This is England 86 (Spoilers)

I'm sorry but the final episode just didn't do it for me. It felt very rushed yet at the same time failed to address several story lines. The whole 2nd wedding thing just didn't work. Combo suddenly reappearing smacked of classic deus ex machina.
Also the frequent use of scenes with no dialogue felt very 'lazy'.

Don't get me wrong, I really like the series as a whole but just felt a lot was shoehorned into the final episode and IMO this led to a jumbled fragmented mess.

That said I hope for another series, set a few years ahead.
 
I'd just like to say, with regard to accuracy of when football matches take place, the way Lol's dad was positioned against Trev, and various other niggles, I don't care. There's this thing called artistic license and I'm happy for director's of Meadow's calibre to use it.

One of the things I loved about this series, and indeed Meadow's films is the presence of his players, I say players deliberately, because there is in Meadow's work a quality of theatre, I love the fact that his players clearly ad lib, play it by seat of the pants and push themselves. IMO this gives the characters great authenticity and immediacy. What a wonderful thing for an actor to be trusted in such a way, to stretch their art to such an extent. The scenes involving Mick (Lol's Dad), Trev, Lol, Combo must have been utterly exhausting for the actors, I am so deeply impressed by the commitment shown by the whole cast. I also feel grateful to cast and crew for presenting a superb drama, clunky in parts perhaps, but I haven't seen drama this powerful, this moving, this engaging for years and years. I can remember in the 70's and 80's when a lot of drama was this brave and this committed. The acting was superb.

I'd also like to say there was some utterly beautiful cinematography, the characters were photographed with real love, clearly, Meadows is invested in these characters, loves them, and this is what has been (IMO) so powerful for the viewer, we feel invested too. I love the fact that it wasn't slick, which to me, dramas like Skins and Shameless are, a little, though I do not wish to do either a disservice, they are both good dramas, but TIE for all it's little niggles, is in a league of it's own.
 
They slowmo-scored through half the programme, just really lazy IMO.

Didn't have to do that for Dead Man's Shoes.

Great cinematography and acting though.
 
I live in the UK and England is a part of the UK. Just because i was brought up in a good home and surrounded by good people doesn't mean i can't enjoy a film like This Is England. I just don't get all the hype and threaRAB about this show before it has even aired. Your right though, i shouldn't get bothered. In 4 weeks time this will all be gone and forgotten about.
 
Thoughtful comments there.


He can't have gone through his childhood and adolescent years never having enjoyed any happy times, though, can he? By the same token, Shaun, despite being able to enjoy a laugh here and there, seems to be turning into quite an emotionally ambivalent, melancholic character (just to repeat: I'm not saying that Shaun will go 'bad ways' when he's older, but I think that Meadows was clearly making us compare and contrast a bit last week).
 
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