Inside Man - General Discussion

[AnimeMania]

Everyone is a murderer, you just need a good reason and a bad day. 
Everyone is a murderer, you just have to meet the right person...

Inside Man is a Drama Limited TV Series with all 4 episodes being released at the same time on October 31 on Netflix. Inside Man has already aired in the UK in September of 2022.

Written by Steven Moffat, this mystery thriller sees Jefferson Grieff, an American death row prisoner with a sideline in solving mysteries, cross paths with a woman trapped in a cellar under an English vicarage as he helps a young British journalist search for a friend who has suddenly disappeared.

David Tennant as Harry Watling, a vicar in a quiet English village, he has a wife and a teenage son 

Lyndsey Marshal as Mary Watling

Stanley Tucci as Jefferson Grieff,  has a doctorate in criminology and is a criminologist who is a prisoner on death row in the US for murdering his wife

Lydia West as Beth Davenport, a criminal investigative journalist 

Dolly Wells as Janice Fife, a math tutor trapped in a cellar

Louis Oliver as Ben, Harry's son

Atkins Estimond as Dillon Kempton, on death row in the US for being a serial rapist murderer with a photographic memory 

Dylan Baker as Casey

Eke Chukwu as Keith

[AnimeMania]

Inside Man       October 31         Netflix    

Episodes 1-4      Titles and Descriptions  

Spoiler

S01.E01: Episode 1

Investigative journalist Beth meets a new friend and interviews a prickly prisoner. A misunderstanding puts the local vicar in a precarious position.
A criminology expert on death row (Tucci) in the US and a vicar (Tennant) in a sleepy English town; how are they connected? When a journalist from England goes to interview the criminology expert she tries to uncover what's going on with the vicar in England.

S01.E02: Episode 2

Beth agrees to observe one of Grieff's investigations. Mary has a chat with Janice. Harry's attempts to secure a confession from Edgar backfire.
How far is maths tutor Janice Fife willing to go to make her escape? On death row, journalist Beth Davenport finds herself running an errand for the wife killer Jefferson Grieff. And vicar Harry Watling confronts his verger about a dangerous secret.

S01.E03: Episode 3

Grieff gets alarming news and connects Beth with an associate in the UK. The police — and Ben — have some questions about what Harry's been up to.
As Harry's dilemma worsens, the fate of his family hangs in the balance - but he's determined to do the right thing. Meanwhile, Beth Davenport meets one of Jefferson Grieff's helpers in the outside world, who delivers a chilling warning. In the cellar, Janice's desperation grows. In her battle for survival, is there anything she isn't prepared to do?

S01.E04: Episode 4

Mary and Harry have a spat over their guest in the cellar. With the clock ticking and Grieff pulling invisible strings, Beth searches for Janice.
As events spiral out of control, Jefferson Grieff prepares to face execution, and time is also running out for Janice Fife in the cellar. An increasingly desperate Harry Watling struggles to do the right thing, but can he stay on the side of the angels and still keep his wife and son safe?

[SunnyBeBe]

I watched a little of the first episode and I’m not sure how I feel.  I made the mistake of reading the reviews.  I’ll be interested to see how others feel about it.  

[LADreamr]

8 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I watched a little of the first episode and I’m not sure how I feel.  I made the mistake of reading the reviews.  I’ll be interested to see how others feel about it.  

I watched the whole thing and liked it.  I did think it was a bit uneven.  Some parts felt so smart and engaging, and others a bit cliche and like they didn't know what to do with it.  But my love for David Tennant, Stanley Tucci, and Lydia West kept me watching.  They never disappointed.

[SunnyBeBe]

44 minutes ago, LADreamr said:

I watched the whole thing and liked it.  I did think it was a bit uneven.  Some parts felt so smart and engaging, and others a bit cliche and like they didn't know what to do with it.  But my love for David Tennant, Stanley Tucci, and Lydia West kept me watching.  They never disappointed.

So, you watched the whole first episode or the whole season?  I like the cast too.  It does seem appealing.  

[LADreamr]

8 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

So, you watched the whole first episode or the whole season?  I like the cast too.  It does seem appealing.  

