I thought the first episode was gash and went to bed 3/4 of the way through. Contrived bollocks. Also shows Netflix now making the kind of dross ITV used to churn out.
Was crazy Katz already in custody when the main killed the neighbour in the wood? Not sure how precise they can be about time of death so an hour or two would probably go unnoticed.
It was good until the last episode then they just tried to fit in too many twists to the point where it just got silly.
there's NOL way they'd be able to fake the time of the bad neighbour's death to suggest Katz did it
ridiculous
I acutally thought the opposite - not enough twists - th emain one just didn't make sense
3 friends have watched and also said - why did J Saunders' character get killed??
SAFE (adaptation by same author) is much better - so funny/ witty with all the minor characters traipsing bodies through houses with the police there etc
Had Katz been in custody long at that point as I don't think time of death is more definite than a spread of a few hours which could have been long enough.
See to me it felt like every scene was another twist thrown in trying be clever and don't think the stranger being his half-sister really added much and still didn't explain why she was looking into Dervla's character in the first place.
She wanted to "out" untruths like her dad covered up with the body in the walls and she knew he was her sister so that's why sh started poking around..
Katz - he'd been in for a while and there was no motive for him to murder the neighbour - too many flaws for me!!
My biggest issue was the idea that stealing money from an amateur childs football club would be enough to trigger the whole chain of black mail / murder. How much money do you get from £2 subs from the kids each week?
I'm presuming they adapted it from the American book where it was someone fiddling the books at highschool football which is big moneyz
I'm afraid I was a bit distracted by the notion that Richard Armitage now has the opportunity to get on top of bad neighbour's missus (who was an unlikely mother to fat stoner boy, TBH).
The real flaw was the dad talking about needing a demolition order. No consent is needed to demolish a building if it's not listed or in a conservation area. Clearly you'd also need a party wall award before demolishing the house next door.
One thing that perplexed me: the Irish ex-cop who killed his wife talks about his "son" and the happiness "he" gave him. Turns out the son is actually a daughter. Did she have a sex change? She mentions a major "operation" she had when revealing her history to the hero.
Cardinal - no I dont think he ever mentioned the gender - it was alway "the child" - everyone assumed it was a boy, which is why I then guessed that it was The Stranger (also her skin coloud and all the refs to his wife as exotic etc etc).
I still do not understand the need to fill of Heidi (J Saunders) - no one seems to be able to explain it!!
On another note, both this and SAFE (another Coben adaptation on Nflx ATM) all have the emos idyllic/ m class/ beautiful big suburban houses whilst being set in what I assume is meant to be wealthy Cheshire. IMO SAFE is much wittier/ better plot twists though.
One of the best things was also all the banter between Good Dad and his Hot Son, Hot Son's girlf and Bad Neighbour's son (a modern version of Chunk from the Goonies) - brilliant.
The big house Maid is in Didsbury, South Manchester.
A lot of the rest was filmed around Bolton and Stockport. A few bits with Jennifer Saunders in, talking to her daughter is behind the Town Hall in central Manchester.
I always got the impression they were meant to be a wealthy South Manchester family. I appreciate Didsbury is not far from Cheshire.
and yes I have no idea why the copper would kill Jenifer Saunders, her daughter yes but not Jenifer. What would have been motivation to kill the the other soccer dad?
Spoiler alert but that's also the main issue with Safe - the runaround hero in that one is a senior dr - doesn't do much dring at all for the week timeline the series is set over AND
there's also one dodgy loose end in Safe as well so pls hurry up and finish watching so I can point that out as well!!
The Stranger: agree - sh**show of an ending - as if they coud've covered up the real time of death. I've also Googled an explanation of why Katz shot J Saunders and no good answers to this brings it right down in my estimates and I love murder dramas!!
SPOILER ALERT FOR SAFE!! SPOILER ALERT FOR SAFE!!
AVERT EYES IF NOT WATCHED IT YET!! AVERT, AVERT!!
Peter P - so appaz no one knew about those involved in the fire aside from Helen (killed), Chris (killed) and Jenny (kidnapped for knowing). SO how come the father of the burnt boy went to visit the nightclub owner then ran when Jenny's father spotted him?? It wasn't even mentioned in the explanations...
