Tom Burke was on BBC Breakfast from 7:51am this morning. Here’s a clip they played, showing Robin asking Strike what his star sign is ✨ pic.twitter.com/xFig0zTXlG
— Cormoran Strike (@CormStrikeFan) December 7, 2022
Very, very disappointing adaptation of this conversation, alas. The “meaning” bit is a fun play on the Potter-Dumbledore conversation at King’s Cross in Deathly Hallows, all of which is lost here.
Anyway, who will be watching this tonight on the BBC? Please let us know if it is better than this sneak preview.
Strikefans tweeters report this is the best adaptation of a Strike book so far.
I agree with Strikefans Louise!
I have only watched the first two episodes so far (I’m trying to pace myself) but I have really enjoyed them. They are at least as stylish and well shot as the previous instalments and they have used some clever shortcuts (Christmas party cine film) to keep the pacing tight. As always there is much cut from the books.
If I had a criticism, at the halfway stage, the information seems to be coming too easy, without the frustration felt in the book, but this is understandable with the limitation of time.
When I started reading the Harry Potter books, the movie in my head was rich and wonderful. Then I saw the first movie, and after that, the faces on my characters in my head changed to match the Ron, Harry and Hermione on the big screen. It bothered me a bit, but I lived. The more movies I saw, the more irked I became, but that said, I could watch Alan Rickman playing Snape, on a loop, for a very long time.
By the last movie, I had decided I’ll never watch the movie made from a book I love, evah again! So, I’ve not seen Life of Pi, and I will not watch the Strike series. My movie is too good. I’ve also seen short gifs, which irk me – Strike coming down the stairs to see Robin twirl in the green dress? What was he doing upstairs? He was trying to hear what Robin was winkling out of the shopgirls! That alone told me to stay away. I like my own movie better. Nope, not gonna watch. (*All this said, I am still tempted, just to peek…*)
I finished watching the Troubled Blood adaptation last night with my mum. There were a few bits that were jarring, in terms of character behaviour, but mostly I thought it was very well done. Would you like a breakdown of what i thought, or would you prefer to avoid spoilers until it’s available in the US?
Spoil away, Bonni! I’m curious what you think. There are plenty of spoiler warnings.
I thought they did a great job of trimming the fat: having people like Satchwell and Gloria Conti being found relatively easily, having Oonaugh Kennedy be a convenient stop on the drive home from Cornwall, the chocolate box and the threatening notes in the box of Margot’s effects rather than through the complex means our heroes had to go through (though the police must not have searched her office very carefully if they missed a death threat and a box of chocolates that had been poisoned. It also sped things up to have the abortive attempt at perfume buying be for her birthday and the pony (couldn’t they find a donkey?) balloon for Christmas.
I thought Robin was a little harsh in a few of her interviews, and I was surprised by how explicit the sex scenes with Satchwell and the snuff film were.
But overall, I thought it did the best of any of them at capturing the heart of both the mystery and the romance. My biggest disappointment was that Robin did not trounce Morris in front of Strike, but doing it in front of Pat was a nice second best.
Although I very much admire Grainger and Burke in the tv series, I did not like the TB adaptation. I did not like it at all. I understand that much has to be cut if you want to press this book into 4 episodes, and losing some characters was not a problem, but for me cutting essential themes as Robins divorce troubles, Strikes loss of Joan and with it his youth, undermined the entire story. Their personal problems shape their view of the world and influence their work and decisions. It was somehow very subued, Strike seemed very passive, Robin never showed any of the strain she was under when keeping the agency going and Saul under control. The dinner from hell was hardly a dinner from hell, and why happened was not clear. Brother Al was replaced by a very minimalist actor who did not even look like the earlier Al, the family troubles around Jonny Rokeby were hardly mentioned and the powerful fuck you was totally absent. I think it was replaced by something like “I’ll think about it.” The sequence of events was changed and that was no problem, but how they got from one event tot the next interview was never explained. And way too fast. I know from friends who did not yet read the book, but watched the adaptation, that they switched it off: incomprehensible. Also, most characters did not in the least answer their description in the book. And I don’t understand why everybody was mumbling! Only great actors like Sophie Ward and Kenneth Granham still know how to speak audibly. I found it a big disappointment.