Kin - RTE & AMC

Apothic_Red

Well I thought it was a strong opener, thought the swerve with the opening scene being the ending was clever.

Family tree thing had me scratching my head though

Elmo

So very slick production.

When something bad is happening they walk down or into an enclosed space! The acting was so-so but they had little to work with script-wise.

I felt that none of the action actually connected with the story. For example the son wanting to work with his father but the mother wanting to him to fill out his CAO form, really only lead to the attack on the drugie (was he ironing at the time and why?) which lead to the son deciding he should do law in college, but then you know what happens to the son right... shock ... no not really.

The sex talk with the son was just odd, while answering the door to the Guards naked was also very strange.

I will stay to see if it improves but I didn't think it was all that great.

Man Vs ManUre

Butsy the Bray gang lord seems to be a low-ranked dealer in this.

Testament1

Given AMCs involvement in this it's hardly surprising that the production is slick and polished. They're hardly going to be marketing skangers in grey trackies and black puffer jackets to an American audience are they.

Posters complaining that beards make it hard to differentiate the characters need to pay Specsavers a visit! There's plenty lads around the country with beards and tats slinging gear btw.

There's plenty of legitimate criticisms to be made but I don't think the aesthetic is one. Dialogue is very ropey at times but not at the same level of awfulness that season 1 of Love/Hate was. The acting is clunky with the exception of Hinds and much of the interactions feel laboured and unnatural. I'm interested enough in the story to continue watching another bit and hopefully Hinds character becomes much more involved.

Declan A Walsh

I enjoyed Kin so far. It does suffer from being compared to Love/Hate, which was always going to be hard to beat as a crime drama. We have to judge Kin on its own merits. Okay, the acting could be better in some cases and the dialogue was a bit clunky, but I enjoyed the plot and there was a good twist at the end of episode 1. Ciaran Hinds was excellent as always. If the pace continues as per episode 1, I will definitely continue watching it.

eisenberg1

Doesn’t look like it is going to be great....but then neither did Love/Hate. Acting and dialogue very ropey. Time will tell.

did anyone find it had to watch...in the sense that the lighting was off or something? I feel like I need a new TV.

but all other channels were fine.....

AMKC

I found you man answering the door to the cops in his birthday suit funny. I guess he was expecting something else and then they tell him it's about him lol.

I had to laugh about the two lads saying look at his sh-it Merc and they in a Golf lol. You have to feel sorry for the kid in the end. Just an innocent bystander really and not yet involved.

Not bad for a first episode but ye it was very dark in parts the lighting that is which made parts of it hard to see.

hatrickpatrick

Incredible first episode in my opinion. Managed to be introductory and explosive at the same time, which is something a lot of TV shows struggle with. If I had one criticism which jumped out at me about half way in, I always feel that in a pilot or opening episode, they should make a point of having the characters address other characters by name as often as possible when talking to them, just so as the viewer quickly establishes which names refer to which characters. I feel like I'm going to have to do a re-watch to firmly cement the who's who in my mind, which suggests that the writing didn't take this into account as strongly as it could have (it's not often a problem I have when watching TV, otherwise I'd simply be blaming myself :D )

One thing I'd love to know is, particularly seeing as this is a transatlantic production and airing in two jurisdictions - does that mean IMRO's deal about music doesn't apply and therefore we won't be hearing music from current pop culture as opposed to music taken from synch libraries? I remember one big criticism of Love/Hate's DVD release was that all of the recognisable music was replaced with catalogue stuff in order to avoid international royalty negotiations, and in terms of Love/Hate, the use of music we all know and recognise in background settings *massively* increased the immersiveness of the show (even scenes such as We Found Love playing through the walls of the nightclub at the start of season 4, or Nicki Minaj and Guetta singing in the background during the first communion scene). Anyone happen to know what the deal with be with this show?

Final thought: Have to say, to those who criticise the characters in Gangland shows for looking too 'slick' as if expecting those on the business side to dress and act more like their customers than dealers - in my view you're really missing the point. Look at some of the people on the business side of the real life gangs and they tend to be well spoken, well dressed etc - Christy Kinahan wasn't nicknamed "The Dapper Don" for nothing. I think what people need to realise is that there's often a lot of crossover between addict and dealer in the lower echelons of drugs gangs simply because if one can't afford to pay off a debt (or if one just wants to make money to feed their habit), agreeing to work for the gang is an obvious solution. In fact, I'm fairly sure most low level dealers end up in the business through this route specifically. Ergo, those who are purely on the business side would be as well dressed or spoken as anyone - but they're also unlikely to be the people you'd be buying from if your method of procurement is to hang around on a street corner waiting for someone to come over and offer you a sale. Those expecting everyone in a criminal enterprise to slur their speech and wear tattered clothes are assuming that the upper layers in a gang join it because they're already either impoverished or addicted, which is rarely the case.

hatrickpatrick

Spoilers below. IMO this thread should be marked as a spoiler thread seeing as none of us can figure out how to do spoiler tags on the new site!

