the Anarchy will not be televised
Nov. 13th, 2019 09:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitI ended up watching the entirety of the Cadfael TV series, which is certainly An Experience.
Series 1: Pretty watchable, though very "pop culture middle ages" in appearance, with everyone dirty and dressed in brown or black. Derek Jacobi is of course good as Cadfael, but his performance is limited, I think, by the way Cadfael is written as essentially a late-20th-century liberal who wandered into the 1140s and got stuck there. The books were a bit like that as well, but not as much. Sean Pertwee as Hugh Beringar, the local under-sheriff and Cadfael's friend, is the highlight of these episodes. His performance combines boyish earnestness, sly flirtatious charm, and a sense of genuine mild-mannered decency--which is a lot to bring to an underwritten role.
Speaking of underwritten roles, I agree very hard withsovay that Julian Firth as the primly officious Brother Jerome is the best thing about the show (certainly, the best thing that lasts through all four series, unlike Pertwee as Beringar). From the start he makes a rounded character out of one written purely as an obstacle, and he's always worth watching even in scenes where he doesn't get to talk. The episodes that give him further characterization to work with (notably "A Morbid Taste for Bones" and "The Holy Thief") are among my favorites.
I also must put in a word for Michael Culver as Prior Robert. He doesn't quite achieve the miracle of performance that Julian Firth pulls off, but he humanizes a chilly and ambitious character, and he is perfectly cast. Anyway I have loved Michael Culver ever since he played Erwin Brandt (an Abwehr officer with a troubled conscience) in Secret Army, and I'm always glad to see him.
Series 2: Not nearly as good. Sean Pertwee has been replaced as Hugh Beringar by Eoin McCarthy, who BELLOWS where Pertwee knew how to be forceful and quiet at the same time. Perhaps in response to McCarthy's limitations, Beringar is now written as a stupid bully, which not only maligns his character but unbalances the whole show. It pushes Cadfael even more into the role of the Only Reasonable Medieval Man, and also makes Cadfael and Hugh's friendship inexplicable.
However, this series does contain the (Beringar-free) episode "A Morbid Taste for Bones," which is relatively well-written and gives some really good character moments to both Brother Jerome and Prior Robert.
Series 3: Is a dumpster fire. Any trace of subtlety is gone from the writing, which doubles down on "everyone in the middle ages was stupid except Cadfael." The historical background of the civil war between Stephen and Maud/Matilda (about which the books' take is "a plague on both your houses") is Robin Hood-ized, so we get Wicked Cruel Usurper Stephen keeping Rightful Queen Maud (who by implication would be much better, even though her troops sack and burn a monastery) off the throne. There are a lot of gratuitous torture and execution scenes. There is a lot of "omg the dark ages" stuff, e.g. Hugh Beringar endorsing trial by ordeal for everyone, never mind evidence, which is not a thing that happens in the novels. And there is a lot of rapeyness. A LOT.
Do not recommend, unless like me you end up becoming obsessed with Brother Jerome and Prior Robert and needing to see every moment they're onscreen. Though you may enjoy watching the first few minutes of "The Raven in the Foregate" just for the hilarious awfulness of the Evil Priest and his Evil Costume.
Series 4: Less of a dumpster fire, though there's still a bit of smoldering and stench. Hugh Beringar is recast again and is now played by the less bellowy, but not more interesting, Anthony Green. There are fewer scenes of torture and attempted rape, which is good, but still a lot of clumsy melodrama and very very villainous villains.
"The Holy Thief" is not really a good episode but there's a scene with Brother Jerome that makes it all worthwhile, for me.
"The Potter's Field" is . . . actually really good. It sticks fairly close to the book, always a good idea, and dials the melodrama way down. This is a story without a villain, and all the better for it. It also looks better than any other Cadfael episode, with some well-done visual storytelling. Plus, it has the best-developed and most interesting female characters on the show (or indeed in the books). It's no coincidence, I think, that this is the only series episode directed by a woman.
"The Pilgrim of Hate" is weird, and not in a particularly fun way. Nothing hangs together or makes emotional sense, villains are villainous and cheap moral lessons are drawn, and there's a "CSI: Shrewsbury" element shoehorned into a plot that by no means requires it. Not a great note for the series to end on.
So . . . I can't say I really recommend any of it. But Sean Pertwee is good, and Julian Firth is SO GOOD. I'm amazed and saddened that Brother Jerome seems to have been the biggest role of his career, rather than the first of many really meaty character roles that gave him scope for his talent.
Series 1: Pretty watchable, though very "pop culture middle ages" in appearance, with everyone dirty and dressed in brown or black. Derek Jacobi is of course good as Cadfael, but his performance is limited, I think, by the way Cadfael is written as essentially a late-20th-century liberal who wandered into the 1140s and got stuck there. The books were a bit like that as well, but not as much. Sean Pertwee as Hugh Beringar, the local under-sheriff and Cadfael's friend, is the highlight of these episodes. His performance combines boyish earnestness, sly flirtatious charm, and a sense of genuine mild-mannered decency--which is a lot to bring to an underwritten role.
