Striking Out [RTÉ1]

jezzer · 23-01-2017 05:11PM

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

Tara taking on and winning these cases by last night's episode was predictable. Also, I was expecting to see Ado or Elmo pop out in those flats to meet Nidge!

The last part of the episode was the most interesting of the series. If there is a series 2 the bitterness between Tara and Dunbar and the dirty tricks the latter is willing to play should be the main story.

Dubarr was a really stupid fool for cheating on hubermans but hes not actually a bad lad, not a patch on his auld pair especially his devious auld lad

Shurimgreat · 23-01-2017 06:10PM

By common consent, it was fairly dire.

But its got Amy Huberman which means it will probably be recommissioned for a second, third, fourth and fifth series. Her brother will be given a bigger part and maybe BOD will also get a role. And we will be told over and over by RTE, the IFTAs and the Indo how great it is.

BuilderPlumber · 23-01-2017 09:45PM

Shurimgreat wrote: »

By common consent, it was fairly dire.

But its got Amy Huberman which means it will probably be recommissioned for a second, third, fourth and fifth series. Her brother will be given a bigger part and maybe BOD will also get a role. And we will be told over and over by RTE, the IFTAs and the Indo how great it is.

Striking Out was not the worst thing I have ever seen but was certainly not the best either. It would kind of need to get a second series after ending it like it did. There is potential to make it better and the last 5 minutes of last night's episode is the key.

I'd put it on a par with Rebellion and Clean Break but well below Amber and Charlie and of course nowhere near Love/Hate. SO is not exceptional but watchable and with potential to improve. We have to wait and see what happens next.

williejoe33 · 23-01-2017 09:56PM

The script was just so bad,the actors did not have much to work with tbf.

clairek6 · 23-01-2017 10:35PM

williejoe33 wrote: »

The script was just so bad,the actors did not have much to work with tbf.

I agree there was great potential with the cast pity they didn't get more to work with

Stoogie · 23-01-2017 11:11PM

I enjoyed it
Watched it yesterday is its Irish and people are talking about it.
First season of love hate was muck and I love yer wan who thinks she's lisbeth

Shaungoater · 23-01-2017 11:13PM

It was the most awful piece of rubbish I have every watched. I feel like writing to RTÉ looking for those four hours back

kala85 · 23-01-2017 11:20PM

Would anyone else love another series of love hate instead of this

TCDStudent1 · 24-01-2017 01:05AM

kala85 wrote: »

Would anyone else love another series of love hate instead of this

Love hate was fantastic. But it ended at the right time.

madmaggie · 24-01-2017 01:14AM

If there is another series how will Tara manage without Mystic Meg, who solved everything? Will they find Mystic Meg 2? I didn't realise solicitors were part-time social workers, fixing people up with jobs and houses, wow.

MilesMorales1 · 24-01-2017 01:28AM

madmaggie wrote: »

If there is another series how will Tara manage without Mystic Meg, who solved everything? Will they find Mystic Meg 2? I didn't realise solicitors were part-time social workers, fixing people up with jobs and houses, wow.

Ray was clearly shown to be doing a bit of Meg's job, the loveable scamp with no experience or skills.

I just watched the episode there, the kid was living in that flat with drugs and syringes and beer cans everywhere, and they were acting like the gardai were doing a bad thing taking em away? Christ.

spurious · 24-01-2017 01:32AM

Did I miss something or did we get some reason as to why Mystic Meg did the dirty on them?

MilesMorales1 · 24-01-2017 01:33AM

spurious wrote: »

Did I miss something or did we get some reason as to why Mystic Meg did the dirty on them?

Cos Tara's not been paying her probably. Tight arse.

BuilderPlumber · 24-01-2017 01:50AM

kala85 wrote: »

Would anyone else love another series of love hate instead of this

Yes. I'd love to see another series of Love/Hate or an offshoot of it. There was talk of a series focusing on John Connors' character. Since Love/Hate was done before Christmas, Striking Out series 2 could go ahead as well. I'd give SO another series to see what could be done. I don't even recall what was instead of Love/Hate this year? Most likely, Room To Improve repeats! Clean Break was in its place last year and was a watchable series that could have been way better.