The whole season.  I had been looking forward to it, and scheduled that time to watch the whole thing (I do so have a life 🤣)

[SunnyBeBe]

2 hours ago, LADreamr said:

The whole season.  I had been looking forward to it, and scheduled that time to watch the whole thing (I do so have a life 🤣)

Oh, yeah.  I get it.  I’ve binged several series before.  I’ve even binged some that I’ve already seen!  Works well on a rainy, dreary day.  Lol

I’ll likely watch it,  I like the premise, because I’ve actually believed that anyone can kill under the right circumstances.  Lol. And, the cast looks good.  I’ll come back and post here.  Hopefully, you’ll share your thoughts too.  Maybe, others will also show up.  

[CherryMalotte]

I'm going to start the third episode shortly.  I'm not loving it, but I am enjoying Stanley so I'm sticking with it for him.  Uneven is an apt description I think.

[Chaos Theory]

Just finished chapter 1 and my initial thoughts are that I am either going to really like this or really hate this depending on how it ends.   Tucci and the other death row guy are a darkly fun pair. I like Janice and I like that they are playing her as a “smart” victim.  “I love that CSI, don’t you?” And telling a Vicar that she promises him Hell.     David Tennant is good playing the vicar caught up in a series of unfortunate events that may lead to murder.    

[LADreamr]

1 hour ago, Chaos Theory said:

Tucci and the other death row guy are a darkly fun pair.

They continue to be great together.  I would watch a whole series of just them together.

[Chaos Theory]

Part 2.  

I am really enjoying the relationship between the young reporter and Tucci’s character.  “Am I getting morality lessons from a murderer?”  “Everyone is a murderer.  All it takes is a good reason and a bad day.”  
 

the scene between Janice (who for some reason is the only name I actually remember on the show take that for whatever you want) and the wife was made if so much win.  “I think it’s time we had a talk.”   Watching Janice basically say how her murder would go was chilling.   “I love my son.”  “If I doubted that I’d be a lot less scared.”     The head game Janice continues to play on the Vicar and his wife while being chained in a basement is impressive.  
 

And yey he finally admitted to taking her case. 

[SunnyBeBe]

I normally don’t like shows where the entire premise is based on a stupid mistake or wrong assumption.  Is that going to get in the way of the rest of the story?  

[Chaos Theory]

4 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I normally don’t like shows where the entire premise is based on a stupid mistake or wrong assumption.  Is that going to get in the way of the rest of the story?  

It depends on how much it bothers you.  Because the “stupid mistake or wrong assumption” is something reasonable.  If You are handed a thumb drive with child porn on it is not unreasonable to assume it belongs to the person who handed it to you.  And when you decide it is your duty to go to the police is when the series of unfortunate events begin to happen.

Part 3 or -  the shit finally hits the fan for The vicar and his wife who have a lady chained in the basement.   Oh boy the son finds her and gets locked down there with her just as dad finally decides to kill her with a broken heater.

I really like Morag and the young reporter as a team.   They make a fun duo.  The career criminal and the reporter who writes about crime.   

And Tucci’s character gets a death date but to put it off agrees to reveal the location of his wife’s head.

Unless the final episode is super bad I dont know what other people were watching.  This wasn’t perfect but it was a solid drama full of intelligent characters.  

Edited November 2, 2022 by Chaos Theory

[Chaos Theory]

Oh good the ending was actually pretty good.    The only thing I didn't like was the death of the wife.  I thought that was pretty silly.  But then I guess the show really wanted a scene with Tennant and Tucci and I would to if I was the showrunner.    Everything else really worked for me about the finale.    Both major storylines came together nicely and I like that the Vicar who was supposed to be this reasonable guy who throughout tried to find a reasonable solution just lost his shit at the end was willing to kill two people to keep his secrets.   

Honestly sometimes I just don't get bad reviews.   This was quite a fun ride.

[SunnyBeBe]

Well, I’m planning on binging this coming weekend.  I hope I like it.  I normally like stuff like this.  

[Evagirl]

I just finished episode 2.  I did nap in and out.  However, I am a little annoyed with the premise. Once it was discovered what was on the thumb drive, why didn't the vicar just destroy it and let her walk out the door.  There was no proof (as far as I could tell) that anyone in that house was a pedophile or had that kind of porn on a computer. So the only thing to back up Janice's story was the thumb drive.  Let her run to the police, where's the proof?  Am I missing something or could it have really been that simple?

[CherryMalotte]

It was....okay.  I liked Tucci all the way through.  I'm somewhat ashamed of myself though, I didn't recognize the mom Mary as the same actress that played Cleopatra in Rome until the middle of the last episode.

