Happy Valley - General Discussion

[dubbel zout]

Damnit, why can't the show be on regular AMC? I hate all these separate streaming services. They're such a blatant cash grab, and I won't play.

[AllAboutMBTV]

Took the words right out of my mouth, dzout. Sigh...

[pasdetrois]

Our beloved Sarah Lancashire plays Julia Child on HBO MAX. This will tide me over until Happy Valley returns.

[magdalene]

On 7/17/2017 at 5:27 PM, kieyra said:

I also wondered if murderers in the U.K. get a private cell with a tv and remote control. But I'm in the US, and we supposedly have the worst prison system among first-world countries. Plus I have  years now of bingeing OITNB. Maybe that's just what actual civilization looks like, not caging people up together like packs of animals. 

I am reading this thread rather late and I think the way the UK prison experience is depicted here is accurate. I saw a documentary once about the UK prison system and it is a lot more humane than the American one.  There are laws that protect prisoners and the people running the prisons actually follow them.  Aren't a lot of the American prisons privately run and for profit with a lot of prisoner abuse?

[J-Man]

Finally getting around to watching this great show. Unfortunately, the only way to see it for free is on Crackle -- which has constant, lengthy commercial interruptions--and by "interruptions," I mean they actually break in the middle of a character's sentence. (And I already have too many streaming services to pay for another!)

Anyway, some things that confused me. Maybe I'm just not very observant, but did they make it clear before S2E5 that Allison was Daryl's mother? Because up until that point, I thought they were a married couple (and that Daryl was sort of a henpecked husband.)

And did they ever decide who murdered the guy who was hanging in the park? Was it the Eastern European mafia, or did they just give up on that storyline?

And finally--I can understand why Richard and his wife might not have appeared in S2 (budget or availability issues, perhaps), but they were not even mentioned! I think once Ryan mentioned one of his birthday gifts was from "Auntie Ros," but no mention of his grandfather, despite the fact that his improving relationship with him was a key storyline in S1?

[dargosmydaddy]

Series 3 trailer!

[pasdetrois]

Final season begins 9pm on 1 January, New Year’s Day, on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

[Valny]

Are there five or six eps this last season?  I will unfortunately have to wait until AMC+ gets it then I will do the free trial for the week and easily binge it. Damn Netflix for not carrying it anymore.  Can’t wait to see the world of Catherine and Happy Valley again. It’s been so long. It will be a great present for all us fans.

[Zaffy]

@Valny 6 episodes.
I have watched 4 so far.
I won't spoil anything, I mostly enjoy it and I wish I could binge watch it.
There are some elements that I find cliche and overused a bazillion of times on TV, but still HV has a certain quality that overcomes this.

[pasdetrois]

Has anyone figured out a way to watch from the US? If I understand correctly, we cannot access BBC One or the player. But I read an old-ish article suggesting that using a VPN to bypass a US geographic location would work. Anyone tried this?

[Valny]

On 1/24/2023 at 10:09 AM, pasdetrois said:

Has anyone figured out a way to watch from the US? If I understand correctly, we cannot access BBC One or the player. But I read an old-ish article suggesting that using a VPN to bypass a US geographic location would work. Anyone tried this?

I haven't tried the VPN thing but I have heard about people using it to get around the problem of not being able to watch other shows not shown in the US.  

@Zaffy-  glad you are liking the series after four eps. How old is the grandson Ryan now?
 

 

[Zaffy]

8 hours ago, Valny said:

@Zaffy-  glad you are liking the series after four eps. How old is the grandson Ryan now?

I guess 15-16 or something? 

[dubbel zout]

Please don't discuss illegal ways of watching programs, and no posting of links. Thanks!

[khyber]

On 1/24/2023 at 4:15 AM, Zaffy said:

@Valny 6 episodes.
I have watched 4 so far.
I won't spoil anything, I mostly enjoy it and I wish I could binge watch it.
 

My viewing preferences have certainly changed. I also want the option of a binge watch, which to me means a new episode every other day. Having to wait a week is really annoying.

[Adgirl]

"I love you Granny" just about broke my heart. I love Catherine and Ryan together.

Neither Ryan or Tommy giving away their location--wild. 

This is such a great show; the acting is stellar. James Norton is an amazing actor. I'm completely afraid of him as Tommy and had a big dorky crush on him as Grantchester.

