The Fall: Season 3

After waiting what felt like 2 years (it might have actually been that long) for Season 3 of The Fall, I never even watched it at the time it was shown on TV. Doh! Talk about double standards. I started watching BBC’s The Fall not long after is started in 2013; it came onto my radar when a bunch of whingers complained about the violence in it. What is it about a show receiving complaints that makes it so irresistible? Maybe it was a ploy all along. Plus, Jamie Dornan was the lead and with the rumours going round that he was playing Mr Grey in Fifty Shades, I wanted to see what he was all about.

If you’ve never heard of The Fall, let me fill you in a little. It’s a British Crime/Drama, a cat and mouse game between the police, led by Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson) and serial killer Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan). Spector has a career as a grief counselor with a wife and 2 children back at home, but in his spare time he preys on women and murders them in unsettling ways. That’s as far as you need to go if you haven’t seen Season 3 yet, the rest of this post is going to riddled with spoilers.

Season 2 ended with Spector being shot whilst in police custody, and it was questionable whether he would survive the ordeal when the credits rolled. I liked this ending, and although it would have been a shame if Spector died from the attack, I could envisage how the rest of Season 3 would go. It seemed reasonable to assume he would live, but when Jamie Dornan started promoting the new Season a few weeks before it returned, he told everyone that Spector was going to survive, and that took the edge off a little. Why tease us if it was that obvious?

Episode 1 was arguably more difficult to watch than some of the actual murder scenes. There’s a reason I don’t watch shows like ER! The entire episode was dedicated to the hospital staff trying to save Paul Spector. Interesting, but it was unnecessary to drag it out an entire hour. Of course, the big twist here is when Spector wakes up, he has amnesia, and thinks it’s 2006. I’ll admit, I didn’t see this coming, and it was quite exciting to see how this would change the investigation.

From there however, everything blurred into one, long episode. There were plenty of new plot points opened up, how Spector’s babysitter Katie (Aisling Franciosi) was going off the rails, how Spector’s poor wife Sally Ann (Bronagh Waugh) was driven to attempt to kill not only herself but her children, and the case being built by the scumbag lawyers against Gibson. The problem is, as interesting as those points were, they got scrunched up and thrown into the trash with that ending.

I haven’t been so mad about a TV Show's ending since Dexter. It’s not the fact that Spector died, it’s the fact that so much story got abandoned in the process. It made the entirety of Season 3 pointless.In the end, I felt much like Gibson. Tired. I even read today that the writers aren’t sure if that’s the actual ending or not. So there might yet be a Season 4! Well, at least a new Season of Fargo is around the corner to fill this void in my life.

Not Another Fifty Shades of Grey Post

So, the whole world has an opinion on Fifty Shades at the moment. The internet is full to the brim of judgements, reviews, and flame wars, and who am I to not join in and throw in my two cents? Er, pennies. As much as I’d like to, and could, I’m not going to review the film. I’ve seen highly professional, informative and fun blogs filled with abusive comments aimed at bloggers who dared to enjoy the film, and yet the posters of these comments are the protesters campaigning the ‘Fifty Shades of Abuse’ agenda. Ironic? Maybe, but there’s a genuine fear inside me that’s stopping me from actually reviewing this seriously.

Not that this little hobby blog is established enough to attract such a wide audience, but to any of these protesters who may be reading? You’re actually the reason I went to the cinema last night to watch it. I read the books, I knew what the film would be about, but all the horrific things you guys came out with made me curious. And well, my curiosity got the better of me. Seriously, the PR team behind all of this deserves a medal, because they’ve done a fab job!

For the record, I enjoyed the film. It was a huge improvement on the book. Loved the soundtrack. Not a romantic masterpiece, but like I said, I read the books. It was also the most fun I’ve ever had at a cinema in terms of atmosphere and audience reactions. But this isn’t a review! That’s all I’ll say on that matter. What I really wanted to talk about is the origins of the phenomenon, and what it might mean for the future.

No, I don’t want to talk specifics about the Twilight-inspired fanfiction, I didn’t read that, but I do want to talk about fanfiction. I’ve been a part of the community for about 10 years now, it all started in secondary school when me and my friend (who will remain anonymous for my own safety, not hers) would spend our weekends co-writing a novel-length fanfiction and several shorter stories. We even created a little Yahoo Community group where we would share it with the world. Now, our stories weren’t well written at all, but we had a darn good time writing them!

I don’t write anymore, other than on this blog, but I still visit a rather wonderful site called Archive of our Own (AO3) on a weekly basis to catch up with some of my favourite fandoms. Thankfully, the majority of the writing there is far better than my own, although you can find the occasional stinker. What I love most about fanfiction is the complete removal of boundaries that are found in published books and films. These writers don’t do it for the money, they write because it’s something they love to do. I’ve read fanfiction based on film series’ that is so good I’ve actually forgotten what really happened in the films, and some based on games that I play that has completely blurred my recollection of what was ‘canon’.

The point I’m trying to make here is that Fifty Shades of Grey the film has made history by being the first film based on fanfiction (as far as I know) and at a time where the cinemas are full of sequels and comic book heroes, maybe, just maybe, we’ll get to see some of the fantastic work written by others get their own adaptations on the big screen.

Looking Forward to Seeing in the Cinema this Month...February 2015

Is it really nearly February already!! Oh my gosh, the year is getting away from me...again!!  Both me and Allie struggled to come up with our looking forward to this month, we think that everyone has released movies in December and January for awards season so February doesn't get a look in!

Luckily, I have been looking forward to seeing Jupiter Ascending and it got delayed to February, win!  If you read my 'White Christmas' post you will know that I only finally saw the trailer for this on Christmas Eve after reading about it loads in my movie magazines. Don't get me wrong, I don't think this is going to be film of the year by any stretch but it looks entertaining enough and a bit different to other action/sci-fi films.   If you're like me and you think you've watched the trailer but haven't - here it is...

Jupiter Ascending is out in UK cinemas on 6th February.

This is the first time I've ever had a problem picking a film for this little series we do. Well, not truly anyway. Normally I have 5 to pick from, and I don't even get round to seeing all of them! This month though, the only thing I really want to see is Jenna's film, Jupiter Ascending, and even then I'm not completely sold by it. There is a film coming out this month that I want to see though, but I won't be seeing it in the cinema. Therefore, I'm re-naming the title of this blog post for myself to:

'Sort of Looking Forward to Seeing out of Curiosity but Definitely not at the Cinema...February 2015'

Yes, I read the books, I'm a warm-blooded female, of course I did! I was one of those weirdos on the train trying to hide their kindle from everyone, making it more obvious than I needed to. I didn't care about the quality of writing, quite frankly, I co-run a 'just for fun' blog and so as an amateur writer myself, I'm hardly one to judge!

I can't quite believe the film is nearly here though. I honestly didn't think it would happen. Of course it's going to focus on the fluffy, romantic parts of the book, but really, I think anyone who's read it is at least curious as to how the film is going to pan out. I won't be there at the cinema though. It's going to be filled with old people and weird couples! I don't think I'll be able to go to the cinema for a while after either, not until they've dry cleaned all the seats (sorry).

Do I really need to look up the trailer for you all? I'm at work right now, it might be weird...oh, okay then, here you go.

Fifty Shades of Grey is released in UK cinemas on 13th February, 2015