MovieChat Forums > Mistresses (2008) Discussion > Bland, tepid, tired, lazy, safe - epitom...

Bland, tepid, tired, lazy, safe - epitomises the death of UK drama.

posted 14 years ago by Concise_Statement
5 replies | jump to latest

Watching the opening to this third series, two things occurred to me. One - I think I've seen every scene in this somewhere before, and delivered far more excitingly too ("Oh you mean the ring... ohhhhh!"). Two - just watch Cold Feet again, which explored most of the themes on this show with real exuberance and wit, and characters you could actually get behind and eventually cry for.

(No offence to Sarah Parish, who's been great before in :
Blackpool http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s32IYalaPdw and
Recovery http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWRAVrpJj80.)

"And no regrets?"

[–] alvshill 14 years ago

I've never seen Cold Feet but in all honesty, if/when I do and find them at all comparable, it's likely that I'll prefer Mistresses on account of having seen it first and really loving the experience. It's how it goes - nothing can take away from the supreme enjoyment I've had from the past two series, as sounds to be the case with you and Cold Feet. The first episode of season 3 was great and I'm looking forward to next week.

So many people kept telling me that x and y show was better than '24' but frankly , upon inspection, none of them delivered the same kind of suspense whilst taking nothing away. Same applies here. Horses. Courses. And fair play to you.

[–] Concise_Statement 14 years ago

Fair enough.

But although what you see first does play an important role, I still think one can make a good case to objectively justify why a show like 24 is better than all its counterparts - for sheer outlandish set pieces and maverick craziness for example, whereas something 'worthy' like Spooks with its mediocre pacing and pretensions of political commentary just falls flat.

"And no regrets?"

[–] archer1267 13 years ago

I'm not British, and I know much more about UK comedies than dramas. (Prime Suspect and EastEnders are the only ones I watched to any degree!) As far as it being lazy and safe, I go back to what the show's supposed to be about: the friendships among four women and how they're all there for each other when tested. Which is the premise of endless chicklit books! So right there you know it's going to go down a well-trodden path.

Sure it's touched upon some non-safe issues (same-sex marriage, assisted suicide) but it'd be contrary to the show's point to get on a soapbox about these things (and a lot less fun to watch -- I don't want to have a "lesson" imparted on me with each viewing).

There isn't much under the sun that hasn't already been a plot device somewhere - adultery, divorce, infertility, etc. To expect a show like Mistresses to break new ground is setting the bar too high. Even if Jessica started turning tricks to help Mark get out of debt, that would be more of a shock, but it'd have been done before somewhere else, I'm sure.

I'm just relieved that Mistresses didn't go the U.S. soap route of characters having amnesia, having a secret life as a serial killer, dying and coming back to life days later, etc.

[–] Concise_Statement 13 years ago

Jimmy McGovern's 'Accused' doesn't exactly break new ground for a drama either - but it's the long, caring treatment of the characters that make that series stand out. This is just a jumped up soap that happens to have an ending, about who'll end up sleeping with each other and if they'll all make up in time for the hot water to be ready for your bath (assuming you have an older boiler system that isn't constant). Like I said before, not that long ago something like 'Cold Feet' did do this kind of thing with a lot more heart and innovation.

I just finished watching Ben Affleck's 'The Town' and that's a good example of where you can work well within genre conventions, and still deliver something compelling as a plain character study, and for a pretty extended run time as well. No one or thing is being studied in six hours of Mistresses. It's a good cast and a major time slot gone to waste by the utmost bland relationship trivialities. I thought the whole point of 'EastEnders' was to exorcise the audience's daily need for that kind of inconsequential crap. (Although to be fair, if you made me choose between a British soap and an American one, I'd find things to admire in the former, and slaughter the family of the producers responsible for the latter. My goodness, they're evil.)

"And no regrets?"

[–] ida96 8 years ago

I've just watched the first two episodes, first season, and have done a lot of eye rolling. This show really tests the willing suspension of disbelief. The actors are good and there's a lot of eye candy, but these characters do not act in believable ways. And too much depends on communications: there's always a text, a ringing phone, an email, a computer screen, often unnecessarily, to move the plot along. I don't think I'll bother to watch the entire series.