Little Drummer Girl anyone?

[IAmBeyonceAlways]

Anyone watching? Cant see another thread!

I used to read the cold war books as a teen. I used to be totally confused until about 2/3 of the way through when it all started to come together. It is a lot of information to hold onto until you need it!

Need to read them again...…...

I was so afraid they would get Gadi wrong: in the book he is very good looking and yet has so much going on below the surface which we and Charlie can only guess at, although we feel an essential compassion in him. And I was a bit sceptical about a Swede playing him.

But Skarsgård has completely mastered the way he holds back, doing a job he needs to do but doesn't want to do. And obviously nails the devastatingly handsome bit too.

Melamin agree completely. The best one for that is my joint favourite with TLDG, Smiley's People, which is basically a load of apparently unrelated scenes with a sense of mystery and foreboding, until you get 2/3 though, and you start to see how it all fits. JLC was an absolutely amazing novelist, and I feel a bit sad that I don't think he writes anywhere near as well now.

I think Swedes are very good at the holding back thing.

I liked all the Smiley books - Call for the Dead is a neat small one.

It was years before I understood what all the sub story with Carla was all about and the mysterious Anne.

Yes, Anne is very baffling, and I never understood their relationship. Generally I don't think he writes women very well - and there aren't very many of them in his books, which is why I love Charlie.

'Generally I don't think he writes women very well'

Yes I think you're right there. Charlie is not any woman I recognise. It doesn't make sense that she is so easily lead on by Gadi - he's not exactly Mr charisma either. I'm just enjoying this as a 1970s period drama.

Oops sorry LadyPeter don't think you're talking about John Le Carre there. I was just thinking he did not do women true to life. I like Charlie's character and find her quite fascinating but I can't relate to her.

Charlie is based on JLC’s real half sister Charlotte . She’s an actress.
My dd was at school with Florence Pugh, always calls her Flossie.

Charlotte Cornwell, missed out her surname there.

My dd was at school with Florence Pugh, always calls her Flossie.

Oh really! Florence Pugh is a very good actress isn't she - quite special.

She is indeed. Wonderful singer too. Talent will out, as they say.

Florence Pugh was apparently very good in this too

Wasn't Charlotte Cornwall in something in the 70s with Rula Lenska (and someone else whose name I cannot remember) - Rock Follies?

Julie Covington? She sang on the original recording of Don't Cry for Me, Argentina too.

There was a libel case involving CC, as I recall, when a critic or journalist said she had a big bottom.

Oh yes, you're spot on Bittermints!

Tried this again last night. I cannot get into it. I literally have no idea of the timeline of events.

They spot her as an actress
The Jewish families house is blown up
They watching him shagging they girlfriend
They capture the bomber for two days??
They send the actress to Greece and recruit her
They train her / give her the backstory
She drives the bomb over the borders

It's the bit with the captured guy is confusing me I think!

I think this Ok, but expected so much more.
I never watched The Night Manager and knew this would be slow burn from the reviews.
Maybe the stript is just weak.

I am up to date and I am SO CONFUSED.
I don't even have any idea why Charlie would agree to do this?
Or what is real/not real, why they want her to pretend to be a terrorist?
Did she ever actually meet Salim or is it all pretend?

Are all the group that recruit her Israeli? Because they said "we can't have anyone Israeli do this job" but among their group at least the Black girl would never be picked out by the general European population as Israeli, plus a couple of the younger guys were to my mind generic Southern European, so why couldn't they do it? Why did it have to be an actress?

And why on earth did she agree??!

It is definitely worth going back over the first two episodes.

They picked her because she had been at the meeting that could have been Salim. They knew she was open to being recruited - risk taker, made up her own stories about her life, rebel without a cause etc. She was also Salim's 'type'.

Most of it was the grooming process. I am not sure that she ever met Salim, or indeed if the person at the meeting was ever Saleem.

John Lennon Carrie's son writes cracking books.

Loved tonight's episode.

It was great. Charlie is so brave. Some very interesting conflicts coming up. Head Israeli doesn't give a shit about Charlie. Just knows she'll lead them to the Palestinians, whoever's side she ends up on. Great stuff

Is Fatmeh the real leader of the terrorists or is Khalil still alive?

Think Khalil is still alive. Israelis want to find him. Fatmeh seems like she could actually be the leader though, or the brains behind the operation.

Oooh loved it tonight. Interesting that it looks like Fatmeh is the leader/brains behind it all. I thought the guy with her was Khalil so you think Charlie is talking to the top guy and then Fatmeh appears.

I wonder if Charlie will become friends/form a bond with Fatmeh as they are both fiercely strong women.