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Benedict Cumberbatch in The Last Enemy
Okay. So I just finished watching the BBC miniseries The Last Enemy. It features both Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Carlyle, and it's a sort of modern-day 1984 by way of The X-Files. Without giving anything away, I think I can safely squee about how hot BC is in this series - and yes, there are nude scenes - and how interesting it is to see him play a character who has much in common with Sherlock - the obsessive compulsion, the desire to pursue his cerebral work without distractions, the rapid-fire and all-too-candid lines of logical reasoning, the always-difficult relationship with his elder brother... yet is still recognizably a confused, passionate Everyman facing larger forces beyond his comprehension. Yes. See it. You know you want to!
Now, for those of you who have already seen it...
WTF? Ahem. Even though I was able to predict exactly what was going to happen much of the time, I didn't actually know why. Like, I knew that the third government official, George, was going to blow his brains out in front of that painting, but I didn't understand what David Russell was doing there. Who was Russell really? Who hired him? Did he switch allegiances partway through? Who was the other assassin who followed Stephen to Russell's lair and got fried? Who were the "rogue scientists" who originally infected a subpopulation of the "tag me" operation? Did they kill those Arabs on purpose, or was a mistake made, as Lawrence Cooper appeared to be saying, which then needed to be covered up so it wouldn't endanger the larger program? And what about Eleanor, the Home Secretary and Stephen's ex? At first she seemed like she didn't know about the secret tagging project at all, but by the end she seemed like she was practically running the show. And was it just coincidence that they were interested in Michael because he inadvertently became part of the experiment as a Caucasian "control" (and don't even get me started on the "Arab vs. Caucasian" thing), but in his brother because Stephen was a mathematical genius? And how could Stephen not realize that they were tracking everything he did every time he went out in public or used the T.I.A. *forehead smack*?
Ordinarily I love these sorts of complicated thrillers with whistleblowers and government cover-ups and the little guy against the system, and I thought that this one had a ton of promise, but I can't decide whether it was full of contradictions and loose ends or whether I just need to be spoon-fed more like the stereotypical dumb American. Don't get me wrong, I thought that the acting was fantastic, and I was totally enthralled until the end, but I feel like I missed some pretty important pieces of this puzzle. And the Masterpiece Theater website with its character bios is no help at all :P.
Now, for those of you who have already seen it...
WTF? Ahem. Even though I was able to predict exactly what was going to happen much of the time, I didn't actually know why. Like, I knew that the third government official, George, was going to blow his brains out in front of that painting, but I didn't understand what David Russell was doing there. Who was Russell really? Who hired him? Did he switch allegiances partway through? Who was the other assassin who followed Stephen to Russell's lair and got fried? Who were the "rogue scientists" who originally infected a subpopulation of the "tag me" operation? Did they kill those Arabs on purpose, or was a mistake made, as Lawrence Cooper appeared to be saying, which then needed to be covered up so it wouldn't endanger the larger program? And what about Eleanor, the Home Secretary and Stephen's ex? At first she seemed like she didn't know about the secret tagging project at all, but by the end she seemed like she was practically running the show. And was it just coincidence that they were interested in Michael because he inadvertently became part of the experiment as a Caucasian "control" (and don't even get me started on the "Arab vs. Caucasian" thing), but in his brother because Stephen was a mathematical genius? And how could Stephen not realize that they were tracking everything he did every time he went out in public or used the T.I.A. *forehead smack*?
Ordinarily I love these sorts of complicated thrillers with whistleblowers and government cover-ups and the little guy against the system, and I thought that this one had a ton of promise, but I can't decide whether it was full of contradictions and loose ends or whether I just need to be spoon-fed more like the stereotypical dumb American. Don't get me wrong, I thought that the acting was fantastic, and I was totally enthralled until the end, but I feel like I missed some pretty important pieces of this puzzle. And the Masterpiece Theater website with its character bios is no help at all :P.