Taken Down [RTE]

tylercheribini

Digital forensics would recover that deleted cctv footage quite easily,its not fully gone until its been written over with other data.

donkeykong5

Marissa Carter s dad just featured. ?

Lisha

Ugh ffs smarmy detention centre boss in hock to criminals shiite hawks.

The odds are really stacked against the vulnerable. Always some baastard to keep you down.

JoeA3

tylercheribini wrote: »

Digital forensics would recover that deleted cctv footage quite easily,its not fully gone until its been written over with other data.

It seems quite ludicrous to me that the Gardai didn’t seize all the CCTV footage immediately. Waiting for him to hand it over.... WTF.

3 the square

Right load of scutter worse than bad

Beechwoodspark

Tis fair bad

Dick Swiveller

Dreadful ****e. Scrap the tv licence.

tylercheribini

Two episodes in and incredibly slow paced.

Lisha

At eeeaaasssee ... would put the fear on anyone

Beechwoodspark

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Tis fair bad

Stoolcup wrote: »

Dreadful ****e. Scrap the tv licence.

tylercheribini wrote: »

Two episodes in and incredibly slow paced.

Bit of a preachy feel to it too. Carolan done a great job with Love/Hate but im not convinced this will be a hit

JoeA3

It’s incredibly slow. Waiting for something to happen and nothing much is really happening. The last 10 minutes, we just watched a lady wash dishes and do the ironing... Grim.

The lead Garda - I cannot abide her sighing voice. And the rest of the Gardai are a lazy cliche.

Icsics

Had high hopes for this, but it's a tough watch & just frustrating. Collecting the victims belongings next week....

The only one who might save this programme is Jimmy Smallhorne (Who played Git in Love/Hate). He has great screen presence.

tylercheribini

Watchin your man eatin de biscuits was the highlight.

Graniteville

What is sad and an indictment of Irish society is that much of the commentary on direct provision centres and how residents are treated, is true.

Quite shameful.

Lisha

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The only one who might save this programme is Jimmy Smallhorne (Who played Git in Love/Hate). He has great screen presence.

He makes me want to scrub myself with Brillo pads...

Lisha

Graniteville wrote: »

What is sad and an indictment of Irish society is that much of the commentary on direct provision centres and how residents are treated, is true.

Quite shameful.

I agree, we are all very quick to condemn them and vilify them for being on the make, but their existence can only be described as misery. And then scum bags pull them into crime and seedy exploitation... it is shameful

Graniteville

Graniteville wrote: »

What is sad and an indictment of Irish society is that much of the commentary on direct provision centres and how residents are treated, is true.

Quite shameful.

That whole system is a joke. The fact that people give years in it speaks volumes too.

FrancieBrady

Graniteville wrote: »

What is sad and an indictment of Irish society is that much of the commentary on direct provision centres and how residents are treated, is true.

Quite shameful.

While I totally agree with the above, it is a drama and something needs to start happening. Not enough there tonight to sustain an episode. I will though give it one more.

Beechwoodspark

FrancieBrady wrote: »

While I totally agree with the above, it is a drama and something needs to start happening. Not enough there tonight to sustain an episode. I will though give it one more.

Very true. Slim pickings when you consider how it has barely moved the plot on from episode 1

goose2005

Spon Farmer wrote: »

It is not a topic I've ever given much thought too, but why are asylum seekers not allowed to work?

because that would let them put down roots, which they could then use as a reason not to be deported

clfy39tzve8njq

Graniteville wrote:

Just been told by a colleague that knows someone who has seen more episodes (TV critic) that it is advisable not to have a recently eaten anything when watching episode 3.

I'm given it one more episode solely because of this

Graniteville

goose2005 wrote: »

because that would let them put down roots, which they could then use as a reason not to be deported

That's rubbish

Thankfully that changed from last July (Supreme Court ruling) and currently over 500 residents have work permits and it's expected to grow to over 3,000.

Once they are in employment, they must contribute to the cost of staying in the provision centre.

Plenty of rules around it, but it was a good step.

