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Anyone started watching? Thought the 1st episode was rather dull, but addicted now.
Anyone started watching? Thought the 1st episode was rather dull, but addicted now.
Film Unbelievable
- Thread starter Catt
- Start date
Weird. I'm on episode 2 and thought I'd casually check the caf during any slow bits 
It's decent so far. True story?
It's decent so far. True story?
Sensing this will get creepier as it's progressing.
Episode 4Weird. I'm on episode 2 and thought I'd casually check the caf during any slow bits
It's decent so far. True story?
Episode 4
The Marie story is a serious one to tell. However I can't help but find it really annoying. I get there's a mental issue but she's constantly making wrong decisions and for me a lack of confidence doesn't really cut it as a reason. She had multiple chances to tell the truth
Binged this with the missus, I felt it was excellent in showing the multiple angles of the issue. The most powerful for me were the institutional breakdowns and how the system really isn't set up to serve the truth.
If you talk with some people who work with victims of rape you'll find her entire arc from epi1 to epi8 is repeated many times in reality. Its the institutions and police like the idiot (who is contrasted to the two main character detectives) that are 100% to blame for Marie's reluctance and real life girls like her
Marie's story is really the one that holds the whole series together. Without it, it could have just played out sounding like just another true crime TV show, dramatised to make it look like just another procedural cop show.
I'm guessing that if you stuck with the series, you maybe understood her better after her scene with the court appointed therapist. Really the key to her story arc was her final comment there: "I'd have lied sooner."
Her treatment wasn't really any different to how multiple police forces treated dozens/hundreds of girls/young women in the abuse gang cases in places like Rochdale and Rotherham or the victims of individual abusers like Saville or Bennell. It was easier for the victims to lie than to tell the truth.
Marie reacted to the questioning and disbelief by telling the police what they wanted to hear. Anything to make it stop. The fact it didn't stop, cost her her friends/home/job and just taught her the lesson - that if she'd lied sooner and hadn't told anyone then maybe she'd have lost less.
I thought that was handled really well, the sympathetic public defender, the court scene, the opportunities to say, "no, it really did happen," are there - but by then she's defeated. She now only knows that to argue could leave her in prison and with a criminal conviction that would keep excluding her.
Her treatment wasn't really any different to how multiple police forces treated dozens/hundreds of girls/young women in the abuse gang cases in places like Rochdale and Rotherham or the victims of individual abusers like Saville or Bennell. It was easier for the victims to lie than to tell the truth.
Marie reacted to the questioning and disbelief by telling the police what they wanted to hear. Anything to make it stop. The fact it didn't stop, cost her her friends/home/job and just taught her the lesson - that if she'd lied sooner and hadn't told anyone then maybe she'd have lost less.
I thought that was handled really well, the sympathetic public defender, the court scene, the opportunities to say, "no, it really did happen," are there - but by then she's defeated. She now only knows that to argue could leave her in prison and with a criminal conviction that would keep excluding her.
Powerful story, well told. Also, ironically enough, another reminder that realism and forensic detail in TV cop shows is actually a double edged sword.
Yeah I finished it. Get her relevance more now that Ive seen the whole thing.
It is also important to remember her past in why she would act like that. A staggering portion of foster kids live incredibly troubled lives and will have been abused, beaten, neglected and worse during their time in the system. By then it is ingrained in them. They'll be afraid of these power figures. They have no faith in the system, because all the system ever did was abuse them. When she starts being pressured by the detectives all she'll want is it to stop. I like the part where she asks if she is in trouble. The detectives take that as her lying but her upbringing just means she is in constant fear of authority. Fear of losing her housing like the fear of bouncing from foster home to foster home. Fear of abuse and poor treatment for "creating a problem."
The scene with the therapist was very good in portraying that fear that these kids grow up with and how they'll just do and say what they're told in an attempt to make it stop.
The scene with the therapist was very good in portraying that fear that these kids grow up with and how they'll just do and say what they're told in an attempt to make it stop.
A horrible watch. Honestly, I'd force anyone who would be nasty towards a potential victim to watch this shit. Heart wrecking to read that it is based on a true story. The only way I kept my mind of how infuriating it was, was by thinking around who could have done it of the people we met early on and focusing on that. It's nice to read that the girl who Marie was based on thought the show was good.
Very very well made show. Here is the article that inspired the show - https://www.propublica.org/article/false-rape-accusations-an-unbelievable-story. It is actually pretty faithful to the real life events. But the Marie storyline from first 7 episodes was so hard to watch, just too gut wrenching. Merritt Weaver was sensational and as was the girl who played Marie.
Finished it last night and highly recommend others to watch. Never seen Kaitlyn Dever or Merritt Wever before and thought they were equally great.
People are raving about it and the reviews are very high. I thought it was very badly done and some of the acting was atrocious. The only thing that’s keeps it together is the fact it’s a true story.
Decent show! Refreshing to have female leads!
Just finished the binge. Liked it overall.
Was a bit flabby in places but that's a common issue with the whole box set tv thing
Only thing I'm still not sure about is the last episode
It's still fresh though so maybe it's not as bad and I'm also fully aware that I'm a cynical old bastard
Was a good watch though
That might
Was a bit flabby in places but that's a common issue with the whole box set tv thing
Only thing I'm still not sure about is the last episode
I'm really not sure it was necessary, felt indulgent from the writers and there was elements of 'it's all right now cuz she's rich and can buy nice stuff. Which given how well they'd managed the subject overall it felt a bit jarring. The final speech tried to wrestle it back and maybe the writer wanted to end with a positive message to victims but driving off into the horizon with a smile on her face and the wind in her hair, I'm not sure
It's still fresh though so maybe it's not as bad and I'm also fully aware that I'm a cynical old bastard
Was a good watch though
That might
Just finished this... it was good overall, but with some major flaws... the main one being that its just too many episodes. I think they could have got rid of some of the fat and made this about 6 episodes and it would have been a much tighter experience.
The main thing it's got going for it is of course the story - which is gripping stuff, and the way that they break down all the procedural stuff is really good. The problem is that the story is so good that when it diverts from that to go into the characters of the two detectives, it becomes totally uninteresting by comparison. Also, the editing is really quite poor - often the steam is taken out of situations because it cuts to the past/future at the wrong moment.
But yeah, gripes aside, it's still a worthwhile watch.
The main thing it's got going for it is of course the story - which is gripping stuff, and the way that they break down all the procedural stuff is really good. The problem is that the story is so good that when it diverts from that to go into the characters of the two detectives, it becomes totally uninteresting by comparison. Also, the editing is really quite poor - often the steam is taken out of situations because it cuts to the past/future at the wrong moment.
But yeah, gripes aside, it's still a worthwhile watch.
Glad it's not just me... now I don't mind Toni Collete and have seen her be good in things before, but she is absolutely dreadful in this show. Whilst everyone else is rooted in reality / playing someone that you feel actually could exist, she's playing this hard-nose / no-nonsense cop you'd find n a 90's action film. It's so over-the-top and over-acted that its actually quite ridiculous... especially when you contrast it with Wever, who is playing a detective that you think actually could exist.