[Zaffy]

(no spoilers)
One episode before the end of the series and I have to say, that as much as I enjoy the characters and the acting, I am not quite pleased with this season.
I think the plot is silly and lacks realism, especially with everything concerning the big villain. Everything seems to lead to the big final showdown, but the story is not really convincing, even if there are some powerful dramatic scenes with excellent performances by the actors involved.

Edited January 31, 2023 by Zaffy

[Enigma X]

I am on episode 4 of season 2 and am finding Frances, the lean in when visiting Tommy Lee, and the voice to be overkill and annoying. I fast forward through her scenes because I pretty much can fathom what is going on.

[Zaffy]

Mild spoilers for season 3.

I just finished the series.
Overall I think it was good drama with amazing performances and some really strong moments/scenes.

However, I think this season was the weakest of all.

I think the whole handling of the Tommy story was basically lazy writing with the purpose of leading to some strong moments. As it happens with most of Peak Tv. 
We do not care for realism (hey! it is TV fiction not real life - what a stupid argument) but for the strong moments that stay in the viewer's memory.
Like, in our case,  some of the chats between the two sisters, or the final confrontation of Catherine and Tommy.
We are not supposed to care about how Tommy got there (which was a result of many unrealistic moments + incredible luck combined with the ultra stupidity of his plenty of enemies) as long as we get our super scene with Catherine.
Well, yeah, this has become tiresome and the weird thing is how much everyone (including top TV reviewers) love this bad writing and treats it as well... Peak TV!
 

 

[Adgirl]

I didn't like the finale at all. I don't want to spoil so I'll just say Catherine Cawood fills Jane Tennison's shoes  proper.

[nachomama]

How do they do this to me??? I was going to watch 1 ep of season 3 and I sat there and watched all of it until 4 in the morning. Half the time I just wanted to beat “our Ryan” because he’s so stupid and hard headed. And then he turns it around. I will buy you the ticket Catherine! Get in your Range Rover and go! 

[Valny]

Finally have an  ALMOST date when the last season will be coming to the US. It will be in MAY but no date yet.  Thank the tv gods that S3 will be airing on BBCA as well as other streamers. At least I have that channel in my cable package(which is obscenely high priced already but that's another story) I didn't feel like subscribing to anything else.
Where to watch S3

[Roseanna]

On 3/5/2023 at 2:52 AM, Valny said:

Finally have an  ALMOST date when the last season will be coming to the US. It will be in MAY but no date yet. 

I have already seen it, but will wait until others have been able to watch it.

A few comments about 1st and 2nd seasons:

I don't think that there is any doubt that Becky was brutally raped by Tommy and that Ryan was the result of the rape. It's not only Catherine's opinion, based on what Becky told her, as a mom who idealized her daughter, but based on her experience as a police officer who has met offers of rape. Daniel evidently didn't even discuss with Becky about the matter and still feels resentment towards the "favorite" Becky, so his opinion is valueless. Any other reason why Becky first held her pregancy secret or even refused to believe it and then committed a suicide after her baby was born simply doesn't make sense.

Even a stronger reason is Tommy's own behavior. He raped Ann straight after her kidnapping, suggested that she must be killed, killed Kirsten and his two comrades and tried to kill Ryan. That he could charm several women who visited him in the prison doesn't show anything - rape isn't about sex, it's about power. We have seen that he acts impulsively without thinking of consequences, uses every opportunity to get what he wants and doesn't stand that anybody opposes him.

Most of all, we have seen that he lies constantly - to others but evidently also to himself. He refused to admit that he was going to kill Ryan with the most painful way and he blames Catherine for his misfortunes because (after raping Ann and three murders!) he is unable to take responsiblity for his own actions. Instead, he lives in the fantasy world by believing that he could have done great things but we have seen that the very opposite is true: he is too hot-blooded even to become a criminal boss. So there is no reason to believe that he loved Becky (in any normal meaning of love) and didn't rape her.        

It's interesting that both the accountant in the 1st season and the police in the 2nd season try to claim that their crime was only due to the circumstances - in that they are like Tommy.

As for criticizing Catherine for not getting Ryan therapy and even refusing to speak about Tommy with him: they are valid points, but Catherine is traumatized herself and, most of all, if she had behaved in the correct way, the series would have been poorer as it had lacked important plots and themes.

Catherine is no saint (she had said to Daniel that she wished he had died instead of Becky, she slept with her ex-husband who cheated on his new wife) but under the worst imaginable circumstances she has taken care of Ryan and been a good police officer.