Disclosure - I employ a former direct provision member. She hopes to get Irish citizenship in 3 years and she is brilliant at her job.

Atlantic Dawn

4 episodes left, unless there's a major crime gang going to be revealed in the next episode it's going to go downhill.

RabbleRouser2k

Tried to watch it...gradually drifted away from interest. Seems to be trying to do the usual RTE thing of being 'modern'... when really behind the times.
Had a cheap 'Law and Order' feel to it. Orla Fitzgerald just makes the same face throughout, and the most interesting thing that occurred was yer wan needing to have a pee. But they even cut that bit short.

Some of the accents are really grating too-especially on the guards. Never spoken to any gardai with accents that bad. (And no-it's not because I was arrested, it was all to do with filling out forms, or renewing passports.)
Acting was a mixed bag too-as I said about Orla, and the main lead didn't seem convincing. She comes across as a new to the force gardai, not a seasoned detective.

Shame-all the promotion behind it... but it looks like it's going to go the way of Acceptable Risk, as in 'okay, shaky start, might improve' all the way to 'What the f**k was that s**t?!'

Lisha

Lisha wrote: »

He makes me want to scrub myself with Brillo pads...

A sign of a really top actor.

It's fair bad..Jesus..the acting/accents..

hatrickpatrick

tylercheribini wrote: »

Digital forensics would recover that deleted cctv footage quite easily,its not fully gone until its been written over with other data.

I sincerely hope this is addressed in a future episode. If not, the show just blew the suspension of disbelief, at least in my view. In a real life investigation, they'd have got the drives fully imaged even before looking at any of the footage on them.

prunudo

Only 3 pages of new posts about the latest episode says it all really. It moves so slow, I was loosing interest before the first ad break.

tylercheribini

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

I sincerely hope this is addressed in a future episode. If not, the show just blew the suspension of disbelief, at least in my view. In a real life investigation, they'd have got the drives fully imaged even before looking at any of the footage on them.

A freeware like Recuva would have even done the trick, so much for "the brains" wizzkid lad.

avfc1874

jvan wrote: »

Only 3 pages of new posts about the latest episode says it all really. It moves so slow, I was loosing interest before the first ad break.

Same here. Too slow. Won't be watching it again

EPAndlee

I've given up on this show now its a pretty bad show but what's worst is anytime its mentioned on the radio etc its hailed as been amazing

robwen

EPAndlee wrote: »

I've given up on this show now its a pretty bad show but what's worst is anytime its mentioned on the radio etc its hailed as been amazing

RTE radio?

EPAndlee

robwen wrote: »

RTE radio?

Any station I've heard it mentioned on

hatrickpatrick

EPAndlee wrote: »

I've given up on this show now its a pretty bad show but what's worst is anytime its mentioned on the radio etc its hailed as been amazing

Honestly I'd say a lot of that is virtue signalling or praising it because of its preachy nature. That's the issue I have with so much drama currently - fictional TV is supposed to entertain. It's not good enough to say that a show is "good" just because it sends a particular message or highlights a particular area of life - that should be filed under current affairs, documentary or reality. This whole nonsense of ranking fictional entertainment based on the societal "messaging" it engages in, is utterly toxic and grating in my view.

Don't get me wrong, I actually like this show so far and I'm eager to see how it plays out, I'm just saying that in my view, fiction should be ranked on whether it's good, engaging fiction. Not on whether it's successfully promoting a real-life agenda. Too many are praising it because, for instance, "it shines a light on direct provision" - in my view, that's for Prime Time or the Six One to do, not a fictional drama. Love/Hate was good because it was well written and gripping, not because it was "educating the public on the realities of life in the criminal underworld" or anything like that.

IMO this ties into the wider cultural thing going on at the moment, of fiction being judged not on storytelling or acting, but on box-ticking. It's the same issue which has caused so much BS around video games and other forms of media lately - representation and agenda-pushing being considered more important than actually engaging the audience and piquing their interest through telling a good story.