I think his visit could be explained by the father wanting to keep wraps on the whole thing for Craig's sake and so was there to see Bobby to warn him of possible emergence of the secret/ seek collaboration.
Agree at over-contrived ending of The Stranger but enjoyed the journey there.
Peter P - but no one else was supposed to know who was involved ie that Bobby was - the father would've had a vendetta against him if so. It wasn't properly dealt with IMO.
- what about the very valid point that fatty made before he was shot that the police will always look at the husband, and that they'd find blood in the his garage, and that he'd admitted rowing with her the night before? That doesn't go away because the police woman helped him cover up killing fatty.
- how did they tie Corrine to Katz? The whole thing was supposed to be about the gun and she wasn't shot. What was the motive for Katz to kill her? Katz' actions were otherwise entirely rational until he realised the game was up, it doesn't make sense.
- what about the big f*ck off red car Adam and fatty drove to the murder scene in *after* Katz was in custody? Did the entire police force just not bother to check the automated car registration camera system? Notwithstanding that whatshername was happy to cover up fatty's murder, was every police officer just not arsed?
- how did fatty know they were "chasing" him with the mum's phone app at that exact time? How did he know to get on a train at the second the lad came up to the platform? How did he know to sit and watch from the bushes after he planted the phone on the bridge? What was the point in doing that? If he was trying to make it look like she'd jumped, they'd rule that out pretty quickly with no body.
- I was absolutely seething at the "chase" scene into the railway yard where 6'2" Richard Armitage couldn't catch up with a girl who runs like she has polio. One minute he was a second or so behind her, and in the very next shot she had gained 50 yards on him. He was actually jogging in some shots. Seething.
I don't see a problem with Katz killing Jennifer Saunders though tbf. He lost his temper and shot her in the leg when she wouldn't talk, and then obviously couldn't leave her alive. He had to go and see her after his boss was potentially blackmailed on account of her daughter.
It made no sense that he was there seeing J Saunders in the first place thoi. would've made more sense to kill the daughter to protect his business partner. How did he KNOW Heidi was being blackmailed in the first place..??
I read the book ages ago but had mostly forgotten till i was about halfway through ep 1. The book was way better. I don't think translating it across to here in the UK improved the story. Quite the reverse esp with the idea of money being stolen from a kid's football team here
0
0
I thought this was going to be about that thing where you lie on your own arm to make it go dead before you... yaknow...
0
1
Finished it over the weekend - was a good drama and highlights that it would have been something the BBC would have put out back in the day...
0
0
I really liked it.
Can't believe they kill off ********************** so early thought.
0
1
Just finished episode 3. Thoroughly enjoying it.
In particular enjoying Ms Kirwan's work. 'til it looked like a skateboarder's elbow etc.
0
0
It's brilliant BUT I have a major quesiton about the ending
0
0
binge watched it in two days
When everyoen has watched it pls post so i can ask my huge question about the last ep.
0
0
I've finished watching all the episodes, Marion.
Do you want to ask our question now, or wait until Saillaw confirms he has seen it all?
0
0
I also finished last night. The final episode was a little OTT really.
0
0
Haven’t seen the tv show, but I love the Billy Joel album of that name if it helps.
0
0
I’m still shocked that no one seemed to recognise my “give yourself a dead arm” comment.
Amateurs.
0
0
No - we recognised it and gave it the attention it merited... ;)
0
0
I thought the first episode was gash and went to bed 3/4 of the way through. Contrived bollocks. Also shows Netflix now making the kind of dross ITV used to churn out.
0
0
Shout when people have finished it - I really want to ask someone about the ending and a few points!!
0
0
I have finished it. Also need to discuss ending.
0
0
I think I shouted WTAF as if THAT would happen at the TV - ie they woudln't have been able to disguise time of death etc etc..
It was very disappointing considering how hooked i'd been throughout
Also, why J Saunders' character?? Would've made more sense to kill the duaghter in order to prtect the ID of his business partner.