Love/Hate really spoiled us and so far no other Irish drama has lived up to it. I enjoyed Striking Out as much as Clean Break and better than Rebellion. Rebellion had way too many episodes and this attempt at an Irish Doctor Zhivago did not reach its full potential either. Restraint seems to be the problem with all post-Love/Hate Irish dramas. The violence in Clean Break was isolated and tamer than Love/Hate. The violence of the 1916 era was virtually taken out of Rebellion altogether and was done off camera (e.g. the executions). I know Striking Out was not violent at all and it did not have to be but it was too predictable (Tara does her magic every time for the client) and some of the characters were not expanded on (Caroline, Martha, Tara's mother, the fighting sisters, etc.). The drug addict storyline in the last episode was sanitised as well. If that was Love/Hate, you'd see all the gory details of drug addiction. Debbie was very convincing as the pitiful heroin addict whereas the one in SO was not.

BuilderPlumber · 24-01-2017 02:01AM

clairek6 wrote: »

I agree there was great potential with the cast pity they didn't get more to work with

This series could of course have been so much better. The potential was there and the cast were in place to make it so. As said already, things were actually starting to get good when the series ended.

thelad95 · 24-01-2017 02:05AM

I wonder why they only gave it four episodes? Is the RTE standard usually not six?

As has been mentioned, it doesn't really feel like they had a lot of time to develop storylines properly, and the first and last episode in particular felt quite crammed.

Del.Monte · 24-01-2017 02:06AM

Shaungoater wrote: »

It was the most awful piece of rubbish I have every watched. I feel like writing to RTÉ looking for those four hours back

You can't have watched much then. I could give you a list as long as your arm of worse RTE productions than that. Anyway, I liked it and I hope there will be another season. After all the Fair City and Love Hate ****e it's time the Southside had its day in the sun.

BuilderPlumber · 24-01-2017 02:20AM

Del.Monte wrote: »

You can't have watched much then. I could give you a list as long as your arm of worse RTE productions than that.

Without a doubt. Some of the worst things ever on RTE (most of it reality drivel) include:

The Voice of Ireland, Celebrity Bainisteor, Dancing With The Stars, The Big Bow Wow, Dragon's Den, Wagon's Den, Failte Towers, The Frontline, Stetsons and Stilettos, You're a Star, most RTE 2 comedies, the Christmas episodes of Mrs Brown's Boys, most recent editions of The Late Late Show (the Valentine's special in particular is woeful), Operation Transformation, Ireland Pictorial Weekly ...

Worst drama is hands down The Big Bow Wow. But I'd watch that and even those poor Mrs Brown Christmas episodes and RTE 2 comedies before any of the reality drivel mentioned above.

jezzer · 24-01-2017 11:50AM

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Cos Tara's not been paying her probably. Tight arse.

tara is ridiculously tight, she didnt pay mystic meg, when they went out on the beer mystic meg paid, shes not paying ray, she pays no rent at home or in work she didnt even pay for her bloody scone last episode, her auld lady gets free coffee, no wonder she thinks being out on her won is great!

also any time i unfortunately had to use a solicitor, it was a case of paying them big bucks or they didnt want to know me never mind fixing lads up with jobs and accommodation...

although she isnt paying any rent to use the shed as an office she wasnt really thinking ahead, imagine sitting in there in the middle of winter, the cold of it...

jezzer · 24-01-2017 11:58AM

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

Without a doubt. Some of the worst things ever on RTE (most of it reality drivel) include:

The Voice of Ireland, Celebrity Bainisteor, Dancing With The Stars, The Big Bow Wow, Dragon's Den, Wagon's Den, Failte Towers, The Frontline, Stetsons and Stilettos, You're a Star, most RTE 2 comedies, the Christmas episodes of Mrs Brown's Boys, most recent editions of The Late Late Show (the Valentine's special in particular is woeful), Operation Transformation, Ireland Pictorial Weekly ...

Worst drama is hands down The Big Bow Wow. But I'd watch that and even those poor Mrs Brown Christmas episodes and RTE 2 comedies before any of the reality drivel mentioned above.

the funny thing mrs brown is absolute dreadful sh1te, it really is appalling tripe, its predictable, its cheap and the acting is atrocious yet its mad popular, but striking out, whilst also pretty poor isnt popular at all but its a damn sight better than mrs brown....i flicked over to dragons den last night for a minute, i couldnt believe its actually still on, its pathetic, 5 relatively successful individuals saying no to investing in businesses they dont understand....that list above is appalling, you can add "celebrities go wild" to it that didly healy rae won and ireland fittest family, such dirt...