[buttersister]

I came for Stanley and David. After episode 1, I'll come back for Stanley and his cellmate. 

[SunnyBeBe]

Can someone tell me why the senator’s wife sent a text to another woman to pay the therapist?  Who was that woman?  And why that exact amount?  This regarding the Tucci character’s theory on the matter.  

[Sara2009]

On 11/2/2022 at 8:45 PM, Evagirl said:

I just finished episode 2.  I did nap in and out.  However, I am a little annoyed with the premise. Once it was discovered what was on the thumb drive, why didn't the vicar just destroy it and let her walk out the door.  There was no proof (as far as I could tell) that anyone in that house was a pedophile or had that kind of porn on a computer. So the only thing to back up Janice's story was the thumb drive.  Let her run to the police, where's the proof?  Am I missing something or could it have really been that simple?

Well, the son insisted it was his. He would’ve been branded as a pedophile forever in the court of public opinion even if it was later discovered that the porn wasn’t his.

Edited November 6, 2022 by Sara2009

[chediavolo]

Had to delete it. The Vicar is nuts. The two inmates were very entertaining. But having the vicar defend the pedo & be shown as a mentally deranged psycho is unbearable 

[SunnyBeBe]

I like this type of show, but this didn’t really work for me.  

[mansonlamps]

On 11/2/2022 at 8:45 PM, Evagirl said:

I just finished episode 2.  I did nap in and out.  However, I am a little annoyed with the premise. Once it was discovered what was on the thumb drive, why didn't the vicar just destroy it and let her walk out the door.  There was no proof (as far as I could tell) that anyone in that house was a pedophile or had that kind of porn on a computer. So the only thing to back up Janice's story was the thumb drive.  Let her run to the police, where's the proof?  Am I missing something or could it have really been that simple?

I think he was afraid of the accusation against his son being made public. Once accused of anything to do with child porn, the stigma never really goes away even if you're found not guilty. He didn't want his son to suffer that fate. 

[buttersister]

Quote

Can someone tell me why the senator’s wife sent a text to another woman to pay the therapist?  Who was that woman?  And why that exact amount?  This regarding the Tucci character’s theory on the matter.  

If I have this right, the other woman handles the Senator's bookkeeping, so she could write the check. What Tucci's character figured out was that when that woman enlarged the wife's text messages, therapist read as the rapist. Which she knew to be the Senator. The amount was the charge for the visit and immaterial.

[Bastet]

This was lackluster overall, but Janice was a great character; I love her skillfully manipulating her captors.

And every instance of "I'm a fucking vicar" cracked me up, so I could see the last one coming, but still enjoyed it.

Stanley Tucci (the reason I watched) and the actor playing the warden were the only actors I recognized, but I found the cast very strong.  The scripts, unfortunately, did not rise to the occasion.  The final episode was particularly rough; it dragged on terribly, and I generally like a slow pace.

[SayMyName]

I have a question about the locations. Beth meets Janice on the subway near London and they supposedly have coffee several times according to Beth in a later episode. But Grieff is in the US and Beth visits him and then flies to London? What am I missing?

[SnapHappy]

I loved this.  I wish they had expanded a bit more on his wife's family and the bad guys that worked for her dad.  And Dillon was just SO endearing and twisted!  

15 hours ago, SayMyName said:

I have a question about the locations. Beth meets Janice on the subway near London and they supposedly have coffee several times according to Beth in a later episode. But Grieff is in the US and Beth visits him and then flies to London? What am I missing?

Beth was bullshitting Jefferson, making it seem like she had an actual friendship with Janice, so he would help her find out what was happening with Janice.  Beth originally just went to interview him to get a good story to sell in the English tabloids.  But then the Janice situation dropped into her lap, and it gave her a real "case" for him to solve.  

I LOVED the end when she was in Janice's bathroom talking to him on the phone & he clued her into where she actually was.  I did NOT see that coming.  

Morag was a hoot.  And I think Mary's death was a great way to erase her involvement, because otherwise she'd be charged with conspiracy, aiding & abetting, etc.  Whatever they have in England that corresponds.  Their son would then have 2 parents going down for murder.  

I loved David T. and as a vicar, he really sold it.  

Edited November 7, 2022 by SnapHappy

[oompa]

PSA: There is an extra scene pretty soon after the credits roll on the last episode.