Speaking of underwritten roles, I agree very hard with
sovay that Julian Firth as the primly officious Brother Jerome is the best thing about the show (certainly, the best thing that lasts through all four series, unlike Pertwee as Beringar). From the start he makes a rounded character out of one written purely as an obstacle, and he's always worth watching even in scenes where he doesn't get to talk. The episodes that give him further characterization to work with (notably "A Morbid Taste for Bones" and "The Holy Thief") are among my favorites. I also must put in a word for Michael Culver as Prior Robert. He doesn't quite achieve the miracle of performance that Julian Firth pulls off, but he humanizes a chilly and ambitious character, and he is perfectly cast. Anyway I have loved Michael Culver ever since he played Erwin Brandt (an Abwehr officer with a troubled conscience) in Secret Army, and I'm always glad to see him.
Series 2: Not nearly as good. Sean Pertwee has been replaced as Hugh Beringar by Eoin McCarthy, who BELLOWS where Pertwee knew how to be forceful and quiet at the same time. Perhaps in response to McCarthy's limitations, Beringar is now written as a stupid bully, which not only maligns his character but unbalances the whole show. It pushes Cadfael even more into the role of the Only Reasonable Medieval Man, and also makes Cadfael and Hugh's friendship inexplicable.
However, this series does contain the (Beringar-free) episode "A Morbid Taste for Bones," which is relatively well-written and gives some really good character moments to both Brother Jerome and Prior Robert.
Series 3: Is a dumpster fire. Any trace of subtlety is gone from the writing, which doubles down on "everyone in the middle ages was stupid except Cadfael." The historical background of the civil war between Stephen and Maud/Matilda (about which the books' take is "a plague on both your houses") is Robin Hood-ized, so we get Wicked Cruel Usurper Stephen keeping Rightful Queen Maud (who by implication would be much better, even though her troops sack and burn a monastery) off the throne. There are a lot of gratuitous torture and execution scenes. There is a lot of "omg the dark ages" stuff, e.g. Hugh Beringar endorsing trial by ordeal for everyone, never mind evidence, which is not a thing that happens in the novels. And there is a lot of rapeyness. A LOT.
Do not recommend, unless like me you end up becoming obsessed with Brother Jerome and Prior Robert and needing to see every moment they're onscreen. Though you may enjoy watching the first few minutes of "The Raven in the Foregate" just for the hilarious awfulness of the Evil Priest and his Evil Costume.
Series 4: Less of a dumpster fire, though there's still a bit of smoldering and stench. Hugh Beringar is recast again and is now played by the less bellowy, but not more interesting, Anthony Green. There are fewer scenes of torture and attempted rape, which is good, but still a lot of clumsy melodrama and very very villainous villains.
"The Holy Thief" is not really a good episode but there's a scene with Brother Jerome that makes it all worthwhile, for me.
"The Potter's Field" is . . . actually really good. It sticks fairly close to the book, always a good idea, and dials the melodrama way down. This is a story without a villain, and all the better for it. It also looks better than any other Cadfael episode, with some well-done visual storytelling. Plus, it has the best-developed and most interesting female characters on the show (or indeed in the books). It's no coincidence, I think, that this is the only series episode directed by a woman.
"The Pilgrim of Hate" is weird, and not in a particularly fun way. Nothing hangs together or makes emotional sense, villains are villainous and cheap moral lessons are drawn, and there's a "CSI: Shrewsbury" element shoehorned into a plot that by no means requires it. Not a great note for the series to end on.
So . . . I can't say I really recommend any of it. But Sean Pertwee is good, and Julian Firth is SO GOOD. I'm amazed and saddened that Brother Jerome seems to have been the biggest role of his career, rather than the first of many really meaty character roles that gave him scope for his talent.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-13 10:42 pm (UTC)AMEN.
(He turned up for about thirty seconds once in The Queen (2006) and I was just so happy to see he was working.)
no subject
Date: 2019-11-14 02:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-11-14 06:01 pm (UTC)He's supposed to be very good in the film version of Scum (1979), but I've never seen either it or the original 1977 Play for Today version on general grounds of upsetting.
[edit] Also you should know I found this.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-15 06:31 pm (UTC)Julian Firth is a lot of fun in Jeeves and Wooster as Bicky (I googled him and thought 'I know that face' and that is totally where from)
no subject
Date: 2019-11-16 03:45 am (UTC)Ooh, I'll have to watch that Jeeves and Wooster episode! Somehow I never warmed to the show, even though I love the books and I love Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. But my new Julian Firth obsession is strong enough to overcome it.