{"id":4937,"date":"2022-01-16T21:45:32","date_gmt":"2022-01-16T21:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=4937"},"modified":"2023-01-22T22:10:07","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T22:10:07","slug":"media-the-tourist-bbc-pt-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=4937","title":{"rendered":"MEDiA: The Tourist, BBC, Pt. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Pt. 1 in the title of this post refers to a two part review, not the series itself. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hmmm! Watched one and a bit episodes of this. Not at all convinced. Why all the hype in the press\/media? Jamie Dornan isn\u2019t compelling. When I found out he\u2019s a model turned actor it was like, \u2018well, that figures\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Structurally it ought<\/em> to work. We should want to know how The Man wound up in hospital with no memory, and why there\u2019s a guy buried alive in a barrel. But I found myself struggling to engage with any of the \u2018characters\u2019, many of whom seem paper thin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start with Dornan\u2019s The Man – who may or may not be the titular \u2018tourist\u2019: his reaction to a huge truck attacking him, prior to the crash and resulting amnesia, is that of a macho jerk, and not very believable. So, from the get go, I dislike him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Mystery truck want fight? Le\u2019s boogie!\u2019 FFS!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And from then on he carries on, in sub-Western genre brooding silent tough guy mode, as an assortment of \u2018other folk\u2019 all behave as if they\u2019ve got serious chunks of personality missing, in order to collude in the prolongation of something I wasn\u2019t interested in to start with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So in episode two I started scrolling through the many interminable bumbling functionary type scenes, before finally thinking, screw this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I even read reviews suggesting this was a great comedy. Seriously? The Helen Chambers character, is she funny for constantly seeming diffidently embarrassed? Not in my world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Oim handsome, yoor ugly. So jus\u2019 feck off!\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A scene that sums it all up for me is when The Man, and what appears to be his ex, get held up on a road due, it turns out, to copulating turtles (ok, that sounds funny written down here, but believe me, on screen it isn\u2019t). The Man reinforces his tough guy jerk persona, and my initial dislike starts turning to hatred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One suspects that prior to the accident he was a bad man doing bad things. And perhaps that\u2019s why his ex isn\u2019t telling him she knows who he is? (Why was she ever with him? Why is she still hanging around him?) He\u2019s such a cock! So I simply don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing I noticed on some of the comments sections of positive reviews (e.g. Guardian and Independent) was the preponderance of women digging it. The cynic in me says this must be down to them fancying JD. How depressing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Tourist<\/em>: \u2018Only Gap model\u2019s lives are worthy of your interest.\u2019 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not going to waste any more time on this. Rather like a male model type, this thinks it\u2019s good looking and therefore interesting. I found it a grinding bore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pt. 2<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Ok, so the following day, having written the above, I find myself going back to The Tourist<\/em>. And, I guess, maybe I need to eat a little slice o\u2019 the ol\u2019 \u2018umble pie?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I won\u2019t totally disown all of the above. But, to be fair, as the saying goes, this isn\u2019t as bad as I initially thought. I\u2019ve gradually warmed to Elliot Stanley, and in staying with it, it finally wound me in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what did I get most wrong? Well, it is, occasionally, a bit funny, for starters. And I am<\/em> sufficiently intrigued by it all to want to know what it\u2019s all about. Or at least where it\u2019s all going. On the other hand it is<\/em> still an odd assemblage of a load of jumbled old clich\u00e9s. And some of the characters are<\/em> wafer thin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also partakes of the modern TV\/film \u2018trope\u2019 (eugh!) of never-ending plot twists; pile \u2018em high, an\u2019 keep em\u2019 coming. But all in all, I\u2019ve warmed to it sufficiently to decide I will<\/em> follow it to the end. All I know is it\u2019ll be pretty dark and prob\u2019 also a little bit funny, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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