The Valhalla Murders – Episodes 5 & 6

Hang on tight, as the five minutes fly by in a flash; throughout these episodes the pacing and tension is a masterclass. You get the sense there’s no time to waste as we rush onwards to the conclusion. There’s a furious and physical confrontation between Kata and son Kari. She’s now desperate to know if he was involved with the rape of Telma. Despite this she still throws away his hoodie. Arnar wants to know if Kata is up to the job and if he can rely on her, but both of them are very distracted with major family drama brewing.

Petur the State Prosecutor shows up again, contrite and admitting his negligence to Kata in not investigating the boys home reports properly, saying he’ll do all he can to help. You get the distinct impression he’s only there because he’s worried about his reputation. I’m pretty sure he’d never repeat this publicly.

Tommi’s DNA proves what we suspected from episode 1 – he is the cold case skeleton, murdered 30 years ago. He never did manage to escape Valhalla. The search for Steinthor gears up. He’s gone to ground, even before the media name him as the prime suspect. You’d be surprised how many small silver Toyotas have had a prang and their front panel replaced with a red one. Maybe two-colour repair jobs are an Icelandic thing? When Kata does find the garage where the car is hidden, the place is clearly also being used as the murder’s base and there’s a lot of information to be found in there.

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‘Chernobyl’ – Sky Atlantic

Last month I saw the strangest advert for this particularly harrowing drama. In all my years of watching TV I’ve never seen a show directly compare itself in popularity to other drama classics. HBO and Sky the UK broadcasters of Chernobyl are delighted that the ratings for this 6 episode mini-series on IMDb are higher than The Sopranos, Breaking Bad and The Wire. Remember, this is a public website, so this isn’t critical reviews; this is what the audience at large are saying. The internet is taking over, and broadcasters are happy to make much of such an amazing response. Right now it’s sitting in the number one spot on the Top 250 TV shows list. But how can a realistic unflinching drama about a devastating episode in world history be so watchable? Guest blogger Jontosaurus investigates…

HBO needed a solid victory, and quickly. Season 8 of Game of Thrones– by far its flagship series for almost a decade- was almost universally panned, with critics, fans and cast members alike all having very little positive to say about the unsatisfactory ending. But luckily, Chernobyl delivers on almost every level; whilst this isn’t a review as such, it is certainly going to be an article full of praise for one of the most gripping dramas in recent memory. And furthermore…it’s the truth. Whilst there are moments of dramatic license and a few factual changes, this is by and large a dramatised account of exactly how things went down at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. 

Chernobyl has it easy in one regard, as there doesn’t need to be an awful lot of fabrication. Facts don’t need to be ignored, and fantastical elements to the story don’t need to be introduced; the explosion of Reactor number four is such a dramatic event in and of itself that it is perfect for creating the bigger picture. On the one hand, this creates a thrilling and harrowing viewing experience, made all the more effective considering that the audience is watching with the benefit of hindsight. We all know what happened at Chernobyl, as the effects are still being felt today. As recently as January, wildlife as far away as Sweden were being discovered in highly irradiated states. It’s been over thirty years since the disaster, but there are enough people alive to remember it. And that’s why the show works so well.

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'Trapped: Series 2' – Episodes 3 & 4

This is a full review of episodes 3 and 4 of Trapped so don’t read on unless you’re up to date.
Welcome to this week’s episodes of Trapped aka racist Lord of the Rings, well sort of.  The Hammer of Thor group are in the ascendency, racing around in the north embroiled in various criminal enterprises, large and small. The director must have heard my complaints about the first episodes; they’ve saved the greatest landscape shots for this week as we see Skuli evade the search team and murder a dog. Two dog deaths now in just 3 episodes. My top tip: never be a dog in a Scandi noir.
The Case
Incarcerated Torfi reveals a vague threat about “what happens today” which gives a real sense of pressure on the whole episode. Could the Hammer of Thor group have set a bomb at the location the Mayor will use to sign the controversial deal with American Aluminium? Could it be another attack on the plant? Rabble-rouser Ketill is delighted to be in front of the TV news cameras on his release from custody but desperate for his son to be found safe. On reflection Skuli’s white horse was a poor choice in a muddy green landscape. When Skuli is finally found he’s given up hiding as he is as sick as a dog (although not quite as sick as the one he stabbed previously). Could this be exposure as he’s been on the mountainside for days, or something more sinister. I immediately thought poison, but I’ve been conditioned by detective dramas. Aha! I was right, and we’ve seen him drinking from a stream. Is this the ecological disaster the angry farmers were predicting?
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'Roast Battle' – Comedy Central

Comedy roast are not all that common in the UK, despite this being the home of the Archbishop of Banterbury, Bantom of the Opera and the Bantersaurus Rex (lads! lads! lads!). While we’re very much at home with taking the piss out of each other in the pub, the playground and all-office emails, this kind of vicious verbal sparring in front of an audience is a format that we’re just not used to in merry old England. We leave that to the Americans, and a proud history they have of it too. Instantly this new Comedy Central show is a bit out of step for the British audience looking for funnies, with a post-apocalyptic set, macho gunshot sound track, and the studio audience expected to shout and point as well as drink and laugh. It’s all a bit too much to believe we can multitask like this.
I love stand-up comedy, on tv and especially live (shout out to the excellent Fat Penguin club nights in Birmingham – if you’re in the Midlands check them out), but I turned this on and watched it through my fingers. I didn’t was this format to fail, but it was bound to be a disaster, right? As The Guardian said “Roast battles and insult comedy? No thanks, we’re British”. But despite the silly gunshot noises and the heavy reliance on Paper Planes by MIA, the battles themselves were not as aggressive as I’d thought. If anything the style is collaborative; usually solo comics acting as a team, building on each other’s jokes, laughing at themselves and visibly enjoying the experience. I was all set to hate it but the four comedians in the first episode did such a good job they quickly won me over.
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