Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Telly addicts

Netflix The Stranger - Anyone up for discussion with spoilers?

174 replies

Dennisreynoldsduster · 02/02/2020 17:32

Just finished it and I’m curious to see what people thought - with SPOILERS allowed so don’t read on if you haven’t seen it or haven’t finished it!

OP posts:
supercee · 03/02/2020 21:32

Just finished this too, binged all 8 episodes in a oner (day off). Anyway, the bits I'm wondering about -

So Corinne faked the pregnancy as she found out Adam was having a fling with solicitor colleague and wanted him to stay with her. But why did the stranger/his sister say check the DNA of the boys?

Why did Katz kill Heidi? If she was going to pay the money then the secret about Ethical guy paying for the services of the daughter would've remained a secret?

The caretaker in the woods thing wasn't very relevant I thought.

Pretty ridiculous all round but I did enjoy it and it kept me entertained. All other Netflix stuff I've started my mind has begun to wander early in.

Judystilldreamsofhorses · 03/02/2020 21:33

utterly yes, the mother had munchausen’s by proxy - I was VERY pleased with myself when I figured it out early on! (Also probably spelling it wrong, so apologies.)

I thought this article was interesting:

www.denofgeek.com/uk/tv/69670/netflix-s-the-stranger-what-s-been-changed-from-the-book

othervoicesotherrooms · 03/02/2020 21:33

Episode 4 here. Bit confused &hope the different stories link up a bit better soon.
Some shocking acting so far from some (Not talking about the marvellous Richard A or Siobhan Finneran). It's all a bit odd at the moment.
Is it worth finishing? Enjoying working out locations around Manchester & Bolton though!

happinessischocolate · 03/02/2020 22:24

So Corinne faked the pregnancy as she found out Adam was having a fling with solicitor colleague and wanted him to stay with her. But why did the stranger/his sister say check the DNA of the boys?

Because if Corrine had lied about the pregnancy she could have lied about other stuff, The stranger/sister was lied to that her mum had left and then found out that her dad wasn't her dad so she probably thinks everyone should do a dna

Why did Katz kill Heidi? If she was going to pay the money then the secret about Ethical guy paying for the services of the daughter would've remained a secret?

No idea, I think he was just arsehole and knew as a copper he could get away with it

Doyoumind · 03/02/2020 22:56

The ethical guy didn't want anyone to know as it would jeopardise the company. Katz stood to gain financially from the success of the company and needed the money for Olivia.

Sparrowlegs248 · 03/02/2020 23:51

I think must have missed something. I'm assuming "ethical guy" is the one that Katz screwed up the operation in the bar for. But I've missed why he's "ethical guy" and what the company is......

Why did Katz go to Heidi to start with?

Sparrowlegs248 · 03/02/2020 23:52

It is rather confusing but I did enjoy it!

Janus · 04/02/2020 00:48

How did they hope to frame Katz for killing Tripp - wasn’t Katz already in police custody when Tripp was killed?? And what, was the husband meant to have just stumbled across his buried wife and Tripp’s body by sheer chance?? Am I being stupid?!

Ritascornershop · 04/02/2020 01:03

Loads of red herrings, but overall I enjoyed it. The stranger annoyed me, but most of the other characters were good I thought (even Jennifer Saunders, who ordinarily annoys the fuck out of me). Paul Kaye is always interesting to watch. Seemed a bit unlikely that 2 of the kids forgave the third so easily for drugging the tubby one.

AcrossthePond55 · 04/02/2020 01:20

It sounded like Ethical man and Katz were friends and EM hired (or asked) Katz to investigate the blackmail. His secret being revealed would 'bomb' his 'ethicaI whatzit' app which was aimed at 'church-going' investors. EM said that he'd put 'everything' into the app and if it failed, he'd be ruined.

I think that Katz killed Heidi after he realized that she knew Joanne. I suppose he feared that Heidi would tell Joanne about him and that somehow Jo would connect the dots, or would figure out who 'ethical man' was and EM would implicate him.

I thought the 'check the DNA' thing was just to make Adam take the fake pregnancy thing more seriously, to make him feel he had more reason to not trust Corinne.

I think the 'Stranger' ending up being Adam's half-sister was overegging it a bit. But I did like the part about Stephen Rea stuffing his wife in the wall. That was unexpected! The only thing was that I swear that he'd previously referred to his child (Chris) as a 'he'.