MilesMorales1 · 24-01-2017 12:01PM

jezzer wrote: »

tara is ridiculously tight, she didnt pay mystic meg, when they went out on the beer mystic meg paid, shes not paying ray, she pays no rent at home or in work she didnt even pay for her bloody scone last episode, her auld lady gets free coffee, no wonder she thinks being out on her won is great!

also any time i unfortunately had to use a solicitor, it was a case of paying them big bucks or they didnt want to know me never mind fixing lads up with jobs and accommodation...

although she isnt paying any rent to use the shed as an office she wasnt really thinking ahead, imagine sitting in there in the middle of winter, the cold of it...

Did she not just get a huge pay out from the bigamist? Yet she can't pay Ray for his time?

jezzer · 24-01-2017 12:03PM

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Did she not just get a huge pay out from the bigamist? Yet she can't pay Ray for his time?

she did and she flashed the cheque around and got free wine off the cafe owner yet come episode 4 she told ray she cant afford to pay him...

c68zapdsm5i1ru · 24-01-2017 12:04PM

Shurimgreat wrote: »

By common consent, it was fairly dire.

But its got Amy Huberman which means it will probably be recommissioned for a second, third, fourth and fifth series. Her brother will be given a bigger part and maybe BOD will also get a role. And we will be told over and over by RTE, the IFTAs and the Indo how great it is.

I know someone whose brother is involved with this, and apparently they'll be filming a new series in the Summer when the courts are in recess.

The series has potential but, in my opinion, they need to:

Plan and pace the storyline properly
Stop relying on magic computers and happy coincidences to solve the cases
Bring a bit more light and shade to Tara's character
Give her a very strong sidekick, who can bring a bit of energy to the series

Any other suggestions?

MilesMorales1 · 24-01-2017 12:14PM

jezzer wrote: »

she did and she flashed the cheque around and got free wine off the cafe owner yet come episode 4 she told ray she cant afford to pay him...

Tight arse!

thelad95 · 24-01-2017 12:20PM

Jordy Mushy Sordidness wrote: »

I know someone whose brother is involved with this, and apparently they'll be filming a new series in the Summer when the courts are in recess.

The series has potential but, in my opinion, they need to:

Plan and pace the storyline properly
Stop relying on magic computers and happy coincidences to solve the cases
Bring a bit more light and shade to Tara's character
Give her a very strong sidekick, who can bring a bit of energy to the series

Any other suggestions?

If it was just a bit more true too the real world, it would be a lot less cringey.

1. Irish politicians don't have English upper class accents.
2. I know they're going to consider selling on to international broadcasters but don't insult people by getting Amy Huberman to say 'Ministry of Health' instead of department.
3. Make the storylines with Tara's clients deeper and drag them out over a few episodes, instead of using the same rinse and repeat formula with random tips, coincidences and Rays roguishness saving the day. They'll need way more episodes to work with in order to do this.

NUTLEY BOY · 24-01-2017 12:21PM

I watched all four episodes so I have seen all of the evidence !

Generally, this series fell in to that category of leaving me wondering why they bothered at all. There were no story lines of any real substance. I thought it was all very amateur and utterly lacking any kind of credibility even allowing for dramatic licence and stretching your imagination a bit. I have dealt with some wacky solicitors in my time but this really took the biscuit.....

I was very disappointed with the overall product. What surprised me a little bit was the amount of work that probably went in to it's production if you could judge by the list of credits at the end. How did so many people end up producing this piece of mediocrity ?

I suppose this also suffered from what I now call the inverse build-up rule i.e. the bigger the build up the worse the final product is going to be.

I thought that I noticed a final piece of ironical metaphor for the series at the end of the last episode. When the two Gardaí approached the suspect to effect an arrest I think that one of them had his shoulder/district badge number on upside down !

I suppose we will be waiting a long time before RTE's drama output ever again reaches the standards of it's excellent dramatization of James Plunkett's Strumpet City back in the 1980s.

jezzer · 24-01-2017 12:33PM

Jordy Mushy Sordidness wrote: »

I know someone whose brother is involved with this, and apparently they'll be filming a new series in the Summer when the courts are in recess.

