I was very impressed by this. It is just about the only miniseries (meaning one story in several episodes) from TeeVee that I can recommend. (The other is the amazing "Singing Detective.")
Perhaps the primary element that attracts is how complex it was. I was often confused, and loved the fact that reality was not simplified. It probably still was at that, and at the same time certain characters made more complex than they probably were.
Since the thing was based on reality and true global intrigue, it avoided formula. We get so used to the writing conventions, that we lose sight that what matters as stories in life rarely are the same as stories that work in film. There were some false moments to be sure for instance his assistant who turns on him. We are seduced by her in the way that teeVee allows: we see her breasts. She is a red, the only such in the story. He is seduced at the same moment. In a day he is murdering her for treachery and establishing images that will factor in his own death. Its too pat, too simply clear.
But overall its true. Its grand, mixed up, contradictory. It as a narrative takes no stance as to which of the groups we are supposed to align ourselves with in terms of root perspective. That's a plus, as the winds shift and shift again, this man essentially playing us the viewer in the way he plays the system against itself.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
Perhaps the primary element that attracts is how complex it was. I was often confused, and loved the fact that reality was not simplified. It probably still was at that, and at the same time certain characters made more complex than they probably were.
Since the thing was based on reality and true global intrigue, it avoided formula. We get so used to the writing conventions, that we lose sight that what matters as stories in life rarely are the same as stories that work in film. There were some false moments to be sure for instance his assistant who turns on him. We are seduced by her in the way that teeVee allows: we see her breasts. She is a red, the only such in the story. He is seduced at the same moment. In a day he is murdering her for treachery and establishing images that will factor in his own death. Its too pat, too simply clear.
But overall its true. Its grand, mixed up, contradictory. It as a narrative takes no stance as to which of the groups we are supposed to align ourselves with in terms of root perspective. That's a plus, as the winds shift and shift again, this man essentially playing us the viewer in the way he plays the system against itself.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.