[Valny]

On 3/18/2023 at 6:27 AM, Roseanna said:

I have already seen it, but will wait until others have been able to watch it.

   

 

 

I haven't seen it yet,but did you think it was a good third season? Would you rank it higher than the second(the first season is the best one for me so far and I doubt that will change)

[Roseanna]

4 hours ago, Valny said:

I haven't seen it yet,but did you think it was a good third season? Would you rank it higher than the second(the first season is the best one for me so far and I doubt that will change)

Yes, but I think that the crux of the matter is it's a trilogy about Catherine and her dealing with the trauma. And not only her family members and of course Tommy but also people like Ann and Alice have a role.

One thing I must tell already now, however: only Catherine and Richard knew all what happened to Becky and even Daniel and Clare were told only a part of it.

[AZChristian]

Knowing that it drops next month on Acorn, we've started re-bingeing it from Season 1 today.  

The only thing I don't like is that their accents are sometimes hard to understand, so I have to actually read most of the closed-captioning.  But that's not a major issue for a show that I so thoroughly enjoy.

[AZChristian]

We're in the middle of re-watching season 2 today.  

In the episode where they are having a lot of people in their house after his wife dies, Nevison Gallagher is approached by Sean, a young man who he recently fired.

Sean says, "Mr. Gallagher . . . " and Gallagher replies, "Nev, please."

As a huge Harry Potter fan, I thought, "Did Gallagher just call Sean by his Harry Potter character name?"  Took me a second to realize that he was inviting Sean to call him Nev.

[AZChristian]

We're away from home, and were resigned to watching the first episode of Season 3 when we get home.  Lo and behold, it's on BBC America.  Tonight!!!

[AZChristian]

So we happily sat down and prepared to watch it last night.  We watch everything at home with closed captioning on because I have a hearing challenge.  This hotel TV doesn't have closed captioning, but we just figured we'd turn up the volume a bit and muddle through.

The accents!!!  We finally gave up after 10 minutes and decided to watch it on Acorn when we got home.  WITH captions.

But I love the show anyway!

[aghst]

In S03.E01, I was surprised that Tommy was still around.

It has to be brutal for Catherine to still deal with this psychopath.  She tries to put these events behind her but apparently she doesn't have that kind of agency.

I can understand people dealing with PTSD for the rest of their lives but unfortunately, the boogeyman still lives and isn't locked up enough to touch her live and the lives of her loved ones.

The actor who plays him is charismatic so maybe the show runner wanted to keep featuring him in the story but I would hope few victims of psychopaths have to deal with their tormenters for years and years -- that is beyond the psychological torment.

The name of the show must be ironic because this part of the UK seems to see more than its share of crime and menace to ordinary people.

I can see if it's like the rust belt or small coal mining towns dealing with high unemployment and opioid crisis, where families are stricken with drug addiction and some people are drawn into criminal life.

But that doesn't seem to be the case in Halifax.  Seem to be middle class families owning Audis and BMWs who are victimized by crime.

Despite the 7-year gap between seasons 2 and 3, the story picks right up.  Ryan is 16 now and you recognize the supporting cast of characters, though not necessarily all their backstories from the first two seasons.  But you also get some new characters and they're well integrated into new plots, though like I said, it's kind of difficult to believe middle class people rather easily being touched by criminal gangs.  I feel this is more TV trope than something you'd see happen in real life.

Still they set off some compelling arcs just in the first episode alone.

 

[AZChristian]

We're going to plan to catch up on our TV watching on Sunday.  But I have a funny story.

Yesterday, hubby and I took part in a river rafting trip on the Colorado River at Moab, Utah.  The rubber raft we were in had us and another couple.  They were from England.  While chatting (not in the rapids portion of the trip!), we found out that they were also fans of Happy Valley.  I told them we had tried to watch it on a hotel TV without closed captioning, but gave up and committed to watching it at home WITH closed captioning.

They told me that they can't understand the accents either, and they always watch HV with the captions on.  I thought that was hysterical.

[zoey1996]

I just subscribed to Acorn to watch this! I'll probably find other programs on Acorn to watch, but if not, I'll cancel after I've finished this. I watched the first episode this afternoon. I remember enough from Seasons 1 & 2 to follow, but I may watch them again.

[pasdetrois]

I am so looking forward to watching on Acorn, starting this week!