Fundamentally flawed IMO!!
0
0
ps Safe is much better
0
0
Was crazy Katz already in custody when the main killed the neighbour in the wood? Not sure how precise they can be about time of death so an hour or two would probably go unnoticed.
It was good until the last episode then they just tried to fit in too many twists to the point where it just got silly.
0
0
Katz was in custody
there's NOL way they'd be able to fake the time of the bad neighbour's death to suggest Katz did it
ridiculous
I acutally thought the opposite - not enough twists - th emain one just didn't make sense
3 friends have watched and also said - why did J Saunders' character get killed??
SAFE (adaptation by same author) is much better - so funny/ witty with all the minor characters traipsing bodies through houses with the police there etc
0
0
Had Katz been in custody long at that point as I don't think time of death is more definite than a spread of a few hours which could have been long enough.
See to me it felt like every scene was another twist thrown in trying be clever and don't think the stranger being his half-sister really added much and still didn't explain why she was looking into Dervla's character in the first place.
0
0
She wanted to "out" untruths like her dad covered up with the body in the walls and she knew he was her sister so that's why sh started poking around..
Katz - he'd been in for a while and there was no motive for him to murder the neighbour - too many flaws for me!!
0
0
My biggest issue was the idea that stealing money from an amateur childs football club would be enough to trigger the whole chain of black mail / murder. How much money do you get from £2 subs from the kids each week?
I'm presuming they adapted it from the American book where it was someone fiddling the books at highschool football which is big moneyz
0
0
I'm afraid I was a bit distracted by the notion that Richard Armitage now has the opportunity to get on top of bad neighbour's missus (who was an unlikely mother to fat stoner boy, TBH).
0
0
The real flaw was the dad talking about needing a demolition order. No consent is needed to demolish a building if it's not listed or in a conservation area. Clearly you'd also need a party wall award before demolishing the house next door.
0
0
Tecco we haven't ALL been the noinated nuclear key holder on a trident - ffs know your priv
0
0
One thing that perplexed me: the Irish ex-cop who killed his wife talks about his "son" and the happiness "he" gave him. Turns out the son is actually a daughter. Did she have a sex change? She mentions a major "operation" she had when revealing her history to the hero.
0
0
Cardinal - no I dont think he ever mentioned the gender - it was alway "the child" - everyone assumed it was a boy, which is why I then guessed that it was The Stranger (also her skin coloud and all the refs to his wife as exotic etc etc).
I still do not understand the need to fill of Heidi (J Saunders) - no one seems to be able to explain it!!
On another note, both this and SAFE (another Coben adaptation on Nflx ATM) all have the emos idyllic/ m class/ beautiful big suburban houses whilst being set in what I assume is meant to be wealthy Cheshire. IMO SAFE is much wittier/ better plot twists though.
0
1
One of the best things was also all the banter between Good Dad and his Hot Son, Hot Son's girlf and Bad Neighbour's son (a modern version of Chunk from the Goonies) - brilliant.
0
0
Thanks for recommendation of "Safe". Watched a couple of episodes back to back last night we're enjoying it so much.
0
0
The big house Maid is in Didsbury, South Manchester.
A lot of the rest was filmed around Bolton and Stockport. A few bits with Jennifer Saunders in, talking to her daughter is behind the Town Hall in central Manchester.
I always got the impression they were meant to be a wealthy South Manchester family. I appreciate Didsbury is not far from Cheshire.
0
0
and yes I have no idea why the copper would kill Jenifer Saunders, her daughter yes but not Jenifer. What would have been motivation to kill the the other soccer dad?
0
0
My top takeway from watching one (and will probably leave it at that) episode is that Jenifer Saunders cannot act in a straight role.
0
0
Biggest mystery for me was how come Adam never did any legal work, other than pop in to see the Irish client?
Are Manchester Solicitors all like this?
0
0
Yeah we were laughing at that. He didn’t seem to have important time sheets to fill in.
0
0
Yeah, and the solicitor dad didn’t seem to be on agile working either – never once seen on a laptop
0
1
This is why clients think that they are my only client and that I just sit here waiting for them to call.