In my view, Taken Down is a good enough story so far. But it's definitely not deserving of the grandiose acclaim some are heaping on it for reasons other than its storytelling.

BoroMan32

Really disappointing second episode, nowhere near enough happening to keep a viewer properly engaged.

The Late Late Show

This is a very disappointing show 2 episodes in. The first episode was decent but episode 2 was slow and dull. There is potential here and maybe the next 4 episodes will be awesome but we'll just have to wait and see. Is 'Taken Down' a second 'Love/Hate', an Irish answer to 'The Handmaid's Tale' or yet another RTE drama that is watchable but tame like 'Rebellion', 'Acceptable Risk', and 'Clean Break'. It is unfortunately looking like the latter after last night. Why is it that the US can have quality series after quality series like 'The Sopranos'. then 'Breaking Bad' and then 'The Handmaid's Tale' while Ireland gave us the excellent 'Love/Hate' and cannot follow it up with anything as good since.

tylercheribini

Taken Down should be taken down.

The Late Late Show

jvan wrote: »

Only 3 pages of new posts about the latest episode says it all really. It moves so slow, I was loosing interest before the first ad break.

avfc1874 wrote: »

Same here. Too slow. Won't be watching it again

Same here. Episode 2 was way too slow and nothing happened in it. The backstory for this show is good and there is potential for this but this second episode was a waste of time. This is typical of RTE though. They run with a good idea and ruin it by not going the full way. 'Love/Hate' was a one off. Stuart Carolan's involvement with this series is probably minimal. I feel RTE said they'd try a series with a female lead duo as an answer to 'The Handmaid's Tale' but Jo Spain is no Margaret Atwood and there is no Elisabeth Moss quality stars in this either. And if this Wayne is the villain, then it is a joke. Wayne is portrayed as a clown and it is such a waste of Brian Gleeson who previously gave us Hughie, the main villain of the first Love/Hate series.

FixdePitchmark

depends how many seasons there are ?

Accepted a bit slow - but there are a lot of characters. If it is a who did it ?( I think that's what it is ) , you need a good few characters.

Not sure the lead can carry the lead. Not convincing on so many levels.

It's kind of timely with the McCabe documentary, but if the writer did research - it is a bit shocking if the behavior of the guards was what the writers felt was accurate.

People will go - it is only drama , but could be a bit close to the bone with how much we know so far.

RabbleRouser2k

The Late Late Show wrote: »

Same here. Episode 2 was way too slow and nothing happened in it. The backstory for this show is good and there is potential for this but this second episode was a waste of time. This is typical of RTE though. They run with a good idea and ruin it by not going the full way. 'Love/Hate' was a one off. Stuart Carolan's involvement with this series is probably minimal. I feel RTE said they'd try a series with a female lead duo as an answer to 'The Handmaid's Tale' but Jo Spain is no Margaret Atwood and there is no Elisabeth Moss quality stars in this either. And if this Wayne is the villain, then it is a joke. Wayne is portrayed as a clown and it is such a waste of Brian Gleeson who previously gave us Hughie, the main villain of the first Love/Hate series.

It's like other shows RTE do-it's going to be padded out like crazy, and then they'll pull the 'Oh crap, we've only got 2 episodes left, Cram everything in'.

I don't know if folks read TV now (far better than the RTE guide) but there's a column at the back that often reviews current TV shows. And tbh, he's pretty accurate on tv reviews-his and my tastes are pretty spot on. (Barring the one or two I've disagreed with-like, shows I've watched that I felt improved after the first two episodes).
He spotted Acceptable Risk was a dud after the first (two, I believe) episode(s). Finding Joy he spotted was crap after I think two episodes. On the other hand, Women on the Verge (which had little promotion on RTE, in comparison) he sang the praises of. And he was pretty accurate.

