Alexej Manvelov

I agree about the interesting counterbalance thing, it fucks with my brain a little that he has fewer grey hair than Goode, who generally (and intentionally) looks like a mess on this show.

I'm enjoying the show, but the scene where he tells his boss never to interrupt him again while he's praying (at work!) was ridiculous. I wonder what would happen to me if I said that to my boss. It shows that the first book was written more than a decade ago when sentiment in Denmark and elsewhere towards these excesses was a bit different.

He was kind of a stud, several years back. Such big dark expressive eyes. click the link for a fashion photo spread.

Matthew Goode is maybe too thin now. He looks haggard for 47. He's a competent TV actor but never more. Though I would be delighted to discover a wonderful performance.

Well, Goode's great on this show,. His scenes with Kelly Macdonald in particular are like acting magic.

He's very competent but I sometimes hear all the script. Maybe it's the writing.

He definitely has a lot of screen presence. My focus is always on him whenever he’s in a scene. And I find his voice and accent very sexy.

Blond actor Steven Miller has quite a body.

Aaron Dochard is also a cute twink in this. They slapped a wig with a mullet and an idiot fringe on him and it just works, makes him and his co-worker look like a couple of precogs.

Don't look at his regular photos though, it's a severe downgrade. He should just keep this wig, be like Blake Ritson.

The step-son is a cute UK twink. His verbal rape by the bad man wasn't necessary.

Omg, spoilers, you bitch! I'm only on the third episode and the show hasn't even been out a week!

Okay, I just finished it and kept dreading an actual rape because I didn't see the "verbal" part in r9's reply. So glad that didn't happen. And yes, he and the actor playing Sam are Scottish excellence, I need them both inside me deeply etc.

This was an awesome first season, everyone who enjoys stuff like Slow Horses or Mare of Easttown should watch it, so it gets renewed. It made me want to move to Edinburgh!

SPOILER

SPOILER EPISODE 8 and 9

I am kind of pissed off at continuity issue. Teen lyle is in the reform school home and meets teen Sam Haig and takes him for his dead brother Harry, so Lyle is entering into psychosis. Teen Sam Haig DOES look like Lyle dead brother Harry. Years later, adult Sam Haig is a dead ringer for adult Lyle. Lyle looked nothing like Harry. The director has pulled a fast one. It's helpful for the plot I guess. that Sam and lyle now look alike. But it betrays the logic set up earlier.

Color me pissed.

r12 I read that very slowly four times and I think I'm just too dumb to fully get what you were trying to convey. However, I will say that I intuitively sensed something was off during that whole setup, so they for sure could have executed that backstory more elegantly.

SPOILERS SPOILERS

I SAID SPIOILERS

Netflix explains the Sam Haig backstory, here:

My issue is they cast a teen actor for Sam Haig, who looks like teen Harry Jennings. So Lyle Jennings becomes obsessed with teen Sam and takes Sam for his dead brother, Harry. Later, when Sam reappears in the adult story line. Sam now looks quite like Lyle, not Harry. Lyle is going to kill him and assume his identity so it helps the plot that the adult Sam and Lyle look alike. Like you, something was off in that plot line to the point I stopped the damn episode and went back to episode with video interview of teen Sam and thats when I clocked the casting switcheroo.

Also, we never learn why Morck and his partner were shot. Another mystery discussed in the Netflix roundup, posted. here.

Oh god, I finally understand what you were trying to say. Feels so good, like an actual breakthrough, lol. Yes, that's exactly what was throwing me off.

HOWEVER, I just went back to compare teenage Sam (played by Jackson Reid, not credited on IMDb) and adult Sam, played by Jack Greenlees, and they don't look that far off at all, facially. Problem is, they gave adult Sam substantial facial hair to make him appear more similar to adult Lyle (who eventually shaved it off in the finale for some reason). So I think the production was aware of this tricky issue and tried their best to pull off the switcheroo.

[quote]Also, we never learn why Morck and his partner were shot.

I wasn't bothered by this. Yeah, I kinda expected for the mystery to be solved by the end of the season, but it became clear later on this would be a multi-season arc. I'm more intrigued by that spider thing Morck's boss has going on and how/if that connects to said plot.

I love this series and hope it returns. A long time since I cared about characters and wished them well.

No love for Kewpie doll Rose? She looks like she should be in a 30s comedy.

I actually really enjoyed the entire cast, especially “I am Akram”.

Yeah, Rose was great. I've seen some people making fun of her hairstyle, but I like it. It's retro, it's chic, it's trendy all in one. Actress is a relative newbie as well, hasn't been in much stuff.

I would like to give my own shout out to Kate Dickie, who's always an awesome presence in anything she's in. Her swearing up an absolute storm in that Scottish accent was one of the highlights of the season for me. It made me wish I was Scottish!

And of course, Kelly Macdonald doing Oscar-level facial acting in her sparkling scenes with Goode.

The one thing I strongly disliked was William's psychiatrist, played by the Scottish-Canadian actress Michelle Duncan. She was fine, but the way they styled her and her office came across like she was doing Agatha Christie cosplay. I get the reasoning behind it – "look at her, she's loaded!" – but it was too much and too jarring, took me right out of the show.

R19 I think that someone was styling the series in that way. Sort of dystopian camp. There was Rose the redhead, William's minder, and the Twink twin detectives who looked like ChatGPT illustrations. I liked that and the overdone dystopian Brutalist basement. The designer was onto something different, and it was another thing that made the show.