And I think Tripp was an example of someone who felt that he was entitled to do anything he felt he had to in order to hold on to his 'position'. In short, a sociopath. And I loved that Jo helped Adam get away with killing him. Not at all legal, but sometimes it's nice when the injured party gets their revenge.

I did enjoy the series. Sometimes it veered into "Really?" territory but by and large it was an enthralling watch.

AcrossthePond55 · 04/02/2020 01:25

Janus Katz's gun was the weapon in both Heidi's and Tripp's murders. I don't think they needed to do much else other than 'erase' Adam from being at the crime scene. No one knew Tripp and Adam had gone there and it looks as if Jo was wiping all the prints from the gun. Absent evidence to the contrary, the police would assume that Katz killed them both.

Janus · 04/02/2020 01:36

Ok, but how would they explain Adam just stumbling across his buried wife and dead friend in the middle of the woods??

2018SoFarSoGreat · 04/02/2020 01:36

I was very disappointed by can't stop in the middle so braved it out to the bitter end. Seemed to be really dumbed down. Poorly written and poorly acted. Perhaps more directed to teens?

Dennisreynoldsduster · 04/02/2020 01:53

There are SO many unanswered questions. What did Katz even want from Heidi? He said to Joanne that it got out of hand because Heidi wouldn’t tell him what he wanted, about the two women I presume? But what did she even know?! She had only met them once.
If he knew she had met them why didn’t he check the cctv, which they ended up doing later as part of the investigation? If he didn’t know she had met them then why was he even there asking about them?

Re him paying for medical bills, I presumed he had exhausted his options on NHS it wasn’t happy with their lack of results and wanted to go private...

OP posts:
Ritascornershop · 04/02/2020 02:45

The houses were lovely, but I found it distracting how unreasonably posh they were for the owners’ salaries. My brain was busy making up backstories for how Tripp could afford that place.

I like that Adam’s older son was a sort of moral centre in the same way his dad was.

Dennisreynoldsduster · 04/02/2020 02:57

@ritascornershop I know what you mean, they houses were all way above what they could afford!

OP posts:
MonkeyToesOfDoom · 04/02/2020 07:58

I loved the show. A few shortcomings I guess but overall it was fab.
I put he shortcomings down to it being based in a novel and having to cut parts to make it fit a TV show. I may have to read the novel and see if it's different.

I didn't see Trip being the murderer coming. Threw me right off. I did feel sorry for Dervla Kirwan lying in all that mud. Hope it was a rubber prop.

MonkeyToesOfDoom · 04/02/2020 08:23

Well just a brief look at the novel.
One change that feels obvious to me now.
In the novel it's set in America, in the show it's Manchester. That explains the Doctor fees being high enough to motivate Katz. In the novel it's also a Lacrosse sporting club, not a Sunday League football team. I'd imagine a US Lacrosse club would be a bit wealthier than a kids footy team.
I'll not spoil any more of the novel tho. :)

Steala · 04/02/2020 09:27

I was thinking at the end that the whole alpaca/Dante bit could have been cut as it dwindled out and didn't add to the main plot. It turns out it was added in for the tv

GetUpAgain · 04/02/2020 11:07

Something that really annoyed me was the name Dante, it's so hard to pronounce and they all kept varying the way they said it.

Donn-tay
Donn-tee
Darn-tay
Dairy-free

Why didn't they just use an easier name, it's not like it made any difference!

As soon as hermit man said his child was called Chris I knew we were meant to assume boy, therefore it was a girl, therefore the stranger. And obviously not his because of the shagging dad living down the road.

GetUpAgain · 04/02/2020 11:08

Lacrosse makes a lot more financial sense!!

Egghead68 · 04/02/2020 11:26

I thought it was lovely to look at and a lot of fun.

Cocolapew · 04/02/2020 11:47

I enjoyed it, I've read the book twice. I find crime things set in the US more believable Grin.
The book is much better, they added too much to the show, the teens drama was uncalled for. Also the wife poisoning and the body in Killanes house were a step too far, they should have kept it as it was it the book.
The part where the 2 detectives were looking at a computer behind a big bald bloke, that was Harlan Coben.

vjg13 · 04/02/2020 11:48

2018sofarsogreat it did have a feel of a children's programme.

AcrossthePond55 · 04/02/2020 18:11

Janus

Part of Jo's plan was to get Adam the hell out of the woods before anyone else showed up. That's why she said "Hurry, we don't have much time" and started wiping down the gun.