The Responder series 2.

I’ve just finished the second series. If anything it’s better than series 1.

The way it shows the humanity of everyone involved and makes just about everything that everyone does morally ambiguous, and you end up caring about them all, even though they’re all making really poor decisions.

Just stunning television. This and Shogun and The Bear have all been great this year.

Roll on series 3.

Just finished Ep3. I think it’s fantastic, but really dark and challenging, agree with the ambiguity over the characters.  The acting across the whole cast is superb, but Martin Freeman in particular plays his part so well.

but really dark and challenging

I liked series one (haven’t seen any of two yet), but from memory it was actually dark and gloomy throughout – as in it was all shot at night or dusk/dawn.

I liked series one (haven’t seen any of two yet), but from memory it was actually dark and gloomy throughout – as in it was all shot at night or dusk/dawn.

Dark as in themes, not lighting (though it is dark most of the time as the whole plot revolves around a night response unit).

Dark as in themes,

Yes, i got your point … it just reminded me that the lighting reinforced that. Probably further reinforced by watching the entire series at night on long-haul flights.

Yeah brilliant! Not exactly a relaxing watch, I could feel his tension all the way through!

The first series was superb, but the second is even better. It’s really dark and tense but there are just enough moments of daft humour in it to stop it becoming too bleak.

The one line in particular was when he was asking why he wouldn’t be getting a job on days

“Because everyone thinks you’re a nobhead Chris”

A brilliant final performance by Bernhard Hill as his father, which goes a long way to explain why he is like he is. Quite a way to bow out

It’s rare writing skill that gets the second series done as well as the first. Up to Ep3 and it’s such good telly. Trying to force myself to do just one ep a night so I don’t rush it. All the actors in it are so believable, not just Martin Freeman, but Emily Fairn (Town centre Casey) and Josh Finan (Marco)

I’m rooting for Casey and Marco, even though the whole point of the series is that they’re doomed.

The last scene with the two Wispas had me in bits.

Martin Freeman unravelling almost minute by minute was riveting , certainly no time to relax ! Bernard Hill what a way to bow out 💪In fact the whole cast were brilliant , yep Casey and Marco doomed to fail , telly at its best , couldn’t look away , some of the dark humour cracked me up .

not seen any of this and just opened the thread for a nosey.  looks like you all recommend it so its bookmarked for watching series 1.

should also maybe go on the ‘netflix’ thread if its so good, havent noticed it on there.

I only just watched series 1 a couple weeks ago, not what I was really expecting it to be based on the iPlayer graphic. I thought it was gonna be a lot more straight laced Line of Duty style. I really enjoyed it and looking forward to watching S2.

I have a bit of thing for “scary organised crime crossing boundaries” kinda thing at the moment. Just finished Kin as well which was ridiculous but good fun and pretty tense.

Just finished Kin as well which was ridiculous but good fun and pretty tense.

I tried watching that, but it was just after watching all five series of Love/Hate (which was epic psychopathy as its most watchable) so didn’t really grab me.

Loving this. We really enjoyed series one so were excited to see they were doing another. I’m 4 episodes in and it hasn’t disappointed. Some great acting all round, but Martin Freeman is exceptional. Despite the bleak setting, tension and  constant air of menace, the occasional laugh out loud comedy moment can shatter that in an instant. Me and Mrs Bloke were crying when Marco was telling his neighbour his new born baby couldn’t drink a cup of tea! The BBC can still make top notch TV.

We were not impressed.

Into E3 loving it too but difficult at times for me to watch, the loneliness and feeling of hopelessness he shows on night shifts is a bit close to home.  I’ll continue with it though.

Finally got round to watching E1 of the new series last night (having loved the first series). Beautifully acted and lots of tension but WTF is actually going on. I’m not totally dumb but had to go online to read a few reviews after watching it just to get an idea of what the plot was supposed to be.

Mild spoiler alert:

His old boss gets him to pull over and arrest a guy with a duffel bag of drugs in his car. But the guy just gets out of the car, hand him back the bag and says no, I don’t fancy getting arrested today, before driving off. What? For a start, why doesn’t he have a partner with him when everyone else works in pairs? Has he not got bodycam footage? Either wat, surely it’s blue lights on, call it in and full pursuit. But no, he just accepts the known drug dealer just driving off and heads back to start checking CCTV footage.

