This DVD set has been out for a few weeks, and I finally got through them all the other day.
What they got right:
[ul]
[li]The sense of optimism, hope, general goodwill toward men (generically speaking) that makes the books such a uniquely comfortable experience. I’ve rarely found a writer whose stories are so simply welcoming to the reader; reading them becomes a place you yearn to visit. The show didn’t accomplish this to the same degree as the books, but it’s there nonetheless.[/li][li]Jill Scott. She doesn’t have a lot of depth as an actor, but she has more than I expected. She can grow into someone to watch.[/li][li]The guy who plays her love interest. Perfectly “unattractive” to remain in keeping with the point of the books: external beauty is random and arbitrary, and therefore irrelevant to the real lives of real people.[/li][li]The setting. Exotic but not fantastical; you can feel the ground beneath your feet. Welcoming and livable, with dust around the edges. The overarching image of people who fill their hot, dusty world with joyous celebrations of bright colors is a huge part of what makes the show work.[/li][/ul]
What they got wrong:
[ul]
[li]Mma Makutsi. W?! T!? F!!! What frikkin show does she imagine she’s in? I’d have to go pretty far and wide to find a more artificial, exaggerated, horribly mistaken characterization in any comparable series. Where the hell did that find that terrible, terrible actress? Whose idea was it to find someone from the Jim Carrey school of clownish mugging to play that part? Her repertoire of clumsy doubletakes, overly obvious children’s-theater facial expressions, silly walks–hell, even Jim Carrey would be embarrassed to see himself doing that on film. She took the basic two or three point description of her character and decided that she must broadcast each of those qualities, on full volume, mugging for the back row, for every single second she was on screen. Horrible, just horrible, one of the worst performances I have ever seen anywhere. And what’s with the bullshit “beautiful girl with glasses equals plain girl” cliche? Huge misstep, may ruin the show yet.[/li][li]The gay hairdresser. Is it possible I don’t remember this character from the books? If he’s original to the stories, surely his performance is more for an American audience than it is appropriate to the actual setting of the story? Would he be that safely flamboyant in that place and time? Without it even being an issue to anyone around him? He’s as blithely accepted as if his salon were in West Hollywood. Is that realistic? It distracts me as being so apparently a comic-relief bone thrown to the American audience at the expense of the integrity of the story.[/li][/ul]
Anyway, I’ll watch next year. The show’s a nice place to spend some time, even if I’m disappointed it doesn’t have the substance and solidity of the books.
My main complaint about the books was that the “mystery” and “detecting” parts were practically nonexistent. Obvious mysteries, and the detection was mostly just someone who knew telling her the answer. Not Miss Marple.
The comic-relief cartoon of a gay hairdresser is not in any of the novels. As for Mna Makutsi, I guess they couldn’t sell the idea of another traditionally built lady, …with bad skin.
Eh, you’re right, the thing doesn’t hold a candle to the books, but it’s pleasant, reasonably entertaining, gorgeously photographed and I’m enjoying it despite its flaws.
That’s what makes them great. There’s no shortage of “hard” mystery novels. I absolutely loved it beyond my capacity to express how much, that her definition of “detective” was basically just someone who paid attention to the things that are worth paying attention to, and thus finding ways to help people.
I don’t usually wax this hyberbolic about writers, but the only two working writers I’m familiar with that I would call Nobel-worthy are Haruki Marukami and Alexander McCall Smith. Along with history’s greatest writers, they share the ability–that seems like magic sometimes; it’s completely inexplicable, unlearnable–to imbue a relatively simple story with a sense of the vast scope of humanity’s most mysterious and abstract truths. There’s a something behind the stories, something you can’t describe or explain, that makes them true and real and human. Get THAT up on a TV screen and you’ve got something.
Well, a movie/TV show is never the same as a book: they’re different media, and one shows while another tells.
We thought the books were charming (although we only read the first two or three, I think there are now a dozen or so), and the HBO series managed to capture the spirit of the books. Would I have imagined some of the characters different? Sure. Did they feel the need to add another character or two? Sure, that’s fairly common, to bring out in dialog what the book does with internal thought. Does any of that matter? Not to me or Mrs Haven.
I thought the books (of which I read the first two, maybe three) were “eh.” I’ve really enjoyed the show. The difference, of course, is Ms. Jill Scott, whom I adore, she’s so beautiful and talented. Anyone not familiar with her as a singer should go out and buy her music right now.
Sorry to threadjack, but I couldn’t let this slip by. You have, like the great Mr. McCall Smith himself, draped beautiful word fabric over my invisible and formless thoughts. I absolutely adore Alexander McCall Smith and am never able to adequately explain to other people why. His stories are just so quiet and epic and human. To anyone out there who might be reading this, I implore you to read his books and in particular his 44 Scotland Street series. You’ll be doing yourself such a favor.
We watched a few episodes, but finally gave up.
The pacing on this show is so s l o w…it takes forever for anything to happen and they discuss things, in depth, that could have been said in about two quick sentences.
Too bad. I thought the premise what great, and the idea of filming it in Africa was promising - but it all turned into a series that makes continental drift look speedy.
I love this show. I’ve never read the books and hadn’t heard of them til this series came out. It’s so full of love and hope and goodness, and it’s really interesting seeing the foreign (to me) setting - although I wonder about it’s accuracy since if I remember correctly the books weren’t written by a local. The show is actually almost too good - it’s so full and affecting that I feel a little exhausted afterwards. I would say this and Kings are the two best series of the last decade. Maybe not the most enjoyable per se, but the best written and most affecting.
Aren’t they just directors? It’s not like one of the main characters would be missing.
One question - maybe I wasn’t paying attention, but did the mystery of the various shop break ins ever get solved?
Yes, the break-ins were caused by wild monkeys of some sort. (And I was surprised it took them that long to figure it out. I guessed that was the cause almost immediately.)
Thanks. Looking at the episode list it looks like I missed the last episode. I’m guessing they didn’t figure it out sooner since she kept putting off the case to do other things…