# "Low Winter Sun" premiers this week on AMC \[OPEN SPOILERS\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523 "2013-08-06T19:47:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/1 "2013-08-06T19:47:53Z")
Anyone plan to watch. Here’s a [review](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/low-winter-sun-tv-review-599669) and a quick blurb > [@](#): > > The corruption, rot and pride that Detroit exudes is metaphorically significant to the characters in _Low Winter Sun_, which centers on two detectives who come to the conclusion that killing a fellow detective is the only answer. The answer to what, exactly, is a question that unspools slowly in _Low Winter Sun_ and frequently works against it. > > Based on a 2006 British miniseries of the same name, the American version comes from **Chris Mundy** (_Criminal Minds, Cold Case_), and stars **Lennie James** (_The Walking Dead, Snatch_) and **Mark Strong** (_Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy_ and _Zero Dark Thirty_) as the detectives who kill their co-worker and \*\*David Costabile \*\*(_Breaking Bad_ and virtually everything else on television) as the Internal Affairs agent who pops up immediately and heightens the tension and the suspicion. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/2 "2013-08-06T20:56:19Z")
I plan to give it a look. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/3 "2013-08-06T21:59:14Z")
Sounds interesting, kinda like a mixture of **The Shield** and **The Wire** , maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/4 "2013-08-06T22:20:35Z")
Good writers, good actors, worth a look. It’s on right after BB, which I usually record to skip commercials later. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/5 "2013-08-07T04:25:56Z")
I plan to watch. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/6 "2013-08-12T07:58:45Z")
Wow. This looks really good. It was obvious from the opening scene that Geddes was playing Agnew and now the only issue is to what extent. Mark Strong looks like he’s going to be just amazing in this role. The part with the army vet at the bar looks like it could be a rip off of a character in Boardwalk Empire but that’s cool depending on what they do with it. A few threads were started and possible story arcs teased but not so many as to be confusing so that was good. Everyone seemed to have their personas down but I’m not really a good judge of that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/7 "2013-08-12T10:31:19Z")
If they’re making a whole series out of it, it’s going to have a lot of padding. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/8 "2013-08-12T11:58:26Z")
I watched this after _Breaking Bad_, it seems like it has potential but I was extremely sleepy and didn’t really follow the second part of the hour too closely so I really need to rewatch it sometime this week to get a better feel for it. The acting seemed pretty good, at least, but if the whole series is just a conflict between two people I don’t know how much legs it will have but it may end up being bigger than that. It may have been made obvious but what I wasn’t sure of, was did Brendan actually kill the girl as Geddes said or was that wholly fabricated by Geddes to get Frank to help him murder Brendan? I also noticed James Ransone was Ziggy Sobotka from S2 of _The Wire_, he was one of those actors from that series that I had really never heard of before or since so was a little strange to see him in another role. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/9 "2013-08-12T15:20:23Z")
I didn’t like Lennie James’ speech about morality – black, white, strobe, etc. It was too rehearsed, like something the character would say when he was first trying to convince the other guy to go along with the murder. It’s not something you’ll come up with a few minutes before doing it. Plus, he oversold it – it didn’t sound natural. I tuned out after they sunk the car. With Breaking Bad, Broadchurch, and The Bridge, I might be at my quota for dark drama. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/10 "2013-08-12T15:29:50Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I didn’t like Lennie James’ speech about morality – black, white, strobe, etc. It was too rehearsed, like something the character would say when he was first trying to convince the other guy to go along with the murder. It’s not something you’ll come up with a few minutes before doing it. Well… considering the preview they showed at the end, that might be what they were going for. > [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > It may have been made obvious but what I wasn’t sure of, was did Brendan actually kill the girl as Geddes said or was that wholly fabricated by Geddes to get Frank to help him murder Brendan? Again, based on the preview, she’s still alive and the murder was presumably a set-up. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/11 "2013-08-12T16:05:15Z")
I only watched the first half (till the first commercial break to see the Breaking Bad promo for next week…and obviously they didn’t put the first commercial break in until 30 minutes in,) but have it DVRed so I’ll watch the rest later, but so far the big question in my mind is why the two cops felt they had to make it look like a suicide. The cop they killed was VERY drunk, and even insisted on driving his own car home. Why couldn’t they have just make it look like a regular old DUI crash? And beyond that, I still don’t get how handcuffing him to the wheel and breaking his wrist made it look more “authentic.” Like…I sort of get what the on cop was saying, that if he was REALLY intent on killing himself, he’d make sure he couldn’t chicken out at the last second and do that, but I still don’t buy it. Seems like it would just add unnecessary snooping, compared to just making it look like an accident. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/12 "2013-08-12T19:54:49Z")
