S01.E01: Bad News

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

In the grip of his addictions, Patrick Melrose must fly to New York to collect his father's ashes. Over the course of a lost Manhattan weekend, Patrick's remorseless search for satisfaction, haunted by old acquaintances and insistent inner voices, sends him into a nightmarish spiral, including a disastrous date with the girl of his dreams. Alone in his hotel room later that night, he pushes body and mind to the very edge – desperate to stay one step ahead of his rapidly encroaching past.

Promo:

[btho1776]

I laughed so much during the restaurant scene with the nanny. “The quaaludes are kicking in.” Uh...not sure how to convey... love this show one episode in...its only going to get better.

 

Question- why did the boy in childhood flashbacks get chosen? Looks nothing like Cumberbatch.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

One thing I loved was showing how different things were back then. Before fancy hotels had flat screen tvs in the bathrooms, you had to pick up the tv and move it!

[jrlr]

12 hours ago, btho1776 said:

Question- why did the boy in childhood flashbacks get chosen? Looks nothing like Cumberbatch.

Excellent question.  The boy was so markedly different looking that it pulled me right out of the story - he even had dark eyes.   Maybe there's a point to this involving Patrick's drug-fueled perceptions, but I can't imagine what that would be.

[atlantaloves]

Okay folks, what did we think of the first episode?  Reviews please!  I tell you, it totally wore me out. I am the world's biggest Cumberbatch fan, so I seriously have to love it, but frankly, so far I am not.  It is JUST TOO MUCH...too much everything. I am having hard time with it, but of course will watch every golden moment, and keep the entire series stored on my DVR.  ?

[Glade]

Actually I thought they did a good job casting a child who looked so similar to Cumberbatch's Patrick.  Having read only the first book of the series which this is based off of, I was surprised that they are only handling Patrick's childhood through at this point vague, suggestive flashbacks; since the book reveals it in graphic detail.  I hope they are going to face the important issues head-on and not leave them up to interpretation by the audience.  

[atlantaloves]

Oh they are! I understand they MAKE IT VERY CLEAR.

[jrlr]

2 hours ago, atlantaloves said:

Okay folks, what did we think of the first episode?  Reviews please!  I tell you, it totally wore me out. I am the world's biggest Cumberbatch fan, so I seriously have to love it, but frankly, so far I am not.  It is JUST TOO MUCH...too much everything. I am having hard time with it, but of course will watch every golden moment, and keep the entire series stored on my DVR.  ?

I had exactly the same reaction.  I love Cumberbatch and will watch to the end of this, but I was exhausted by this first episode.  

[TrininisaScorp]

I'm glad I came in to see what folks were saying...that was truly exhausting.  I love Benedict, so I'm here for it, but, man, it is so much to take in.   Clearly his father did something awful to him, and all of this undercurrent in this drug fueled mind was an interesting way to handle, but became a bit tedious.

Not knowing much about the source material, I felt Benedict was wonderful...funny, sad, aggravating.  Allison Williams was very good in her role and I love her reaction to Patrick's bullshit; I don't know if we get to see her again.  I want to see more of his relationship with Johnny.  

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I'm not a huge Allison Williams fan, but I loved the way her character very bluntly told Patrick to go away. I'm glad there's at least one person in his life who has been honest with him and has no ulterior motives with him.

[Kirsty]

Oh, I'm glad to find there's a discussion forum for this show here. It's on tv on both sides of the Atlantic, but I don't know where fans discuss shows online anymore. (Any recs are welcome!)

This first episode was very good. It's not the best show to watch before bed though! It really put me on edge. The protagonist is so anxious, twitchy, and ill, and he's clearly in need of therapy of some kind. I thought it was an acting masterclass from Cumberbatch, combined with excellent direction and editing.

21 hours ago, Glade said:

Having read only the first book of the series which this is based off of, I was surprised that they are only handling Patrick's childhood through at this point vague, suggestive flashbacks; since the book reveals it in graphic detail.

Apparently each episode is based on one of the books. I haven't read any of the books, but I understand that they swapped the order of the first two books for the show ie. the second episode will focus on his childhood where this one focused on his adult addiction. I was glad that I was already aware of his father's crimes, so Patrick's behaviour made sense to me.

I was amused to recognise the (fantastic) voice of Pip Torrens, who plays the hateful Tommy Lascelles in The Crown. He plays one of Patrick's father's friends here.

7 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I'm not a huge Allison Williams fan, but I loved the way her character very bluntly told Patrick to go away.

Same! I really appreciated that. I actually thought she was going to give in at the end, when she was in the car and he begged her to stay with him. The female characters you're supposed to like and identify with on-screen are usually obliged to care about random men's bullshit, so I was delighted when she was rightfully only concerned about herself and her own safety. She's not a social worker!

Also, I loved that when he first saw Alison Williams' character, his inner voice was all "Oh my god, you'll save me, you'll give me a reason to turn my life around", or something like that. She was beautiful, so he was attracted to her, so he appointed her his saviour! It rang really true.

I found the show quite funny and witty. I particulary liked when he was falling around the bar at the hotel after the Quaaludes kicked in.