[AZChristian]

7 minutes ago, pasdetrois said:

I am so looking forward to watching on Acorn, starting this week!

My Acorn already has the first two episodes of this season available.

 

[pasdetrois]

I took a quick peek at Acorn last night, to be sure I can stream it, but I have to get through the Succession and Barry finales tonight. Too much great TV. 😁

[AZChristian]

2 minutes ago, pasdetrois said:

I took a quick peek at Acorn last night, to be sure I can stream it, but I have to get through the Succession and Barry finales tonight. Too much great TV. 😁

I hear that!  We just got home from an 8-day trip, and our goal for the day is to catch up on TV shows we have recorded or are streaming.

[marybennet]

6 hours ago, AZChristian said:

My Acorn already has the first two episodes of this season available.

 

I’m confused. My Acorn shows only the first episode of this season available. Did I offend the Acorn gods?

[dubbel zout]

I just looked, and the second episode is up on Acorn. I think they are showing at the same rate as on PBS, i.e., once a week, at least for now.

[AZChristian]

24 minutes ago, marybennet said:

I’m confused. My Acorn shows only the first episode of this season available. Did I offend the Acorn gods?

We were surprised to see the second episode up.  

[marybennet]

8 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

We were surprised to see the second episode up.  

Hope it’s good!

[AZChristian]

1 hour ago, marybennet said:

Hope it’s good!

The icon for the second episode was there, but when I clicked on it, it was not available. Grrrrr.

[dubbel zout]

It seems the episode unlocks on Acorn on Monday—i'm not sure at what time—so you can watch it before it's aired on PBS.

I knew Clare would be the one who took Ryan to the prison to visit Tommy. 

[Ms Lark]

Acorn is weird that way. Sometimes you have to drill down in the show (select show, select season, select episode) to find the new eps. Especially before 8 am and that varies, too. I don't know why they're so wonky. BritBox is worse, though.

[marybennet]

Catherine's quiet little "hiya" was such a genius way to end that episode.  And Claire's nervousness on seeing her was so well-acted.  It's great to see the show back, if only for a while.

[libgirl2]

On 5/27/2023 at 6:07 PM, zoey1996 said:

I just subscribed to Acorn to watch this! I'll probably find other programs on Acorn to watch, but if not, I'll cancel after I've finished this. I watched the first episode this afternoon. I remember enough from Seasons 1 & 2 to follow, but I may watch them again.

You will find something. I watched all of Agatha Raisin, Miss Fisher's Mysteries, Ms. Fisher's Modern Mysteries, Harry Wilde, Darby & Joan and now I'm embarking on Midsomer Murders. There are a few other mysteries on my radar. 

[Chaos Theory]

Ryan and his story is at the heart of  the show.  Raised in the shadow of darkness he has questions about his parents and is not getting the answers from his grandmother so he looks elsewhere and comes face to face with the monster who made him.  But who ultimately is Ryan?

 

 

[AZChristian]

I thought the entire scene of Clare and Catherine in the tea shop was done amazingly well.  

[dubbel zout]

I'm surprised Catherine has made only glancing references to Ryan googling his parents but we haven't seen or heard anything from him about that. Would't that be where he'd go when he can't get information from Catherine or his other family?

The scenes with the soccer coach starting to groom Ryan made me sick to my stomach. That guy is so gross.

And Faisal. Oh, Faisal.

[aghst]

My recollection of Ryan in previous seasons was this willful, defiant kid.

Catherine worried that he might be too much like his father.

So I had the sense that he was a brat who might turn into a criminal when in the first episode of season 3 he’s wisecracking about his coach and then bellowing about being wronged.

Then of course it turns out he was going behind Catherine’s back.

I don’t know if the plan was to show what kind of man he’d become, whether Catherine was right to worry or her fears would be allayed.  But it’s one advantage of the long period between seasons 2 and 3.

[marybennet]

Yeah, I agree that the crux of the show is really about Catherine’s fears about who Ryan will be. To me, even in those earlier seasons, he has seemed a normal good kid, made so in part by her upbringing and her worry, while also just a little the product of the family difficulties and pain as well. We’ll see, but it has always felt to me as if she needs to learn that for sure. (Of course, we can all laugh at me when I’m wrong and he shoots up a bank w his dad!  🙃)

[Ms Lark]

I wonder if Tommy is going to use the Leeds trial as a means to escape and drag Ryan into it.

So glad I saw Grantchester before Happy Valley!