I generally have a '3 episodes, and I'm in/ out' rule. If a show doesn't grab me after 3 episodes, I won't stick around for the fourth.
I can't see me watching a third of Taken Down. It's not good enough. I imagine they sold it on the premise it would be another 'Nidge and co'...and it's not.
The criminal element is better written, for sure, but the gardai and co are bland and one dimensional.

donkeykong5

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

The Late Late Show wrote: »

Same here. Episode 2 was way too slow and nothing happened in it. The backstory for this show is good and there is potential for this but this second episode was a waste of time. This is typical of RTE though. They run with a good idea and ruin it by not going the full way. 'Love/Hate' was a one off. Stuart Carolan's involvement with this series is probably minimal. I feel RTE said they'd try a series with a female lead duo as an answer to 'The Handmaid's Tale' but Jo Spain is no Margaret Atwood and there is no Elisabeth Moss quality stars in this either. And if this Wayne is the villain, then it is a joke. Wayne is portrayed as a clown and it is such a waste of Brian Gleeson who previously gave us Hughie, the main villain of the first Love/Hate series.

It's like other shows RTE do-it's going to be padded out like crazy, and then they'll pull the 'Oh crap, we've only got 2 episodes left, Cram everything in'.

I don't know if folks read TV now (far better than the RTE guide) but there's a column at the back that often reviews current TV shows. And tbh, he's pretty accurate on tv reviews-his and my tastes are pretty spot on. (Barring the one or two I've disagreed with-like, shows I've watched that I felt improved after the first two episodes).
He spotted Acceptable Risk was a dud after the first (two, I believe) episode(s). Finding Joy he spotted was crap after I think two episodes. On the other hand, Women on the Verge (which had little promotion on RTE, in comparison) he sang the praises of. And he was pretty accurate.

I generally have a '3 episodes, and I'm in/ out' rule. If a show doesn't grab me after 3 episodes, I won't stick around for the fourth.
I can't see me watching a third of Taken Down. It's not good enough. I imagine they sold it on the premise it would be another 'Nidge and co'...and it's not.
The criminal element is better written, for sure, but the gardai and co are bland and one dimensional.

Tv now is actually half the price of the rte guide and doesn't constantly have cookery people from cork featured in it.

rob316

Really poor can't get into this at all. Ya it's gritty but it's ****ing boring.

It's like love hate was great so let's take lots of the supporting cast and throw them on a show, it'll still be great. It's not though far from it.

Graniteville

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

It's like other shows RTE do-it's going to be padded out like crazy, and then they'll pull the 'Oh crap, we've only got 2 episodes left, Cram everything in'.

But it's not an RTE show. It's a totally independent show and RTE bought the broadcast rights for Ireland. Fremantle media bought rest of world rights

Season 2 is in planning.

RabbleRouser2k

Graniteville wrote: »

But it's not an RTE show. It's a totally independent show and RTE bought the broadcast rights for Ireland. Fremantle media bought rest of world rights

Season 2 is in planning.

Yeah, apologies-should have edited that. Acceptable Risk wasn't RTE either, but I believe broadcast rights for abroad were also bought. (It's currently airing on Universal channel).

I feel like this show needed another draft. And more research. It's not finished. I'd be very reluctant of a season 2, not unless there was a great deal of recasting, and cuts. They could easily remove the leads, focus on another group of guards.
Do a 'True Detective' on the show. But unlike TD, make season 2 better.

As someone else said, I cannot help but notice the timing for this show mightn't be helping. The mention of Tusla on the second episode had me thinking 'Yeah, I'd stay as far away from Tusla as I could'.

Articles like this, for example, don't help. https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/mother-claims-tusla-scandalously-closed-file-on-her-boy-due-to-lack-of-resources-881011.html

The Late Late Show

rob316 wrote: »

Really poor can't get into this at all. Ya it's gritty but it's ****ing boring.

It's like love hate was great so let's take lots of the supporting cast and throw them on a show, it'll still be great. It's not though far from it.

It is not looking good so far. The first episode was solid, decent but not spectacular and the second episode was total rubbish. We need to know where things go next week and have some decent action and storylines emerging.

The OBVIOUS thing would be to do a Love/Hate spinoff. But RTE never want to do the obvious thing. What we have here in 2 episodes so far is not good at all. Too many ideas and a lack of identity are what we are seeing so far.

