Did they do all that in America too? I’d be far from surprised if they did, but I’m far more familiar with the bullshit they got up to in Ireland.

I couldn’t get into Luther. Elba’s character seemed like the same hard-boiled-cop-who-doesn’t-play-by-the-rules that I’ve seen in dozens of shows. There’s only so far a show can get on star-charisma alone.

That’s where I watched it, about a year ago (US Netflix). Looks like it’s still there.

I agree that it makes for difficult watching - and those themes can be incredibly problematic when not dealt with carefully. This show handles its difficult material impressively well though

I’ll grant you that her awesomeness is a bit TV-ish, but I didn’t find her shallow. Anderson and Dornan both gave such good performances that I could forgive a lot of slack in the script. And I’ve spent a bunch of time in Belfast, so how they’re treating the setting is interesting to me too. De gustibus non est…

There’s been a wave of really good cop shows with three-dimensional female leads - Broadchurch, The Fall, Top Of The Lake, Happy Valley (the best of them). They’re all quite tonally different from each other; I saw Happy Valley right after Broadchurch, and the contrast was extreme. They’re also not all world-beating,…

This is the first time I’ve seen them compared. I loved Top Of The Lake, and I loved True Detective (Season 1, anyway - still undecided about 2)

For me, too. The Fall starts seeming a bit too contrived somewhere in Season 2, but Gillian Anderson is so fucking boss that I don’t even care (Dornan is good too).

Where do you put The Fall (either season) and Happy Valley in your TV rankings?

I’m with you on the pacing, but I don’t see how anything else in your “Cons” list is a con. I like my cop shows like my coffee, I guess (bitter).

Yeah, I’m still trying to wrap my brain around how “you’re making money off this horrible, life-wrecking thing that happened to you” is a criticism.

Geoffrey Rush, unattractive?

I’ll file that under “informing the candidate about the consequences of military action”, but there’s a bunch more things for a president to do than be commander-in-chief. I wonder if former-military presidents have been more likely or less likely to start wars, historically.

Maybe it’s because I’m a pinko peacenik Eurotrash or something, but I don’t really get how any facet of military service qualifies someone for political office (beyond informing the candidate about the consequences of military action). So this guy won 3 Purple Hearts and that guy was a torture victim. What does that…

I used to use the Fiend decoction when I’d hoovered up too much loot to carry. I have never used a different decoction for any reason. I must be somewhere near the 100 hours mark - I’ve done all the side quests and probably only have a couple of main quests left. Just clearing out the last few question marks from the…

Almost everything is improved. I’ve only played post-patch a tiny amount, but there is one facet of the inventory upgrade that promises to be annoying:

We suggest that low-status males increase female-directed hostility to minimize the loss of status as a consequence of hierarchical reconfiguration resulting from the entrance of a woman into the competitive arena.

Given how Academy membership works, I don’t see a way for membership to not always lag about 40 years behind social norms.

We were looking after her kid for a bit, and my mum had the temerity to offer some parenting advice when she picked him up. Unwelcome advice, as it turned out.

Sinead O’Connor called my mum a cunt once. Wasn’t as exciting as you might expect.