[SnapHappy]

Thanks for the heads-up. I just went back & watched that last 4 minutes. 

But I don't get it.  Did Janice have a husband somewhere that didn't live with her or just wasn't in the picture?  She never mentioned him, just her sister that she Skyped with.  Do we assume that the vicar was only charged with attempted murder, since Janice is actually alive?

Why wouldn't Beth write the whole crazy story?  It would be a HUGE hit, probably Pulitzer caliber, with all the twisty elements it had.  

The music over the closing credits was so loud & annoying.  

Edited November 8, 2022 by SnapHappy

[SunnyBeBe]

On 11/6/2022 at 1:54 PM, buttersister said:

If I have this right, the other woman handles the Senator's bookkeeping, so she could write the check. What Tucci's character figured out was that when that woman enlarged the wife's text messages, therapist read as the rapist. Which she knew to be the Senator. The amount was the charge for the visit and immaterial.

I appreciate that and I thought so, but it still doesn’t work for me.  Because, once the bookkeeper put the funds into the Senator aka/ Rapist’s  account, that would end it.  The therapist would never have gotten paid.  Unlikely, he would have kept treating senator’s wife without payment. And when she showed up the next week, ask where payment was.  Then wife would call the senator’s bookkeeper and demand an explanation.  So, the purported scenario falls apart for me.  Maybe, I’m missing something.  This was a small part of the series, but if they put it out there, it should hold its own to me.  
 

I also found the timing of the journalist on the train in London, then in the states in prison unrealistic.  

Edited November 9, 2022 by SunnyBeBe

[DiabLOL]

How did Stanley Tucci know that Janice was scheduled to have a Skype call at 9pm? And how was he allowed to use a cellphone?

[GiuliettaMasina]

On 11/2/2022 at 2:09 PM, SunnyBeBe said:

I normally don’t like shows where the entire premise is based on a stupid mistake or wrong assumption.  Is that going to get in the way of the rest of the story?  

I had to start fast forwarding midway through the 3rd episode for this reason. For me it starts with: the files just automatically popped up when she put the thumb drive in? I guess I can kind of buy that they're image files so maybe he just didn't have them in a folder, so she saw the thumbnails? But then I get stuck on--this is a man so (rightly) tormented by his actions that he attempted suicide, couldn't name them at out loud, and on top of that was being hounded by his mother, but he didn't (at the very least) put the files in an innocuously named folder? It doesn't track.

And, if the lesson was meant to be that times of stress reveal our "true" nature, or whatever that "man behind your eyelids" speech was supposed to be:

1) Going with the premise that there was nothing the vicar could do to convince Janice the CSA materials weren't Ben's, then isn't this more a case of "desperate people will at out of character and compound lie after lie to the point it collapses on them"? In which case, isn't this something we all learn as toddlers when we try to lie our way out of something? Not sure why this needed to be a fable for adults. And in this case, the vicar didn't do even anything wrong to incite the story. There is no way he could know there was anything out of the ordinary on the drive. Although why he didn't put the material that he clearly regarded as personal anywhere besides the effing ENTRY WAY COMMON PILE O'STUFF, I simply can't understand. And...

2) Doesn't the same apply to our oh-so-clever heroine? Like if she had calmed down for five seconds she might have realized his explanation might make some sense--he's a vicar with religious, if not legal, codes of privilege; "secretive" does not necessarily mean suspicious. Even if she said, "I don't believe you, but let's go the station and I'll let you explain--all I did was open a drive, I can't prove where you got it" that gives everyone an out. Or, later, when she was confronted with a terrified child who pretty clearly was completely befuddled, maybe she backtracks for and minute and reconsiders. 

This is why I hate stories that rely on people acting nonsensically--it makes me hate EVERYONE.

9 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I appreciate that and I thought so, but it still doesn’t work for me.  Because, once the bookkeeper put the funds into the Senator aka/ Rapist, which was ACTUALLY the Therapist’s account, that would end it.  The therapist would never have gotten paid.  Unlikely, he would have kept treating senator’s wife without payment. And when she showed up the next week, ask where payment was.  Then wife would call the senator’s bookkeeper and demand an explanation.  So, the purported scenario falls apart for me.  Maybe, I’m missing something.  This was a small part of the series, but if they put it out there, it should hold its own to me.  
 

I also found the timing of the journalist on the train in London, then in the states in prison unrealistic.  