Irish dramas of the last 4 years have so far not come close to Love/Hate. Clean Break was decent but nothing special. Rebellion was boring. Acceptable Risk was just ok. Striking Out was poor fare that only got worse when it got a second season. Paula was one of the better ones but the finale was a little bit of an anti-climax. The Fall and Amber were decent though hardly as exciting as Love/Hate. Taken Down seems to be so far not as good as Clean Break or Acceptable Risk but not as bad as Striking Out.

RabbleRouser2k

The Late Late Show wrote: »

It is not looking good so far. The first episode was solid, decent but not spectacular and the second episode was total rubbish. We need to know where things go next week and have some decent action and storylines emerging.

The OBVIOUS thing would be to do a Love/Hate spinoff. But RTE never want to do the obvious thing. What we have here in 2 episodes so far is not good at all. Too many ideas and a lack of identity are what we are seeing so far.

Irish dramas of the last 4 years have so far not come close to Love/Hate. Clean Break was decent but nothing special. Rebellion was boring. Acceptable Risk was just ok. Striking Out was poor fare that only got worse when it got a second season. Paula was one of the better ones but the finale was a little bit of an anti-climax. The Fall and Amber were decent though hardly as exciting as Love/Hate. Taken Down seems to be so far not as good as Clean Break or Acceptable Risk but not as bad as Striking Out.

Acceptable Risk is why I'll never watch anything Angeline Ball is in, ever again. (She was also in Redwater). The ending, where they tied it into a similar Tuam Babies case was absolutely awful. As was the 'fake news cast' in the final episode-which looks like cheap templates bought from the web. It was comically bad. Just comical. (And Elaine Cassidy did the same thing as Orla Fitzgerald is doing-one expression throughout, to show this is a 'serious' drama.) Couple that with leaps in suspension of disbelief that meant it kicked you out of the show after the first episode. (The Canadian consulate getting so much sorted within an hour).

I think The Fall benefited from some really strong acting that meant shortcomings were overlooked. If an episode felt dragging, you'd get a solid performance that would hide it. (Until the third series, when the wheels kind of came off, which explains there not being a fourth series).
Paula and Amber were flops, and rightfully so. A wasted premise on each.
Rebellion was hilariously bad-the attempts to hide modern technology, as well as the 'lesbian romance' showed this was half baked. As was the '30+ year old women pretending to be teenagers.

The Late Late Show

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

Acceptable Risk is why I'll never watch anything Angeline Ball is in, ever again. (She was also in Redwater). The ending, where they tied it into a similar Tuam Babies case was absolutely awful. As was the 'fake news cast' in the final episode-which looks like cheap templates bought from the web. It was comically bad. Just comical. (And Elaine Cassidy did the same thing as Orla Fitzgerald is doing-one expression throughout, to show this is a 'serious' drama.) Couple that with leaps in suspension of disbelief that meant it kicked you out of the show after the first episode. (The Canadian consulate getting so much sorted within an hour).

I think The Fall benefited from some really strong acting that meant shortcomings were overlooked. If an episode felt dragging, you'd get a solid performance that would hide it. (Until the third series, when the wheels kind of came off, which explains there not being a fourth series).
Paula and Amber were flops, and rightfully so. A wasted premise on each.
Rebellion was hilariously bad-the attempts to hide modern technology, as well as the 'lesbian romance' showed this was half baked. As was the '30+ year old women pretending to be teenagers.

Agree. Apart from The Fall (which was overall good), the other series were both poor but had potential. Angeline Ball has been in a few dodgy Irish dramas over the years and by the time of Acceptable Risk, I knew she was someone I could not take seriously. Amy Huberman is the same.

Why are we getting all this half baked mediocre to downright terrible drama on Irish channels? Paula and Amber were somewhat better but still not great. Paula was let down by a very poor third final episode and the whole thing in the end was like a poor man's Stephen King.