To give my two cents on two things people have been asking here:

Answering the door in the nude I reckon was an intentional "f*ck you" to the cops, a power move if you like or at least an intentional display of disrespect and contempt - much like Mark Zuckerberg wearing pyjamas to an investor meeting in The Social Network, just to be intentionally rude and let them know he has no time for them.

The scene with the addict and the iron was in my view entirely about trying to dissuade the son from joining the business. Showing him the absolute extreme end of the nastiness involved in the hopes that he'd come away thinking "yeah no I don't want to do this, I'll go and fill out my CAO" - which is precisely the result they end up getting. Not unlike, for those of you who have seen House Of Cards, when Frank is unsure if Claire realises some of the heartbreaking decisions she'll have to make if she goes fully into politics like him, so he brings her to the command centre and has her watch as he wrestles with whether to initiate a drone strike on a terrorist even though there are children playing nearby. In that context it was about helping her to make an informed choice, whereas I feel in this case it was about getting the right result - he brought his son along hoping he'd be repulsed and horrified, and back away from the business as a result.

Just my thoughts obviously!

EDIT: One thing I'm unsure of - the drive by shooting at the house party when everyone was in the marquee, I assume there were no casualties of that seeing as there was no visible fallout later in the episode?

Lucas Hood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884091#Comment_117884091

He knew who was at the door as they rang the intercom no ?

He knew what he was doing.

Elmo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884502#Comment_117884502

You'll be glad to here that this is largely an AMC and Irish Film Board commission, I don't think any RTÉ producer was mentioned in the end credits. LOVE/HATE was entirely funded by RTÉ... back when they commissioned dramas, also most all Irish TV drama is now Irish Film Board co-productions with very little input from the broadcasters, perhaps with the exception of the TG4 films being produced, of which one is due for an American remake.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884526#Comment_117884526

Spoilers tags are easy to do now even easier then before. Just go to what looks like a key with a line beside it on the bottom left of your page click on that then click on spoiler and it will hide what you are writing simples.

PTH2009

When is the actor who played Fran going to show up

Wouldn't surprise me if a lot of the cast of Love/Hate ended up showing up in this like Dublin Murders

Beechwoodspark

its basically fair city after dark

the lad picking out sweeties before going on a hit...spare me

the guy into snakes ....filler rubbish

the worst of all was yer wan talkin about a night of mad passionate filthy sex to her son... bizarre horse manure

gillen character a right plonker in it

Hinds is best thing in it by a mile

JohnFalstaff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884736#Comment_117884736

RTE still commission dramas and they still have an input into their commissioned output.

KIN is an RTE acquisition so no input from RTE on production.

rob316

I don't get that the characters aren't believable, have you seen the Kinihan gang? Lots in suits, cardigans, not your typical dublin mob. This seems like a much higher level of management than Love Hate too. Come on if pretty boy Darren can pass for a gangland thug, anyone can.

Dr. Bre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117885181#Comment_117885181

You know a lot about fair city!

Gadgetman496

In the opening/ending scene, what was the significance of the young lad buying sweets in the shop before heading to the hit?

Were they trying to emphasise the point that some of these gangland thugs are only kids, still interested in sweeties but have no mass on the value of human life?

billyhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117883092#Comment_117883092

Hinds is an intimidating dude in many of his roles. Comes across as someone you don't want to mess with.

jos28

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117883099#Comment_117883099

He was in Raw on RTE years ago - looks nothing like that character now

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4187130/

Gadgetman496

When Eric got into the car and got the call from Frank to come see him immediately, the driver of the car was Thommas Kane-Byrne who played Butsy in the gangland crime drama Darklands (2019). He's playing Francis 'Fudge' Flynn in Kin.

rob316

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117885446#Comment_117885446

Jesus that's what he was in, that show was terrible.

Gadgetman496

Christy Burke, an Independent councillor for Dublin's North Inner City, is demanding that RTÉ management take the series off-air immediately. 🙂

Former Dublin mayor calls for RTÉ to take ‘toxic’ new crime drama Kin off-air

Elmo

Ciaran Hinds just has to look out a window. He could do it in every episode and still be worth his paycheck.

Elmo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117885194#Comment_117885194

They do? Really? Name a non-co-prod drama of recent years.

Agent Coulson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117885499#Comment_117885499

edit. Read post wrong.

rob316

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117885471#Comment_117885471

This complaint is ridiculous. How pathetic are some people and easily offended.

“Not only is this bad enough but there was also a smart remark about Alcohol[ics] Anonymous (AA) but they should realise people attend this extremely important organisation to help them to recover.”

Gadgetman496

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117885460#Comment_117885460

He's got a very distinctive voice too.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117885499#Comment_117885499

Very few European TV companies do major non co-productions. Not financially feasible, particularly for a national broadcaster in a nation of 5m people. Smother earlier this year was a decent exported one that RTE were heavily involved in.

JohnFalstaff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117885678#Comment_117885678

Exactly. My point was that RTE are still heavily involved in the copro dramas they commission. KIN was purely an acquisition hence no RTE involvement.