I think the idea was there were two payments? One to the "the therapist" and one to "the rapist." But, it still didn't make sense to me.

10 hours ago, oompa said:

PSA: There is an extra scene pretty soon after the credits roll on the last episode.

Thanks for this info! Now the story makes even less sense to me, lol. 

Edited November 9, 2022 by GiuliettaMasina

[SunnyBeBe]

I just made a small correction to my post.  My point being, all deposits went into Senator’s account, so the therapist never got paid.  Who works week after week and never gets paid?  

[pasdetrois]

On 11/2/2022 at 9:45 PM, Evagirl said:

Once it was discovered what was on the thumb drive, why didn't the vicar just destroy it and let her walk out the door.

This ruined the show for me. I couldn't get over how stupid the vicar was. The wife's death was a TV trope.

But because of Tucci and Tennant, I kept watching. Also, ABRTV (anything but reality TV).

After the first episode I ran to IMDB to learn more about the talented Atkins Estimond (Dillon). All the actors were excellent.

Thanks buttersister for explaining the senator's payments. I was confounded by that twist and just didn't care to rewind to figure it all out.

Quote

I have a question about the locations. Beth meets Janice on the subway near London and they supposedly have coffee several times according to Beth in a later episode. But Grieff is in the US and Beth visits him and then flies to London? What am I missing?

I figured the scriptwriter was simply trying to insert twists, this one laboring to bring several of the characters together in the middle of nowhere.

I was distracted by US election news coverage. Where is the wife's head? Why did her husband cut it off?

[RainbowBrite]

I don't know what it says about me that I was rooting for the Vicar and his family, getting irritated with Janice and the journalist for getting in their way. The way the journalist (her name is escaping me!) chased Mary, was shocked that she used the bread knife, then chased her into traffic - I get it, but I resented her for it. It was a very conflicting story and I agree with the posters who said that if Janice or the Vicar had stopped for a moment to think things through, none of this would have happened. Why couldn't they just destroy the thumb drive? Then it's just her word against theirs. As soon as he lay a hand on her, that was out of the question though. 

ETA: can someone explain the ending with Janice and her "husband"???

Edited November 10, 2022 by RainbowBrite
can someone explain the ending with Janice and her "husband"???

[MicheleinPhilly]

I love both Tucci and Tennant but this show drove me absolutely bonkers. I never felt like the 2 "pieces" fit together organically and it felt like I was watching 2 different shows slapped together with tenuous connections. 

Dillon was the sole bright spot for me. 

[Tim McD]

Seemed to me there were some loose ends, or maybe that's groundwork for a second season? Janice's behavior was interesting. After the subway incident, when Beth ID's herself as a journalist, she gets a funny look on her face. When Ben asks her about a husband and kids, she winces painfully. And her response to her own abduction was bonkers; she did nothing to try to escape, or alert anyone she was down there (like screaming). Her whole demeanor was bizarrely calm and collected, but never explained. Grieff, meanwhile, said that the truth of his wife's murder is a "story for another time." He also told Beth that if she knew why he decapitated his wife post-mortem, she would know why he had to murder her. Sounds like some openings for season 2!

Great cast, weird to see Tucci as a murderer so soon after watching his Searching for Italy series on CNN! Never too much of David Tennant, Dolly West and the phenomenal Dylan Baker, one of the greatest character actors ever.

[SunnyBeBe]

What about the lady who was initially searching for her missing husband?  The journalist shows her the photo of a soil laden trophy and she looked shocked, then took off in her car.  Where?  So, did she murder him?  How, since he was last seen alive in a public place with many people, right?  
 

I would rewatch this, but I suspect it would irritate me further.  

[DanaMB]

On 11/8/2022 at 9:45 PM, SunnyBeBe said:

I appreciate that and I thought so, but it still doesn’t work for me.  Because, once the bookkeeper put the funds into the Senator aka/ Rapist’s  account, that would end it.  The therapist would never have gotten paid.  Unlikely, he would have kept treating senator’s wife without payment. 
 

Grief said the therapist would send a past due bill and the bookkeeper would pay it, not realizing what it was for. 
 

Not sure that makes any more sense. I enjoyed the series but some of it was convoluted. 

[SunnyBeBe]

17 minutes ago, DanaMB said:

Grief said the therapist would send a past due bill and the bookkeeper would pay it, not realizing what it was for. 
 

