SS GB

[Timetogetup0630]

Anyone else watching this chilling drama based on a Len Deighton novel ? The Germans won the Battle of Britain and now occupy Britain.
Includes quite a bit of shagging too, so I am told.

I don't mind it and will watch the last one, but I agree with a lot of the criticisms here. Archer IS too one-note; he's not a bad actor but hasn't really been given much to do.

The American woman's simpering smile and way of drawing back her lips when she speaks gets up my nose [irrational].

I like Archer's landlady and I find it really interesting, as a bit of a language geek, to see how language would signify if you were under hostile occupation – the signs in German, the people who speak German and don't.

Also, I kind of fancy Archer's German boss. his long leather coat is hawt

That's the trouble with the Germans. Their uniforms were so flattering.

Yes Hugo Boss designed them!

Really enjoyed the finale. I thought it got better every week. I liked the echoes of Brideshead at the end.

Well, I've enjoyed it!

I enjoyed it, too!

Where's he going to go now though??!

Still a bit confused but I enjoyed it too

Too many loose ends. I hate it when they end as if there's another series in the offing, because I don't believe there is. Where was Barbara B. heading? What would become of Doug? And has the evil Kellerman really got Doug's son? Far too many unanswered questions. Not good enough.

We stick with it but I'm left feeling rather irritated. Loose ends dangling all over the shop! What with this and having watched The Replacement on catch up this week, I'm hoping Line of Duty isn't another let down. Get your act together BBC, what's up with all these promising productions that just don't quite but the mark?

Kellerman hasn't got the son, who he claimed he took 'from home' - the son was in the unoccupied zone, not 'home'. That was mentioned just to show that Kellerman was lying completely to lure Archer out.

I thought the balance of resolved and unresolved narratives was well done. Not all BBC dramas are going to have satisfying Downton Abbey-type endings.

Found it a very strange episode. Watching it i knew I should be tense but felt nothing struggled to care about any of them. No explanation on what was wrong with the king or did I miss that. Nothing resolved at all and left looking for another series which it might not get so makes the whole thing pointless.

Overall very disappointing had a few good pieces but as a series it was pretty lame and uninspiring. Huth was about the only interesting character in it

Was the ending just supposed to show how futile his situation now was? The king is dead, Sylvia dead, Harry presumed dead, his German boss shot, his skin buggered and he's wanted. Scrambling across a barren wasteland?!

It's based on a book, isn't it-how did that end??

Haven't seen the ending yet, will prob watch tonight though have got a bit distracted by OJ Made In America. There've been a few good moments but ultimately they stuck too closely to a schlocky old potboiler - should have liberated the script a bit. The female characters are just a bit rubbish and everyone looking like models was a bit much.

Does Spotlight have a special 'smoker' sign? It must be getting slightly harder to cast all the heavy smoking parts, or are actors still tending to be smokers?

Just what was the point??? Anyone? It seemed as though Archer had achieved nothing, just got various other people killed - even if America "rescued" some scientists, Archer himself still has the plans / calculations. It didn't guarantee that the Americans would enter the war on Britain's side.

Why did the American woman walk out of the room??? Was she trying to be "mysterious"?

The ending made me feel like it had all been a massive waste of time

It's just that the actors are more naturalistic than previously

Mumbling isn't naturalistic, IRL people don't mumble or none of us would be able to communicate with each other. It's what actors THINK is natural and directors let them get away with.

Annandale don't read on if you haven't seen it yet.

So to everyone else, had Mayhew defected to Kellermann from Huth at the end? Or could Kellermann be lying about that as well? Or of course Mayhew himself might be double bluffing, with another plan up his sleeve.

I'm going to get the book. Books are generally better than the dramas based on them.

Kellerman thought Mayhew had defected to him but (as Huth realised when he was told, though he didn't say) it's a double bluff. Mayhew is going to be arranging the American invasion behind Kellerman's back.

I think they're hoping for a second series. Which I would watch.

I agree with the PP who said it was hard to care or feel connected with anyone, apart from Huth who was far and away the most interesting character in it. There were some promising moments - the scene at the farmhouse had some actual tension, and I noticed the well-stocked shelves - but it felt like too little, too late. For Mayhew to be believable as the puppet master we should have seen more of him in previous episodes. Barbara was just a stereotype who added nothing bar the ubiquitous love interest and a hook to sell it to the US.

I haven't read the book but I did see an article, think it was RT, where they listed some fairly comprehensive changes so it doesn't sound as though any deficiencies were because of sticking too closely to the novel.

I loved it. I guess Archer was taking the calculations to the Americans, who would then get The Bomb and then end the War.
I thought it was great viewing and lots of fun.

It's a good ending no?
Americans have dipped their toe into the war.
Plans have not fallen into German hands (despite the cigar case constantly falling out of his bloody pocket. Like me and my car keys).
Archer alive, has plans (if he doesn't lose them on the moor) and is a competent man with a map.
Harry (totally unkillable) is still alive.
Barbara alive and not tortured.

I understood it that the "point" of it was that now the Americans would join the war, with the benefit of the atom bomb and that would be the end of the reich.

So who killed Staines (found dead in the armchair at the club)? Was that Mayhew as well, and if so why?

Also - what happened with the cigar case in the end? Huth looked at it, handled it - did he give it back to Archer? And if so, are we sure Huth didn't know what was in it?

I think Staines might have been killed by Huth to confirm that Mathew was telling the truth?

But no, then he'd have also given up the attack on the base.

So it must have been Mayhew - I suppose Staines found out the double cross plan and objected?

Huth didn't know what was in it (it would have saved his life) and Archer definitely had it on his long gruelling walk to nowhere.