Dept. Q
If I'm honest the only reason Dept. Q came to my notice is because while promoting it Matthew Goode was talking about why he isn't in the final Downton Abbey movie, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. To save you the bother, it wasn't a big enough role and he likes jobs that challenge him, in other words how Mary married two men played by actors completely uninterested in the legacy of Downton is beyond me. But that meant I was mildly interested to see him in this role that would lure him away from a five minute Ascot cameo. And once I learned it was a Scottish police drama, with quite a few of my favorite Scots, I wanted to see if it was better than the recent effort to reboot Rebus. I can definitively say that it is better than Rebus, but there's an equally forgettable quality to the show. Could it be that Goode's character, Carl Morck, is so abrasive and angry that it's hard to watch him? Yes. But thankfully the other characters soften his edges just enough that by the end of the first season he's bearable. Could it be that Matthew Goode needs to eat a few good hearty meals because he's so skinny he looked like a famine victim? Yes. It was very disconcerting. Could it be that I didn't give a shit about the missing woman whose cold case they are investigating because she was unsympathetic and was played by an actress I didn't care for? Oh, most definitely. I only wanted the case to be solved so that Akram Salim, who chose the case because he believed it could be solved, would get vindication. In fact it's Akram Salim and the other Department Q subordinate, Rose Dickson, that carry the show. One with their quiet intelligence, the other with their quirky hair. Seriously, you can go down some serious rabbit holes on the internet about Rose's hair if you so have the mind. But as much as I love these characters, they are also problematic, and not just the fact that Rose's hair never moves, seriously, go down a rabbit hole, I dare you, it's that Akram Salim, with his outsider status, not actually being a police officer but having been one in Syria before he left for the safety and education of his daughters, is the one used to work outside the system. This means using extrajudicial force. AKA he beats the shit out of people. And while it's used as a way for Carl to underestimate Akram and almost as a cathartic comedic action to relieve the tension of the constantly propulsive plot I have issues with it. They are using a Middle Eastern character to be the enforcer, and this just smacks of racial profiling. Yes he's calm and collected and a family man, but by forcing him to be the muscle they are diminishing him. Seeing as this show is getting a second season I can only hope they will address this. Because Akram and the rest of the supporting cast are what makes this show work. In fact, do we really even need Matthew Goode? Because the book The Keeper of Lost Causes was first adapted as a film for Denmark and starred Nikolaj Lie Kaas as Carl. And if you've seen Britannia, you know that Nikolaj can out act Matthew Goode any day. Damn, what I wouldn't give to just combine that film series and this television series into the ultimate Department Q series!
I was on the bandwagon for the All Souls Trilogy since the beginning. I am not fanatically devoted to the series as some of my friends are, I do not spend my spare time rereading the books over and over again, but I can honestly say I'm a fan. Though when Matthew Goode was cast as Matthew I was like nope. I don't know why, my mind just revolted, and I am a fan of his! But I was so darn curious about the series... so I waited until they all aired and got a one week free trial to Shudder and binged the whole first season. It only took me five minutes to see I was completely wrong about Matthew Goode's casting. He is Matthew, and not just because they have the same first name. I can never picture anyone else now. So good on you Goode for convincing me! Therefore a show that was originally a "show I'd one day see" became eagerly awaited viewing... and oh, the wait for season two seemed so long, but it was worth it. Season two is based on the second book in the series, Shadow of Night, which is hands down my favorite in the series because Elizabethan England! Also, wonderful cameos from historical figures like Kit Marlowe, but did I mention Elizabethan England? But what brought this season into a whole other stratosphere was the genius casting of James Purefoy as Philippe, Matthew's "father." Here's to Goode again who lobbied and cajoled to get Purefoy cast. Now Purefoy is a favorite of mine and I will literally watch anything he is in, but his acting in this was sheer perfection. His final episode where Matthew and Diana are married and mated elevated the whole show to a new level. There are just some actors that bring out the best performances in everyone and this is what happened. They all knew the importance of this episode and though it is a bottle episode with only really three characters, it's just perfect. Even my brother and father were talking about how this episode and James Purefoy's acting raised the show from cheesy fun to Emmy worthy genre television. I'm sad that this is likely the last we'll see of Purefoy as Philippe, but he's left his mark on this series that won't be forgotten as I settle in for the long wait for the final season to drop.
There are moments in your life that your remember as perfect. They are rare. Those moments you can look back on and think, yes, that was when everything was right in the world. That was it. For me one of those moments was spending Sunday nights with my cat watching He Knew He Was Right. This miniseries was a perfect blend of romance and humor. Yes, the story of Louis and Emily and the disintegration of their marriage is tragic but Bill Nighy playing the rakish wedge pushing them apart with his asides to the camera is beyond delicious. Then there's the budding romance between Dorothy and Brooke, an oh so young Matthew Goode, doomed due to Dorothy's aunt, a brilliant turn by the ever wonderful Anna Massey. Of course I'm leaving the best for last, and that's the love triangle between the local vicar and two sisters. Arabella and Camilla French, Fenella Woolgar and Claudie Blakley respectively, both set their caps at Mr. Gibson, played by David Tennant. There is manipulation, illness, castigation, and finally, after an incident with a knife, grudging acceptance. I can not tell you how much I enjoy this plotline. I can give you an inkling though in the fact that a few years back now David Tennant was coming to Madison as part of the Wizard World Conventions. Remember conventions? Large rooms full of noisy people spending too much money they couldn't afford to spend but all worshiping the same geeky gods you do? Yeah... There's a part of me that doesn't miss those at all and another part that longs to be able to go to one. Booths full of geeky t-shirts and random people dressed up as Doctor Who or Deadpool might be dead and gone. Getting back on track, so David Tennant, Madison, me having a VIP ticket. First there was the quick photoshoot where they move you through as fast as they can, here's you and David, click, next. Later there would be the panel where I had a reserved seat up front and people would ask questions David has had to answer a thousand times before. The middle though, the autograph, that is when you get a few seconds of one on one time. I went up, had my Doctor Who picture to be signed and said "Obviously I'm a fan of Doctor Who but I have to say that your performance in He Knew He Was Right is my favorite. The knife scene was perfection." He got a far away look in his eye and smiled and said "Now that's an obscure one." So I got credit for being obscure. I'll take it. 
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
