We here at Fortress Mamea caught a couple of episodes Wallander this month. The cinematography is gorgeous. The acting, particularly from lead Kenneth Branagh, is unsurprisingly excellent. The first 45 to 60 minutes of each ep have set mood and tone beautifully, and I’m wanting to get to the bottom of the case du jour, but the remaining minutes have left me… very cool.
- Your protagonist is the only person who can see all witnesses and possible suspects, necessitating a whole lot of to- and fro-ing. Check.
- Surrounding your offender on all sides with cops pointing guns. Check.
- Entering a suspicious location on one’s own without calling for backup. Check.
- Leaving a vital witness in a rural safe house while you go outside to investigate the arrival of a suspicious vehicle in thick fog. Check.
- Racing to a certain destination without calling it in at all and then, upon arriving, waiting in plain and obvious sight for your prime suspect to maybe/possibly/probably arrive. Check.
I was too angry after the second ep to contemplate watching the final of the season.
But I’m a compleatist at heart.
How much worse more insulting can it get?
AUGH!!! WHY? Why do they do that? I honestly can’t stand it. I humph and snort whenever I see the cop with years, YEARS of experience, go into an abandoned building ON HIS OWN, without even calling for backup! At least, please dear god, can’t they try, and have their radio down or something?! When the story does something really DUMB just for the sake of drama, throwing reason or character consistency out the window, I could truly scream. It’s the ultimate lazy story telling, and, as you said, it is highly insulting! Humph!
i used to think it was lazy writing until i was forced to rewrite something on the spot on location a few times.
because Wallander was consistent with its 1970s-era police procedures, i suspect the producers aimed pretty low which is a real shame because it’s a great character piece and the character’s a freakin’ cop!
Ah, fair enough… under-the-gun writing is certainly not lazy. But there are many, many cases where this happens. And not just TV but big budget should-know-better movies. In any case, it always pisses me off when I’m watching, regardless of the why.
I might have to check out Wallander…
NAAAOOOOOOOO DOOOOONNN’T!