Not sure that makes any more sense. I enjoyed the series but some of it was convoluted. 

Ok.  I must have missed that.  But, it was the same amount she had been told to pay the rapist each week and she never caught on?  Lol. Some bookkeeper.  That story really stretches it. Lol. 

[SnapHappy]

On 11/8/2022 at 9:45 PM, SunnyBeBe said:

I just made a small correction to my post.  My point being, all deposits went into Senator’s account, so the therapist never got paid.  Who works week after week and never gets paid?  

The therapist could have been an automatic payment through the Senator's bank bill pay.   

I have my monthly HOA fees paid automatically, as they are the same amount every month.   Also, my water bill is the same amount, based on a monthly estimate.  At the end of the year, my actual usage is determined and I either receive a refund, or pay an additional amount.  But my bill is the exact same each month, so it's paid automatically from my account. 

Lots of people have insurance, child support or alimony payments done the same way.

Setting up reoccurring payments was my first thought when the bookkeeping question came up.   I don't even get an email from my bank saying they were paid, though I could request one. 

For me, it was an entertaining watch if I didn't think too hard about it. 

Edited November 11, 2022 by SnapHappy

[SunnyBeBe]

53 minutes ago, SnapHappy said:

The therapist could have been an automatic payment through the Senator's bank bill pay.   

I have my monthly HOA fees paid automatically, as they are the same amount every month.   Also, my water bill is the same amount, based on a monthly estimate.  At the end of the year, my actual usage is determined and I either receive a refund, or pay an additional amount.  But my bill is the exact same each month, so it's paid automatically from my account. 

Lots of people have insurance, child support or alimony payments done the same way.

Setting up reoccurring payments was my first thought when the bookkeeping question came up.   I don't even get an email from my bank saying they were paid, though I could request one. 

For me, it was an entertaining watch if I didn't think too hard about it. 

That’s possible, but I thought the point the Tucci character was making is that the Senator’s wife texted the bookkeeper to pay the Rapist each time they had sex, which the bookkeeper mistakenly read on her cell phone due to large print….it actually said THERAPIST. Only, bookkeeper misread and thought Rapist.  And it didn’t occur on the same day, it was different days. The Senator said he got the payments on different days, so, it didn’t indicate auto pay to me.  

[HelloooKitty]

Well that went off the rails in the final episode. It just spiraled into insanity. 
 

And we STILL didn’t get Tucci’s “secret”. 

Edited November 12, 2022 by HelloooKitty

[Barbarblacksheep]

On 11/10/2022 at 5:32 AM, RainbowBrite said:

I don't know what it says about me that I was rooting for the Vicar and his family, getting irritated with Janice and the journalist for getting in their way. The way the journalist (her name is escaping me!) chased Mary, was shocked that she used the bread knife, then chased her into traffic - I get it, but I resented her for it. It was a very conflicting story and I agree with the posters who said that if Janice or the Vicar had stopped for a moment to think things through, none of this would have happened. Why couldn't they just destroy the thumb drive? Then it's just her word against theirs. As soon as he lay a hand on her, that was out of the question though. 

ETA: can someone explain the ending with Janice and her "husband"???

That ending confused the bleep out of me.
 

Spoiler

I was mostly rooting for the Vicar, but he was such a dumbass at times.Not answering or even looking at his phone. Having a friendly chat with the package carrier (well, for most of their conversation)instead of saying "I'm in the middle of something, can we do the birthday greeting some other time?"

And the son was banging on the door and yelling for his dad, but yet didn't think to CALL HIM ON THE PHONE???

On 11/6/2022 at 3:05 AM, chediavolo said:

But having the vicar defend the pedo & be shown as a mentally deranged psycho is unbearable 

Spoiler

Yeah, that was nuts. He's going to put himself and his family through all this to...defend a pedophile? Who ended up dying anyway? Who couldn't write on his suicide note that *he* was the guilty party? I know the vicar was defending his son as well, but he was so protective of the pedophile...because....he "couldn't judge him"? HE'S A PEDOPHILE.

All that being said, I did get sucked into the story, so there's that. But sheesh.

(putting some of this with spoiler tags just to be on the safe side)

[HelloooKitty]

The Tutor was a world class manipulator wasnt she?

[BonnieD]

Quote

Let her run to the police, where's the proof?  Am I missing something or could it have really been that simple?

