With 2013 wrapping up, I made it a mission to try and fit in as much quality show-watching time as I could. So yes I re-watched The Lost World: Jurassic Park on Christmas Day. I watched The Sound of Music twice and bumped the soundtrack on Spotify (the Julie Andrews classic, not the Carrie Underwood bullshit). I finally watched House of Cards and understand the hype. And so, for this Queuin’ to kick off the new year, I sought out some “Best of 2013″ lists, wanting to watch something amazing I couldn’t miss out on.
The latest British drama I’m fawning over: The Fall.
A sort of lesser-known British import that made many “Best of” lists, I queued the five-episode first season of The Fall. This slow-moving yet dramatic series follows Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson from The X-Files) as she attempts to solve the mystery of a serial killer haunting Belfast, Ireland. Different than many shows, we know the identity of the killer minutes into the show, which morphs the show not into the usual whodunnit, but rather a why-and-when-will-he-be-caught? As this monster continues to attack the young, brunette professionals of Belfast, Gibson tries to get into the mindspace of the killer while also being a badass woman.
Guess what? Even super hot dudes can be serial killers on TV.
The Fall is not lightning quick, and it’s slow to find resolution. But it’s the slow sizzle that has you enjoying nearly every minute of the show. Unfortunately there’s an extremely confusing secondary plot about corrupt cops, skeezy business guys, and cocaine that takes away from the brilliance of the murder mystery. Gillian Anderson is phenomenal as a strong female cop who continuously battles the stigma of her being so bang-able, yet so talented. It’s not a spoiler because it’s revealed quickly, but the creepy serial killer Paul Spector is played by Jamie Dornan, who has made the headlines recently because he’ll be showing his donger in 50 Shades of Gray. Dornan really falls into the role and plays a haunted man with conflicted duality, a large theme of this show. He’s a family man, yet a perv with a killer twist.
The season is only five episodes, so you’ll definitely be left hanging and begging for more.
I figured a great way to start a new year is to watch something of quality before falling into the wormhole of Netflix crap. The Fall is a phenomenal drama that will take half of a day to binge watch. Plus it’s a UK who’s who with a few Game of Thrones people! Renewed for a second season to film sometime this year, all of Season One is available for streaming on Netflix. Just be careful watching before bed because you’ll have creepy dreams and try to lock your door multiple times.
