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 The Stranger, from Harlan Coben | Netflix |
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 Feb 13 2020, 11:56 PM
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#21
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 "Jayrusaleminians" - Umi.
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 4 April 2007 Posts: 41,412 User: 3,217 
          
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I’d have to disagree with Klaus, this was very entertaining and compelling viewing! So many twists and particularly great acting from Siobhan Finneran and Richard Armitage.
If you’re driving and concentrating on the road, I don’t think you’d be expecting or necessarily sense that someone is hiding in the back, not if they’re covered and being quiet. Evidently Katz realises eventually because Thomas was becoming increasingly uncomfortable in the confined space. This didn’t strike me as bad writing, just another suspenseful moment that was ultimately an interesting way for Katz to find out what was happening to his daughter. Also Jordan Lee, it’s kind of the point of this sort of show for you to be confused... its genre is mystery/thriller. Its lack of flow is a technique to keep you guessing at all times. |
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Feb 14 2020, 08:24 PM
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#22
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 ❤️❤️➕🟦
Joined: 3 June 2012
Posts: 22,246 User: 17,160
     
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I finished it and... it did pick up towards the end but I still don't think it's a good show! I just think the writing in terms of the dialogue/character interactions was bad (which made the acting look worse than it was) and a lot of the twists felt forced rather than a natural progression of the story. It goes back to my first post in here - it all felt very flashy and clickbait headliney where there's twists for the sake of twists. Twists are only effective if they're built up to.
I think there was too many characters and plotlines which meant the show was just flitting from bit to bit with no time for any proper actual development for any of them. I didn't care about any of the characters to the point I was rooting for the stranger in the chase scene. The police's investigation was just as flitting too - mostly pouncing on the latest 'twist' and moving on from whatever they had been investigating before! The whole kids in the woods thing too led to absolutely nothing. You could have cut those scenes from the show and the narrative wouldn't have changed. Obviously you wouldn't have been as familiar with his daughter but you could have still done an effective reveal by including her elsewhere. It's not the worst show and at least it wasn't boring, I just think it was badly written and came across a bit like the Daily Star of TV shows. |
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Feb 14 2020, 08:39 PM
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#23
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 Jord
Joined: 12 March 2017
Posts: 10,758 User: 27,116
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I’m sort of with you Klaus. Like it wasn’t badly acted or anything but I didn’t really care for any character really and it felt like The Stranger herself wasn’t in it enough either. But there was just way too many characters in it and I wasn’t really sure who I was rooting for. Like are we supposed to like and root for the stranger or are we supposed to be against her?
It’s one of those shows where I can see the appeal and I enjoyed it but not sure I’d like re watch it again in a hurry. I think I’d have liked it more with a smaller cast and without the alpaca / woods story and had it just revolved around the more adult characters. |
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Feb 14 2020, 09:48 PM
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#24
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"Jayrusaleminians" - Umi.
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 4 April 2007 Posts: 41,412 User: 3,217
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QUOTE(Jordan Lee @ Feb 14 2020, 08:39 PM)  it felt like The Stranger herself wasn’t in it enough either. The clue is in the name lol.  If this character had been prominently featured throughout, with earlier explanations about who she is / why she's doing what she does, then there would have been a lack of mystery. That's why the reveal was gradual. She was supposed to be something of an enigma.
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Feb 14 2020, 11:09 PM
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#25
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Jord
Joined: 12 March 2017
Posts: 10,758 User: 27,116
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Can someone explain
The significance of the alpaca head story and also explain why Jennifer Saunders character died? |
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Feb 15 2020, 02:05 AM
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#26
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"Jayrusaleminians" - Umi.
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 4 April 2007 Posts: 41,412 User: 3,217
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The alpaca head story-line ultimately served as a side plot, with no significance in terms of the Stranger / the murders. I suppose if anything it just showed that Johanna was dividing her time between separate cases.
Jennifer Saunders' character (Heidi)'s death... I suppose Katz felt in his mind that he had no choice but to kill her, to prevent her from being able to say anything to anyone about their meeting. Katz was working as a private investigator, for that man (named Powers) who was hiring Heidi's daughter as an escort, and the Stranger was blackmailing him. He wanted Katz to find out who she is and to put a stop to her, I guess. Katz was willing to do this because he was desperate to make extra money to help pay for his daughter's treatment / find out what’s wrong with her. If Katz didn’t stop the Stranger from extorting Powers, his pay out would have been in jeopardy. This leads him to meeting Heidi. He wanted details from her, but she wasn't being very cooperative. Of course, if Katz hadn't gone in so heavy handed and intimated her like he did, I'm sure she would have willingly helped... but then there wouldn’t have been much of a story lmao. I'd say it's clear that Katz has some severe mental health issues too, so therefore he doesn't behave rationally. This is my basic understanding of the situation anyway, maybe somebody else can explain more clearly. |
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Feb 19 2020, 10:13 PM
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#27
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 Mansonette
Joined: 7 March 2006
Posts: 35,264 User: 54
           