Why can't some other Irish drama come along that actually is good like Love/Hate is? I had high hopes for Taken Down but it shows it is probably 95% written by this Jo Spain and 5% written by Stuart Carolan (who may merely have just come up with the idea and whose name is on it to get people interested). Even if things pick up next week, that whole second episode exists and there was not episodes like that in decent dramas (even the worst episodes of the good series would have a purpose).

When a lot of the action is done off screen (the girl's murder and the suicide), this is a worrying sign. This was a trait in Rebellion too. If Taken Down was made in the spirit of Love/Hate or The Handmaid's Tale, it would be excellent. A drama exploring gangland, immigrants, people trafficking and terrorist groups would be excellent but with muppets like this Wayne, Taken Down does not seem to be able to deliver. Let's wait and see what episode 3 brings. It needs to pick up next week. One ok-ish and one downright awful episode so far have not made me fall in love with this series.

RabbleRouser2k

The Late Late Show wrote: »

Agree. Apart from The Fall (which was overall good), the other series were both poor but had potential. Angeline Ball has been in a few dodgy Irish dramas over the years and by the time of Acceptable Risk, I knew she was someone I could not take seriously. Amy Huberman is the same.

Why are we getting all this half baked mediocre to downright terrible drama on Irish channels? Paula and Amber were somewhat better but still not great. Paula was let down by a very poor third final episode and the whole thing in the end was like a poor man's Stephen King.

Why can't some other Irish drama come along that actually is good like Love/Hate is? I had high hopes for Taken Down but it shows it is probably 95% written by this Jo Spain and 5% written by Stuart Carolan (who may merely have just come up with the idea and whose name is on it to get people interested). Even if things pick up next week, that whole second episode exists and there was not episodes like that in decent dramas (even the worst episodes of the good series would have a purpose).

When a lot of the action is done off screen (the girl's murder and the suicide), this is a worrying sign. This was a trait in Rebellion too. If Taken Down was made in the spirit of Love/Hate or The Handmaid's Tale, it would be excellent. A drama exploring gangland, immigrants, people trafficking and terrorist groups would be excellent but with muppets like this Wayne, Taken Down does not seem to be able to deliver. Let's wait and see what episode 3 brings. It needs to pick up next week. One ok-ish and one downright awful episode so far have not made me fall in love with this series.

Genuinely, it seems when the money wasn't there-round the time of the recession, there was more time and effort given to shows. Be it Love/ Hate or The Fall. Nowadays, there's almost more 'push' to get these shows made and finished, but they're all first draft-a second or third draft would be needed to polish them off. If you look at shows that came out prior to the recession, you got a variable hit and miss quality to em as well. But now we seem to be getting far more misses than hits. The good stuff is made in Ireland, but not produced by RTE. It has to be funded from outside.

The bad stuff is produced using funding from RTE (Finding Joy-which, for a show that was meant to be 'modern Ireland' was very white-very few tans or new-Irish to be seen). And it's the same 'faces' that are getting the funding- or people who build up a following on twitter, so RTE gives them a show, and it tanks (Nowhere Fast, involving a 'comedian' named Allison Spittle, who has a large number of followers on twitter. But her show didn't do much). There was a time you had to prove yourself-writing, producing or whatever. But folks like Amy Huberman have proven themselves to not be entertaining, and yet still get new projects thrown at em.

Graniteville

Just been told that a couple of key characters are only getting introduced this Sunday and if you're squeamish, its not something you'll want to watch.

But I never understand armchair critics. Basically if they don't like something it is then automatically sh1te.

I don't like lager, I despise rap music, I utterly hate The Office and I'd rather stare at a blank wall than watch x-factor or strictly. - But that is MY opinion and does not make any of these things crap or bad or anything.

Imagine if we only had one channel and everyone had to like what was on it? - We'd be an utterly boring race.

Basically, if you don't like it, that's fine, but eff off to another channel and stop the childish moronic back seat critique and maybe let the thread get back to discussing the programme.


And finally, it was NEVER EVER promoted as the "New Love Hate". Its from the same team as Love Hate, hence cinematography and production values would be strong, but no storyline connection in anyway shoe or form.