So nothing will ever match the strange love we seem to have for the more nuanced characters and subtleness of series one. I get that. But this wasn't so bad a start.
I like the setting, it seemed true to the life of a marginalised Asian village. That young girl looks like she's going to be taken off to be a sex worker in India. That happens a lot, I like it that TG raises these issues, we need more of them on TV.
But the village (and the episode) lacked the intensity of somewhere in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, I thought. I was expecting lots of villagers out digging in the half light, there's that famous press photo of that little boy kneeling over his father's grave, hugging his neatly folded trousers. I expected more of that, but here, most of the villagers were going about their normal daily business, looking sullen. Perhaps that's budget.
I can't get into Georgie Laine. She's too cold, humourless, critical and automatic. MK's acting and perfect appearance makes it worse. She doesn't join in with the banter, her mentoring is a bit shit. If I was working with her, I think I'd end up hating her. She's far too up her own arse to get involved with a local, I think.
So thank God for that new recruit, Maisie, (Dawes 2) although her character could be a lot more nuanced and subtle to be honest. She's no sugar tits though! Hopefully she will be given the space to develop into someone interesting. Perhaps she'll end up having an affair with CJ. He needs something to divert him from being authoritarian and a bit dull. But thank you for the goat stroking scene, which we are all bleating over!
Somewhere I read it being described as something like Our Girl crosses Grange Hill. That's a bit unfair, but it does need some life shaking into it. We need more to 2 section for example than just throwing boxes and bantering...
Anyway, nice to see some of the old people back on here, as well as some new people! Roll on Episode 2!