So, after a mediocre TV movie very loosely based upon Douglas Adams' book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (minus the electric monk), we now have a three-episode miniseries of 'original' stories. How this got the go-ahead is a mystery worthy of Mr Svlad Cjelli, though I suspect DVD sales are a contributing factor.
My main problem with this series - aside from its only tenuous connection to the characters and the books - is that the two main characters feel even more hopelessly miscast this time round. I think I'll have to re-read the books, but Stephen Mangan seems to be channelling Alan Partridge as the titular detective, while Darren Boyd - who seemed decent enough as Richard Macduff in the one-off - will now forever be 'the dopey guy with the irritatingly shrill girlfriend from the Direct Line advertisements' due to their saturation of the ad breaks.
All the more weird because, while I may not have had Jason Watkins in mind when I read Adams' books, he fits the character of DI Gilks very well. Sure, it's yet another police officer after being Herrick in Being Human (and probably countless other police characters, were I to investigate his résumé), but he's got the self-assured closed-mindedness of a terrible police inspector down perfectly.
There were moments of brilliance in the show - those occasions where the fundamental interconnectedness of all things was cleverly woven into the story - but some of it was all too obvious (the dart rebounding from its intended target and embedding itself in the accounts ledger which Dirk then chose to ignore), some of it was mishandled (if you watched closely, you will have seen that Dirk followed the second car to pass the scene of the crime, and yet still ended up on the right path), and some of it just wasn't interconnected enough (can I be the only one who though the software prototype was going to be the horoscope software?).
On balance, I have to admit that I enjoyed the show, and was genuinely surprised by how much they managed to squeeze into a one-hour episode. Not only was there the original case of the murdered conspiracy theorist, but there was a side case of infidelity which, in turn, led to an investigation of an astrologer, the murder of a woman impersonating someone who was already dead (I liked that scene... I'm just not sure it was Adams), the beginnings of a complicated situation with Dirk's PA and, eventually, back to the solution to the original case. I'll certainly be watching again next week, but how long will I be able to stand a second-hand Steve Coogan impersonation and his dopey partner?
And what is it with the BBC and it's three-episode miniseries format?
Sunday's Being Human was an interesting diversion. Bringing back the 47-year-old teenage vampire, Adam, was fun, and pairing him with an older woman was - possibly - a clever stab at the teen angst/vampire romance genre of fiction... But it was just a diversion. It introduced a new form of supernatural being (and the overarching concept of demons) which may never be revisited, but nevertheless opens the floodgates for more, similar additions. It also seemed undecided on the nature of the dreams experienced by Tom and Hal - were they or were they not wholly from the individuals' subconscious? If so, why was one of the new arrivals such a prominent part? If not, why manipulate Hal in that specific way... and how could the perpetrator appear so innocent?
The series also seems to have tied itself in several complicated knots over certain aspects of vampire mythology. Everyone knows the 'no reflection' part... but this stuff about not appearing on cameras - photographic and video - seems to be more trouble that it's worth, since it adds nothing but puzzling convolutions in the storytelling. Also, am I wrong in thinking that Herrick had appeared in a TV interview? Adding to that is the sudden development of vampires' aversion to crosses. I'm pretty sure that was thoroughly debunked in earlier series, but here it became integral to a particular point, only for Hal to brush it off because he's an 'Old One'.
It's a difficult thing, to like the quality of the show, its players and its writing, while simultaneously disliking the direction the whole thing is taking. The first three series set up Mitchell, George and Annie as a unique 'family' of supernatural beings in a world where they were uncommon - they were playing at 'being human' to fit in with that world. Now, a picture has been painted where there may be any number of other similar groupings (and, yes, I'm aware that Becoming Human was the first step in this trend). If this is the case, how can it be certain the George and Nina's baby is the child of the prophesy?
And aren't doom prophesies rather passé anyway?
In other news, and following on from my 'copy-and-paste alien invasion' rant, a trailer for Men In Black 3 has surfaced... and - wouldn't you know it? - there's a big alien invasion involved. It looks... familiar...
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