Better yet, jump in and say I'll go with you so I can explain how I had this thumb drive. I thought perhaps he didn't feel he should betray the man's confidecne, but such criminal info any confessional sort of protocol goes out the window. I'm certain he could have easily convinced authorities about the genesis of this thumb drive. So, because the premise was so dumb I had a hard time going along with the entire chain of events which followed.

Thanks for sharing that there is more after the credits. I'm tired of this new habit of forcing people to stick around through credits lest they miss some important aftermath. Sheesh!

[BetyBee]

Thanks for the info on the post credit scene. I went back and watched it and I thought it kind of cheapened the series. It makes absolutely no sense that that conversation would take place in a room where conversations are recorded. A lot of the actions in this series made no sense. For example, what happened to the wife was not a surprise at all. Excited people who back into the street on tv, always meet that end! I enjoyed the conversations b/w Stanley Tucci and the inmate with the photographic memory. David Tennant was perfectly cast as the vicar. In summary, I found some of it compelling and some of it annoying. I probably wouldn't have stuck it out if it wasn't for the fact that there were only 4 episodes. 

[raven]

On 11/10/2022 at 5:22 PM, Tim McD said:

And her response to her own abduction was bonkers; she did nothing to try to escape, or alert anyone she was down there (like screaming). Her whole demeanor was bizarrely calm and collected, but never explained.

I just finished ep 2 and this is bugging me.   There are other houses around.  The basement has windows.  It was clever of her to leave DNA all over the basement, but oh, I don't know - try to break a window?  Get someone's attention?  That would have been clever too.  She was down there quite a bit of time before he comes down with the handcuffs.  Then she just acquiesces to putting them on *eyeroll*  Sure, why not?  He asked politely.   Part of me was thinking she was enjoying being down there so she could match wits or whatever.

I have to put aside the whole dumb premise that got them there.  The Vicar - excuse me, fucking Vicar - actually tells Edgar "they have ways of tracing these" when talking about the flash drive.   Well yeah, you idiot.  You didn't realize that a day or so ago?   Or maybe think that having that drive and whatever is on Edgar's computer would help find the children.  I know that's not the point of the story, but they're playing it for drama, so my mind goes there.   Never mind that for some reason the Vicar wants to protect Edgar.  Yeah, just tell Edgar not to look at child porn again.  That's the ticket.  All better now!   The Vicar can't even use a religious confession excuse - 1) Edgar never admits to what's on the drive 2) when Edgar gave the Vicar the drive, he just said "porn" and that he wanted to hide it from his mother.   No confession involved.    

There are comedic elements - the Vicar rolling his eyes when Edgar collapses in the church while STILL not saying that it was his own flash drive - was funny.   The series should have gone straight for 100% black comedy.   The Vicar puts the bag of Janice's poop in the KITCHEN TRASH CAN without batting an eye.  I'm still traumatized over that.

I do enjoy Tucci and his serial killer assistant.  There's the black comedy that helps offset the overall stupidity of the other stuff.

The opening scene, with Janice pretending to film the harrassing scumbag and then everyone else actually filming him, was great.  

[raven]

On 11/8/2022 at 9:49 PM, DiabLOL said:

How did Stanley Tucci know that Janice was scheduled to have a Skype call at 9pm? And how was he allowed to use a cellphone?

When Beth picks up the picture of the buried trophy, the guy she picks it up from tells her to tell Grieff about the Skype call.   The guy is one of Grieff's people and Grieff apparently told him to investigate Janice.   About the cell,  I have no idea.  Judging by all of the stuff in his cell, he looked like a "favored" prisoner.

I did laugh when Mary got hit by the truck.  Oh, and though I had a tough time with the accent, Morag was fun.

The acting was good and the whole spiral-out-of-control stuff worked (Mary sending increasingly panicked and incriminating calls and texts, for one thing) but the original premise was so ridiculous I couldn't quite get past it.  

I'm guessing Beth didn't write about the story in the end because of the inevitable question to her would be - she was worried about Janice yet didn't contact the police and even made a deal with the murderer to not bring Janice up again.  

Since it was four episodes, it was okay.   I was interested enough to see it through. 

I guess the point is - you can say you know, but you don't actually know what awful decision you'd make until you're in the moment.  

[SunnyBeBe]

I think the film Shock To The System does a better job showing an ordinary husband murder for personal reasons.  It’s a real treat, if you have a rainy day to lounge around.