0
1
Spoiler alert but that's also the main issue with Safe - the runaround hero in that one is a senior dr - doesn't do much dring at all for the week timeline the series is set over AND
there's also one dodgy loose end in Safe as well so pls hurry up and finish watching so I can point that out as well!!
ps otherwise, it's pretty damn great
0
2
And I have major house envy from both
0
0
Apparently one of the Didsbury houses in the Stranger once held 24 students:
https://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/luxury/celebrity-homes/netflix-stranger-manchester-filming-location-house-a136511.html
0
1
OK finished Safe now, Marion.
Whick loose end did you identify?
And what do you recommend next?
0
0
What an absolute shithouse of an ending
0
0
If you haven’t watched Safe it is a similar sort of fare
0
2
The Stranger: agree - sh**show of an ending - as if they coud've covered up the real time of death. I've also Googled an explanation of why Katz shot J Saunders and no good answers to this brings it right down in my estimates and I love murder dramas!!
SPOILER ALERT FOR SAFE!! SPOILER ALERT FOR SAFE!!
AVERT EYES IF NOT WATCHED IT YET!! AVERT, AVERT!!
Peter P - so appaz no one knew about those involved in the fire aside from Helen (killed), Chris (killed) and Jenny (kidnapped for knowing). SO how come the father of the burnt boy went to visit the nightclub owner then ran when Jenny's father spotted him?? It wasn't even mentioned in the explanations...
0
0
Peter P - I now need to find a new murder drama series - will report back forthwith!!
0
0
The Stranger was no more than middling
It just felt like an ITV drama
0
0
Thanks Marion.
I think his visit could be explained by the father wanting to keep wraps on the whole thing for Craig's sake and so was there to see Bobby to warn him of possible emergence of the secret/ seek collaboration.
Agree at over-contrived ending of The Stranger but enjoyed the journey there.
0
0
Peter P - but no one else was supposed to know who was involved ie that Bobby was - the father would've had a vendetta against him if so. It wasn't properly dealt with IMO.
0
0
SPOILERS
- what about the very valid point that fatty made before he was shot that the police will always look at the husband, and that they'd find blood in the his garage, and that he'd admitted rowing with her the night before? That doesn't go away because the police woman helped him cover up killing fatty.
- how did they tie Corrine to Katz? The whole thing was supposed to be about the gun and she wasn't shot. What was the motive for Katz to kill her? Katz' actions were otherwise entirely rational until he realised the game was up, it doesn't make sense.
- what about the big f*ck off red car Adam and fatty drove to the murder scene in *after* Katz was in custody? Did the entire police force just not bother to check the automated car registration camera system? Notwithstanding that whatshername was happy to cover up fatty's murder, was every police officer just not arsed?
- how did fatty know they were "chasing" him with the mum's phone app at that exact time? How did he know to get on a train at the second the lad came up to the platform? How did he know to sit and watch from the bushes after he planted the phone on the bridge? What was the point in doing that? If he was trying to make it look like she'd jumped, they'd rule that out pretty quickly with no body.
- I was absolutely seething at the "chase" scene into the railway yard where 6'2" Richard Armitage couldn't catch up with a girl who runs like she has polio. One minute he was a second or so behind her, and in the very next shot she had gained 50 yards on him. He was actually jogging in some shots. Seething.
I don't see a problem with Katz killing Jennifer Saunders though tbf. He lost his temper and shot her in the leg when she wouldn't talk, and then obviously couldn't leave her alive. He had to go and see her after his boss was potentially blackmailed on account of her daughter.
0
0
It made no sense that he was there seeing J Saunders in the first place thoi. would've made more sense to kill the daughter to protect his business partner. How did he KNOW Heidi was being blackmailed in the first place..??
0
0
Also completely agree with your points above. The phone on bridge scene was pretty but completely stupid.
0
0
The whole chase/bridge scenes annoyed me
I read the book ages ago but had mostly forgotten till i was about halfway through ep 1. The book was way better. I don't think translating it across to here in the UK improved the story. Quite the reverse esp with the idea of money being stolen from a kid's football team here
Join the discussion