Then the same former boss pressures him to go to the same guy’s house and “find some drugs in his garage”. Were they supposed to be there already? Was he supposed to plant them? No idea. But he gets there and the garage (which is full of expensive kit by the look of it) is unlocked (WTF) and instead of drugs he finds a gun. OK, no problem, drugs, gun, whatever it’s all illegal. But for some reason he can’t just say that he found a gun in a garage. Why not? If they ask what he was doing in the garage then why can’t he just say that he was acting on a tip-off from his former boss?

I know we need him to get deep into some stuff he can’t get out of (without resorting to drastic measures) and a certain suspension of disbelief is required to enjoy most dramas, but this was stretching my limits.  I’ll still carry on with it and I’m sure it will be fantastic though.

Chris is dodgy. He has been from the start. Part of the arc of the series has been how working in a corrupted system has corrupted him.

WRT the drug dealer, he knows that the tip off from his boss is a bit weird. When he stops the drugs dealer and the drugs dealer immediately calls him out on it, he knows that not everything is as it seems and so has to back off.

WRT the gun in the garage, he actually explains it to Rachel. He needs a reason to have entered the garage in the first place. Because he can’t say “my dodgy boss told me that it would be there” they go through the charade of having smelt gas. If it had just been drugs that they found then the drugs dealer would have likely just plead guilty and no one would be too bothered about it. However as it was a gun, which is a much more serious charge, and more likely to have been planted than just a tip off, it would be more likely to be contested and then “we smelt gas” wouldn’t stand up in court and they’d be exposed as being corrupt.

I think them being on their own sometimes was covered in the first season and was due to budget cuts?

Just to caveat, I like the responder, I think it’s excellent, but how do they justify what they’ve actually been up to during a shift!? They don’t really do that much above board policing do they!

Spoiler Alert

That’s sort of covered when Rachel beats the shit out of her ex boyfriend. The higher ups don’t really give a **** as long as targets are hit.

Not really grabbing me following Kin, but am enjoying everyone calling everyone lad.

Thanks @Kramer It still doesn’t make sense to me though.

OK, he knows the tip-off is a bit suspect, but he’s pulled over a known drugs dealer with a bag of drugs in his car. In what world does the dealer just get to say, “I know this was planted”, hand it back and drive off.

Similarly, why wouldn’t the “I smelt gas” story hold up in court? His partner would back him up. He didn’t even have to break into the garage. He can just say he had reasonable cause for suspicion (gas or whatever) or just say that he got a tip off from his former boss (nobody knows she is dodgy). At worst the guy gets off the charge, but the idea that they would “go down for ten years” because they didn’t have a good enough reason for being there in the first place doesn’t make sense. He’s not done anything dodgy at this stage. He’s investigating a tip-off that there might be drugs in a garage.

He seems to be acting as though he is dodgy when if he just acted like any other copper in that situation he’d be fine. But maybe that is part of his flawed character.

He acts as if he’s dodgy, because he is dodgy.

He knows he’s corrupt, but he tries to do his best whilst saving his own skin.

Rachel has started out with her own ideals and is slowly becoming corrupted like him. Realising that sometimes the only way to get something done is to do it the wrong way.

He seems to be acting as though he is dodgy

Chris is bent. He knows that no one at the station will back up his “We smelt gas” story and that if it ever gets to court the dealer’s solicitor will rip the story to bits, plus the dealer has a photo of Chris trying to stitch him up earlier in the evening with the panted drugs and will just say the gun’s either his, or he’s  planting it.

But he wasn’t trying to stitch him up earlier, he was pulling him over because he had a bag of drugs in his car. The plot so far seems to rely on guilty people acting as though they are innocent while Chris acts as though he is guilty all the time. Fair enough, maybe he just knows he is.

I still don’t see why he is that concerned about whether the case would stand up in court or not. He is supposedly desperate for that day job. So make the arrest and get the day job. The CPS will decide if there is enough evidence to secure a conviction and even if the lawyer manages to argue that he didn’t have good enough reason to be on the premises so what, there is no evidence that he has done anything wrong. Certainly nothing that would land him in court. At worst he gets a bollocking, but he’s got his day job.

Anyway, I’m going to duck out now before I read anything that spoils the rest of the series, which despite my nit picking I am enjoying.

Trying to force myself to do just one ep a night so I don’t rush it.

im insisting on only one a night cos the suspense is mentally draining, cant take two in one go 😀

Finished S2 half an hour ago. Intense is an understatement. More like properly grim dark with a dash of Scouse wit. S2 E3-5 were particularly horrible on many levels.

Brilliant acting all round. One of the best dramas produced in these shores for a while.