So… this is an American version of the 2006 programme of the same name made by Channel 4 (UK), right? Sounds like it, from the little bits mentioned. Mark Strong starring in both. I really liked the original, so I’ll give this a go. > [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > It may have been made obvious but what I wasn’t sure of, was did Brendan actually kill the girl as Geddes said or was that wholly fabricated by Geddes to get Frank to help him murder Brendan? Well, in the original that all got very complicated. I must say, a very short series from seven years ago set in Glasgow seems like an odd choice for a remake. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/13 "2013-08-12T20:19:32Z")
Didn’t care for it. [Lennie James](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0416694/?ref_=tt_cl_t2) was over-emoting on every. Line. I found that too annoying to endure. (This seems to be a learned thing among British TV veterans. All of their TV dramas seem over-acted to me. Am I alone in noticing this?) ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/14 "2013-08-12T20:26:21Z")
As to the girl and Agnew’s intended revenge, no one knows what’s going on there at this point including Agnew I would venture to say. For example remember towards the end when he says ‘I don’t think I want to look’ or something like that? He was expecting to find her dismembered body in McCann’s trunk but then he finds out it’s male not female - further adding to his suspicions about Geddes most likely. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/15 "2013-08-12T22:43:25Z")
> [@deltasigma](#): > > ‘I don’t think I want to look’ or something like that? He was expecting to find her dismembered body in McCann’s trunk but then he finds out it’s male not female - further adding to his suspicions about Geddes most likely. In the Scottish version the line is “Is it her?”. Given how much of it was line-for-line the same, I’m surprised they changed that. On the other hand, it’s a vastly inferior remake. Worse acting, worse directing, worse writing, worse pacing. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/16 "2013-08-13T17:34:05Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Didn’t care for it. [Lennie James](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0416694/?ref_=tt_cl_t2) was over-emoting on every. Line. I found that too annoying to endure. (This seems to be a learned thing among British TV veterans. All of their TV dramas seem over-acted to me. Am I alone in noticing this?) I agree. The other guy – Geddes? – was better. It was like they were directed by two different people. I tried to watch some more of it last night and bailed again. So much expository dialogue. The Internal Affairs guy – “I need a room. Like an interrogation room. Where I can be alone and look at these files. You got one of those? And don’t let anyone come in here. Because I need to be alone. This is secret shit.” (overstated, but still) “Where’s a room?” would have been enough – they would have known what he meant, and so would we. All the reactions to Internal Affairs were wrong, or different from what we’ve seen in other shows. Nobody talks to IAD, nobody offers any information or asks questions or speculates in earshot of IAD about who’s being investigated. They’re adversaries. And that conversation in the men’s room that anyone outside could have heard – why do shows do this? Lower your voices and flush the toilets or something. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/17 "2013-08-13T19:21:20Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > All the reactions to Internal Affairs were wrong, or different from what we’ve seen in other shows. Nobody talks to IAD, nobody offers any information or asks questions or speculates in earshot of IAD about who’s being investigated. They’re adversaries. That was the one refreshing thing about the show. I’m bored to effing death with cop shows with that dynamic with IA. It’s always turned up to 11 on TV where in real life it’s more like a 7 or 8. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/18 "2013-08-13T19:55:02Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I agree. The other guy – Geddes? – was better. It was like they were directed by two different people. Just to be clear, I don’t feel any obligation to defend the show. There’s plenty of stuff I like which I know for a fact is completely indefensible so I’m the first to admit my taste is suspect. I don’t think that’s the case here, at least not compared to standard prime time network fare anyway, but like I said, what the fuck do I know. Anyway, I sort of like the idea of the modern soliloquy, which I guess is what Geddes little monologue amounted to. And I’m not so sure there may not have been a method to the madness. I mean the lieutenant did after all assign the case to Agnew. Maybe that was a given anyway. Maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/19 "2013-08-13T20:23:59Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > With Breaking Bad, Broadchurch, and The Bridge, I might be at my quota for dark drama. No kidding. I had taped The Bridge but after I watched about 10 minutes of it, I deleted the episode and deleted it from my series manager. Holy crap. A person can only take so much. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523/20 "2013-08-13T22:49:58Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Didn’t care for it. [Lennie James](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0416694/?ref_=tt_cl_t2) was over-emoting on every. Line. I found that too annoying to endure. Agreed. I set the DVR to tape every episode, then happened to catch the mini-preview before Breaking Bad. Because of James’ acting (and the shakyshaky cam), I went back into the DVR and told it ‘nevermind’. mmm [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-winter-sun-premiers-this-week-on-amc-open-spoilers/665523.md?page=2)