who does no detective work at all and the woman at the center a brilliant Doctor, yet she acts like a shrinking violet who is too fragile to stand with her Father, or call the authorities. Even when she thinks her own biological child tries to murder her. Her husband leaves her alone for vast amounts of time when he knows the locals want to get rid of her, and a priest who is utterly insane pushing them on. If this were a story set in the 12th century, it might make more sense. Meanwhile there is supposed to be a terrible storm, one that killed and beached a dozen or more folk, but the skies are bright and blue, and as beautiful as Brittany ever gets.

I wanted to like this show since I am a composer but the show is just ridiculously wrong about every element of classical music. The actress is clearly not a conductor. She bobs her head and body, which would make it impossible to follow her, even if she was conducting the right meters. Orchestras hire conductors after extensive searches, and they do not have unilateral rights to fire and hire musicians. They announce the repertoire a year (sometimes two) in advance. After the lack lust4r performance of some era horse, they clap for her and like a giddy school girl she stands there and laughs. Lordy, is it a terrible show? As a composer I was embarrassed by the "new" composition by her husband, it sounded like a student work, just terrible. I almost cried when they buried her Mother's violin with her. How ridiculous to think a true musician would destroy a good violin and one connected to her Mother. I could write much more here but it is not worth it here. If you do not know much about classical music do not start here. Finally the premiere that happens at the end of the show, is the worst drivel. Somehow magically, the conductor plays a duo concerto, she has never rehearsed, on violin she has never played before, with her crazy first violin protégé. A children's choir, part of the work, miraculously has been able to learn this music, when as far as we know, it was finished only the day before. Oh yes, and who copied the music for the payers in less than 24 hours? It is all just too much to take.

Dicte had a well written and textured first season, a poor second season and I will not watch the third with Wagner gone. The show favors soap opera story lines but at least the Wagner character was written and acted with a poignant and moral compass despite that some of the other characters, are vapid at times. Dicte herself is a "journalist" but in the second season the journalism is tabloid and exploitative. There are so many worthwhile stories in this complicated world without having to bend to the whims of her boss, worried about loosing money and shuttering his paper. Too bad because the first season set the stage for something better. Instead of killing Wagner off they could have written him a spin off.