Marcella 2016

Like another version of The Fall, or The Bridge, or all the other crime dramas focussing on a single villain per season.
Just a lot less amazing and less well written. Anna Friel does a decent job, just as she did in American Odyssey but that series turned to garbage after half or two-third. Marcella doesn't start too bad either.

This series has kind of the same progression, pretty neat overall the first half (season 1), turning worse with each episode in the second half (season 2). Season 2 had its moments, was more "action" and has enough room to explore the blackouts that Marcella has. However, in the end, as it turns out, she's the worst of them all.

Anyway, while The Fall with Gillian Anderson has a thick, suspense driven plot, this series looses itself at times in the myriad of story threads that it has. Threads that are not explored, or character changes (in S2) that are not explained opening new threads you do not necessarily care about in the broader scheme of things. Like Jason turning into a massive asshole. Tim as well as he suddenly is this career hungry guy, cheating on Marcella for that reason. Sometimes this lack of focus leads to very artificially constructed situations that are hilariously illogical but need to happen to close the episode. Overall in both seasons almost everything - there are some red herrings - falls conveniently together at the end. Like a puzzle that you cannot solve but as soon as you have that one necessary piece, it's easy. Too easy, actually.

What confused me throughout is, why do these detectives do not carry a gun? I find that mind-boggling. They are not exactly police but a special force, they have the same rights to question suspects, arrest people and such but do not carry a gun? There were several "dramatic" situations that would have been resolved so easily with a weapon.
Other situations would have been dealt with a lot quicker as well if not for Marcella, who is actually not fit for duty at all. But because she is the center of the show that's supposed to be okay.

Another pet peeve is the portrayal of men in this show. Normally I do not dwell on this part as I find it very exhausting and in our times too often too much read into and therefore people being overly judgemental about it. But in this instance it is so blatant that it is hard to ignore how men and women are portrayed in this show.
Starting with Mark, the IT guy. Very clichéd IT guy at the beginning as if we're back in the 90s. No one understands what he does, even if he explains it, but everyone relies upon him. Because of that he is thrown around, told to shut up and get to the point, he is invisible to the one woman he is into who assaults him later on. They toned this down as the show progresses but at some point he out of nowhere spies on that one woman (to enable some plot that I'd call illogical later on), so back to square one in a sense. This annoyed me greatly.

As mentioned, Jason and Tim turning into massive assholes. Both are cheating on their wife/girlfriend. Jason is scheming to get custody of the children of him and Marcella, verbally abusing her. Other men are violent criminals, pedophiles, murderers or any combination.
In general the plots with the pedophiles seem to try very hard to polarize or provoke the audience but it is so heavy handed, it's absurd.
There is only one "good" (regular) man in this show: Rav Sangha.

Compared to how women (and to a lesser extent children) are portrayed: always the victim, always in need of protection or saving, always the damsel in distress because of scum aka men. With only one exception, the villain in S2 who is the focus for 2 or 3 episodes. Two, if you count Marcella but we only see that at the very end. There was definitely too much gender stereotypes in this to enable plots in very cheesy ways, clouding the few good things in it.

Something you can watch, that has some really cool scenes and episodes and some really ehhh.
If you like this, watch the above-mentioned The Fall, The Bridge, maybe even Crossing Lines.

I enjoy watching most of the UK dramas and police shows. Broadchurch, Scott & Bailey, Shetland, The Fall, Line of Duty, Doctor Foster, The Killing......'Marcella' was no exception. But I have to admit it started off very strong in Season 1, and waned slightly by the end of Season 3, still good though. Anna Friel (whom I've never seen prior to this show) does a great job of showing the struggle of between being a loving mother, loving your career, having a cheating husband, and facing an unwanted divorce. It's enough to drive you crazy and Ms. Friel does a great job portraying this well. All of this is solidified in Season 1, making the character prepared to handle deceased kids, political pressure, and more troubles that hit close to home in Season 2. So close, in fact, 'Marcella' seems to be pushed to the edge of no return. Season 3 picks up a few years later, with a new 'Marcella' (now Keira), working deep undercover in a different city, after many people, including family, friends, and co-workers attended her funeral.

The show was able to keep my interest and I would love to see a Season 4. I do find it possible, but not probable, that a female that doted on her children as much as 'Marcella' did in Season 1 would just up and leave them 1-2 years later, evening letting them believe she'd died! I find that a little too hard to go long with. I would still definitely recommend this show.