The series has potential but, in my opinion, they need to:

Plan and pace the storyline properly
Stop relying on magic computers and happy coincidences to solve the cases
Bring a bit more light and shade to Tara's character
Give her a very strong sidekick, who can bring a bit of energy to the series

Any other suggestions?

yes good suggestions above, if its only going to be 4 episodes then they need to cut it down to the main storyline (the break up of the wedding) and 1/2 other story-lines, 4 episodes isnt enough to have a main storyline a sub plot (the tribunal) and a new case each week, it meant that the whole thing ends up being a shambles and unbelievable, timelines and common sense go out the window...

I think Tara needs to team up with a gritty solicitor, there are plenty of men characters in the show so another woman played by ruth bradley perhaps and this new person needs to uncover a really dark piece of information on auld dunbarr (i suspect this may already be in the pipeline whereby dunbarrs get linked to the minister in the tribunal...) they need to loose ray (sorry ray) but his character is way too unbelievable, and this new character should be the culmination of ray and mystic meg...

They had a real opportunity here to turn this into a doctor foster type gritty drama as the backdrop was similar instead it turned into a farce

jezzer · 24-01-2017 12:37PM

NUTLEY BOY wrote: »

I watched all four episodes so I have seen all of the evidence !

Generally, this series fell in to that category of leaving me wondering why they bothered at all. There were no story lines of any real substance. I thought it was all very amateur and utterly lacking any kind of credibility even allowing for dramatic licence and stretching your imagination a bit. I have dealt with some wacky solicitors in my time but this really took the biscuit.....

I was very disappointed with the overall product. What surprised me a little bit was the amount of work that probably went in to it's production if you could judge by the list of credits at the end. How did so many people end up producing this piece of mediocrity ?

I suppose this also suffered from what I now call the inverse build-up rule i.e. the bigger the build up the worse the final product is going to be.

I thought that I noticed a final piece of ironical metaphor for the series at the end of the last episode. When the two Gardaí approached the suspect to effect an arrest I think that one of them had his shoulder/district badge number on upside down !

I suppose we will be waiting a long time before RTE's drama output ever again reaches the standards of it's excellent dramatization of James Plunkett's Strumpet City back in the 1980s.

strumpet city was certainly a one off, however bachelors walk was a very good production and of course love/hate but these are the exceptions unfortunately, however i will commend them for trying, clean break was decent, striking out was watchable, rebellion was poor but anything is better than dermot bannon room to improve

BuilderPlumber · 24-01-2017 01:44PM

jezzer wrote: »

the funny thing mrs brown is absolute dreadful sh1te, it really is appalling tripe, its predictable, its cheap and the acting is atrocious yet its mad popular, but striking out, whilst also pretty poor isnt popular at all but its a damn sight better than mrs brown....i flicked over to dragons den last night for a minute, i couldnt believe its actually still on, its pathetic, 5 relatively successful individuals saying no to investing in businesses they dont understand....that list above is appalling, you can add "celebrities go wild" to it that didly healy rae won and ireland fittest family, such dirt...

Mrs Brown's Boys is very overrated and recent episodes especially Christmas ones are appalling. Striking Out is way better than it I would agree too. I would add Stars Go Racing, Celebrity Farm, The All Ireland Talent Show, and Irish Popstars to the list as well. It is most surprising the Irish version of Big Brother has not happened yet!!

jezzer · 24-01-2017 02:59PM

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

Mrs Brown's Boys is very overrated and recent episodes especially Christmas ones are appalling. Striking Out is way better than it I would agree too. I would add Stars Go Racing, Celebrity Farm, The All Ireland Talent Show, and Irish Popstars to the list as well. It is most surprising the Irish version of Big Brother has not happened yet!!

good lord, when you look at the overall list its horrific, you can also include anything by hector o hucklebuck to that list....it is actually a wonder there hasnt been an irish version of big brother yet but i guess dermot bannon room to improve is enough for any audience to take, imagine that guff is going on now for TEN years...wft!!! if you ask me there is a lot of room to improve for RTE...

Striking Out [RTÉ1]

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