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Well we ended up watching this and it was okay - Don't read the spoiler if you don't want to know the ending!
The end totally did not make sense for me at all. I mean are we supposed to buy that they covered it up to make it look like Katz had committed all the crimes - including a shooting that would be able to be time stamped to a time when he clearly couldn't have done... after all the police pretty much know his whereabouts for the whole of that day and the shooting occurred after Katz had been taken into custody?!!!! |
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Feb 22 2020, 01:50 PM
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#28
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The owls are not what they seem
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Joined: 11 July 2009 Posts: 37,104 User: 9,232
  
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Recently finished this, I certainly was very gripped and watched it extremely quickly given my binging speeds, but my god was that convoluted as hell. I had several issues:
The kids and the alpaca in the woods storyline went absolutely nowhere I agree, also what happened to Mike? Did he get prosecuted? I mean he was a bit of a dick to say the least, but the poor guy lost his dad too so it was a tad harsh not even referring to him in the epilogue (and was he actually in on it?) WTF happened with Olivia and her mum?! That's some seriously messed up family there and it was just sort of glossed over. Was her mum arrested and is Olivia in care, and did her mum REALLY do that? I know Munchausen is real so I'm not questioning that could be happening, but gosh, this really needed more development, as it stands, it just seemed like it was there for shock value (and I'd have thought that much rat poison mixed with drugs would've killed her, although I wasn't sure how she was using it). And yeah, there's no way that it was THAT easy to pin the murders on Katz. The gun would surely still have Adam's fingerprints on it, there's no trace of Katz near the crime scene and how exactly did they explain where they were, as well as link Katz to those murders when he had no contact with Tripp?! At least someone would've found out in those six months. Maybe these are all explained better in the book, but it clearly wound itself around too many plot threads that it couldn't conclude like it wanted to. Despite this, I did enjoy it overall, it's great for a quick, engrossing thriller to switch your mind off to, just don't think about the credibility of it too much as you'll start to dislike it more then  And on the topic of Harlan Coben, I would recommend his book, Tell No One if you enjoy thriller fiction. Very engrossing right up until the end! |
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Feb 22 2020, 02:11 PM
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#29
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 nabad
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 13 February 2013 Posts: 28,348 User: 18,316
   
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Shocked at some of the comments in here - wouldn't have expected it to be so divisive!
 I've just finished this and thought it was absolutely fantastic - one of the most gripping, tense and enjoyably mysterious shows I've seen in some time. The cast were all fantastic - particularly Siobhan Finneran - and it was lovely to see Jacob Dudman too, even if he only really served the sub-plots.  It was obvious Corinne was going to be dead after all that, but part of me was holding out hope that might not be the case so I was devastated when we got to the reservoir and there she was, buried.  I'll agree about the final moments too in that I don't really buy being able to pin all of the murders on Katz, but it didn't really affect the overall story for me. I think the only thing that bothered me is how quickly it glossed over how the Stranger came to know about all of the secrets, her motives, and her relationship with Killane, but again minor niggles that didn't affect my enjoyment.
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Apr 28 2020, 03:32 AM
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#30
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 BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 21 January 2007
Posts: 23,766 User: 2,666
 
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Anyone is watching?
So good and at every episode ending there is always a cliffhanger!!! On episode 5 currently. |
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Apr 28 2020, 09:22 AM
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#31
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 6 September 2017
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Just finished this and I thought it was fantastic!
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May 3 2020, 11:43 AM
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#32
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Tangelic
Joined: 30 September 2016
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This show definitely seems like Marmite! We watched this a few weeks ago after some recommendations, and whilst we were intrigued enough to watch it through, we also thought it was poorly written, poorly acted (somehow, given there's a great cast) - it felt like Doctors had been turned into a feature series. Oh well.
Just saw this though and actually a great explanation as to why it felt poorly acted: QUOTE(Klaus @ Feb 14 2020, 09:24 PM) I finished it and... it did pick up towards the end but I still don't think it's a good show! I just think the writing in terms of the dialogue/character interactions was bad (which made the acting look worse than it was) and a lot of the twists felt forced rather than a natural progression of the story. It goes back to my first post in here - it all felt very flashy and clickbait headliney where there's twists for the sake of twists. Twists are only effective if they're built up to. I think there was too many characters and plotlines which meant the show was just flitting from bit to bit with no time for any proper actual development for any of them. I didn't care about any of the characters to the point I was rooting for the stranger in the chase scene. The police's investigation was just as flitting too - mostly pouncing on the latest 'twist' and moving on from whatever they had been investigating before! The whole kids in the woods thing too led to absolutely nothing. You could have cut those scenes from the show and the narrative wouldn't have changed. Obviously you wouldn't have been as familiar with his daughter but you could have still done an effective reveal by including her elsewhere. It's not the worst show and at least it wasn't boring, I just think it was badly written and came across a bit like the Daily Star of TV shows. This post has been edited by Tangela: May 3 2020, 11:45 AM |
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Aug 7 2020, 10:39 AM
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#33
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"Jayrusaleminians" - Umi.
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 4 April 2007 Posts: 41,412 User: 3,217
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If anyone was interesting in reading the book, it's currently only £2 on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1409197956/
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