When, at the mortuary, he walked into the (wrong) room with the Jewish man's remains, I thought it was a memory or a hallucination. That's the kind of show it is. When he was in the right room, he looked up and saw a lizard on the wall, and then he went a bit berserk for a minute. Was the lizard really there?! Or do you think that was a detail from one of the most traumatic memories of his life?

The show looks great, and I liked the mad eighties fashion. Although that mortuary receptionist's glasses were so enormous I wondered if it was realistic!

Edited May 14, 2018 by Kirsty

[atlantaloves]

Oh yeah, we actually wore glasses that were that big and even bigger in he 80's.  WHAT WERE WE THINKING!?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

16 hours ago, atlantaloves said:

Oh yeah, we actually wore glasses that were that big and even bigger in he 80's.  WHAT WERE WE THINKING!?

The bigger, the better! Hair, glasses, shoulder pads - everything!

[atlantaloves]

And don't forget the perms in our hair whether long or short, and the horrible POWER SUITS. Oh God, I bought into all of that because I worked for a law firm. Had to. Gag. Just rent the movie Working Girl folks if you really want to see the 80's in action! I don't know which decade was worse, the 70's or the 80's. Thoughts?  Bennie on the other hand looks fabulous in his clothes. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

13 hours ago, atlantaloves said:

I don't know which decade was worse, the 70's or the 80's.

For me, the 70s were worse because of the color palette. All those browns and oranges, blech.

 

13 hours ago, atlantaloves said:

Bennie on the other hand looks fabulous in his clothes. 

That's the unfair thing! Women's fashions tend to be so much more noticeable and dated whereas a classic suit can be timeless. You couldn't tell that this was a period piece if you just looked at shots of BC (especially in the hotel restaurant which looked the same as certain kinds of dark expensive restaurants you could still find today).

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Benedict Cumberbatch on the hotel room scene:

[100Proof]

On 5/16/2018 at 5:42 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

For me, the 70s were worse because of the color palette. All those browns and oranges, blech.

 

I've been thinking about that as I recently watched some movies from the 70's. I see them as having that smoggy, hazy, yellow...or browns and oranges if you like...tinge to the film. All the tv cop shows then had that same look.

Edited May 21, 2018 by 100Proof

[IntrovertGal]

Benedict Cumberbatch's performance was a revelation, a true masterclass in acting. The show is hard to watch at times but really well done so I will definitely stick with it. Plus being a huge Cumberbatch fan obviously helps. I was surprised that despite all the horrible things happening this episode was still so unexpectantly funny at times. I have never read the books but this episode inspired me to order them rightaway.

[tennisgurl]

This episode was both hard to watch, and really enjoyable, weirdly enough. Benedict Cumberbatch is amazing, as usual, playing Patrick as a twitchy mess, who is basically a perfect storm of anxiety, depression, trauma, drugs, and manic energy. Whatever his father did seems to have seriously messed him up. 

I hope Allison Williams character shows up again. I liked her character a lot, and how she was quick to tell Patrick what was up. Yeah, the guy has serious issues and should be getting help, but thats not her job, and she doesn't have to save this guy she hardly knows. I think her being honest is for the best for him anyway. 

[Cheezwiz]

Just watched the first episode. It was a tough watch (I have a hard time with graphic drug scenes, and withdrawal/barfing scenes) but I thought it was brilliantly done. It was a mixture of horror and high comedy, with sharp witty dialogue and I thought Benedict did a brilliant job. I felt sympathy for him right away even though his character is a dissolute mess - it's evident that there is just the tiniest glimmer of decency buried in there somewhere. His stream of consciousness babble was really well done, and the quaalude scene was a great scene of physical comedy (or horror, depending on your view).

I agree with the others who find the actor who is cast as young Patrick very distracting. I'm not sure if this is a deliberate choice for some reason, but the kid looks nothing like Benedict Cumberbatch, and it pulled me right out of the show each time he appeared. All I could think of during his scenes was "couldn't they have at least found a kid with blue eyes?".

On 5/14/2018 at 8:23 AM, Kirsty said:

When he was in the right room, he looked up and saw a lizard on the wall, and then he went a bit berserk for a minute. Was the lizard really there?! Or do you think that was a detail from one of the most traumatic memories of his life?

I took the lizard as a hallucination that was part of the heroin withdrawal that was kicking in badly at that point, but it could also be a callback to something in his past.

I LOVED the hotel room sets - I thought his suite was gorgeous, and as I watched, I kept wanting to tidy it up as he trashed it.

And yes, they are getting the women's fashions down - the 80's ugliness was just revving up in '82. I can't decide which decade was worse, the 70s and 80s were each their own special kind of ugly.

I liked the character Allison Williams played, but found her performance pretty wooden, which was no surprise.

I felt like this first episode was a bit of an exhausting ordeal, but I'm really looking forward to diving into the following episodes!

[Cheezwiz]

Returning just to say that the first episode clearly had an effect on me. I was dreaming about it last night ( I went to bed right after watching it). Both the show and my dream felt very jumbled and feverish.