Too Close - new thriller on ITV over 3 nights from 12 April 2021

[stumbledin]

Stars Emily Watson and Denise Gough.

Cant say I know much about it, but hopefully it will be better than Intruder.

Please!

I was completely unmoved by it. Connie was extremely irritating and smug until her breakdown, which I found unconvincing.

Emma (was that the Emily Watson character?) must be the world's most useless psychiatrist. I can't believe a psychiatrist would so openly display her own angst and vulnerabilities to such a disturbed patient.

The only person I felt sorry for was Kenneth, the lorry driver. Did he spend time in prison? I wasn't sure but even if he didn't what an awful thing to live with. The accident was 100% Emma's fault. What a stupid thing to do. Why park the buggy on the downward camber facing on to the road? - even driving at 20/30 mph it would have been almost impossible to brake in time.

That lorry scene was horrible. Glad my 3yo is in bed next to me tonight TBH. :(

I’m not sure how I felt about the rest. In some ways I didn’t feel like this episode added anything, as it was obvious it was about her descent into a breakdown of one sort of another. But I’m not sure how realistic the portrayal of the psychosis was (I have a lot of experience of MH issues, but not psychosis specifically).

Overall it just felt sad. How everyone let her down and contributed in a way (kind of made me think of an inspector calls?) and how to a lesser extent Emma was maybe unsupported too, exhausted from lack of sleep and outbursts (I wasn’t sure if they were hinting at Abigail having some SN maybe)

It was still extreme though. I thought maybe they’d go into something that caused the extreme reactions in the first place. Or maybe the point is that it could happen to anyone.

A lot of loose ends.

What happened to Kenneth after Abigail was killed and what was the point of him meeting up with Emma?
What was the point of moany night-shift nurse?
Why did Connie keep taking Emma's stuff in the second episode?
Why did Emma so readily accept her husband's cliched explanation about the woman he was hugging?
What was the point of Emma's old friend who made a pass at her?
What's actually going to happen to Connie in the long term?

I switched off after the first 10 minutes. Not sure whether to resume or not. Looks a bit depressing.

I couldn't really understand why Connie was so aggressive and spiteful to Emma, stealing things and looking at her phone. Then appeared to be almost "cured" at the end when she met her children. Not quite that easy.

Agree, meeting Kenneth wasn't necessary although it was moving when she sobbed on his shoulder.

Hot ex-boyfriend hanging around was also not necessary.

Why was Ness allowed to be at Connie's Mum's funeral and at the house afterwards after she had stabbed Connie in the back?

Why didn't we see any more from Leah, Nessa's wife? Did she really leave her or just find out that she was shagging Connie's husband, and when did the affair start?

I suppose the whole point was how Connie was let down by everyone around her. All the stuff with the nurse and Emma's husband possibly having an affair was just filler.

Connie has to bear some personal responsibility. Her marriage was failing and initially she saw the answer as an affair. If her affair with Ness had succeeded and hubby had taken to drugs and drink and driven the car full of kids in to the water would he have got the same sympathy from us or the film/ book?

How long after the death of Emma's child was she back at work and why was she singing to Connie stuck up a tree, I couldn't take that scene seriously.

I did stick with it but found the final episode depressing. Not really what I'd call entertainment.

I felt so sorry for the lorry driver too, I imagine Emma had felt guilt for years about him having to live with the memory of the terrible accident. Although he can't have been blamed by anyone as she was standing on the pavement not looking as the pushchair rolled away.

What happened to Ness’s child? All the focus was on Connies daughter.

My tv froze for about 5 minutes just before the end. Was there a court scene which I missed. If so can someone tell me what happened in it

Yes it was weirdly disjointed with timelines and relationships.

Why did Ness come on so strong to Connie only to end up with her husband?

Had Karl actually left her for Ness or was it still a "secret" affair?

The problem is, as a viewer we started off disliking and being repulsed by Connie and then the script demanded that we feel sorry for her. Doesn't really work.

I don't even remember the verdict in the court case, only that Emma gave evidence to support her not being aware of her actions.

She ended up back on the psych ward so maybe found guilty?

I had mixed feelings about both characters but I quite like that. I prefer shows where it’s not as simple as good and bad, and I like that it was about mental health. Very relieved Emma confronted the doctor and made a point of it in court too.

I’m assuming Polly lived too as it seemed in the scene where they dropped the toys off that both were asleep/sedated but no longer in comas? Not sure. They didn’t mention the charge changing to murder in the court scene. I was hoping Annie might mention going to play at Polly’s or something when she finally visited Connie, which would have told us.

Wasn't it the psych ward or prison? Don't think being released without charge was ever a possibility , so Emma's evidence saved her from prison.

They didn’t give a verdict I think. I know Emma was trying to say she wasn’t dangerous anymore. Not sure how sentencing works with psychiatric institutions, or what would’ve happened if she was found not guilty but still not well enough to go home.

The lack of security in the hospital was batshit. I was in a normal (as in not prison related) ward in a psychiatric hospital as a teen and the most at risk patients would be on permanent 1to1, with other high risk patients on five or ten minute checks. I know from what staff said that was the same in the adult wards. I’m sure it would’ve been even more intensely staffed on the secure adult ward! There is no way someone so dangerous would be left alone long enough for that fire to take hold.

Although having said that I was once sitting at my window and saw one of the supposedly checked patients crawling past my window 😬 so mistakes do happen, but it didn’t seem like Connie had anyone watching her at all!

I’m also now trying to remember if we had fire drills in the period I was there. It was a big site and it would certainly be possible for someone unsupervised to escape given the opportunity like that.

I must admit this grew on me .The last episode showed how even a "yummy Mummy" As in a priviliged and beautiful young woman, could have her life unravel due to a series of problems and being let down by many people .Friends and her Doctor as well .Her DM dying sent her over the edge .This resonated with me as when my DM died I likened it to being hit by a train .(My DFIL description of how he felt when he lost my DMIL) All in All a good series which made us all think

I really enjoyed this

The last episode showed what happened

How and why

She was let down by her doctor. Wrong medications fir too long

Her mum dying. Finding out the affair etc

She didn’t deliver try to kill them she was going to see her mum

Plus the sheet over the red lights looked like a monster adding to her distress and confusion

I didn’t relieve she had taken ness daughter in the car. Thought both her kids

I think the verdict was that she wasn’t sentenced to prison as she was having mental issues

I assume she was staying in the unit fir longer

And yes itv ads went funny. I stopped it at the window scene and I then did demand and found the missing think 8 mins which showed court

Then carried on with window scene

Did Ness's daughter die?
What with the tv freezing up on an ad and I was a bit distracted and tired, I only saw her with one child at the end?
The scene in the bathroom was harrowing.

I wanted more Ness in the final episode. Some kind of controntation and Connie to admit her feelings or that she was lead on by Ness.

I just started watching the intruder. Why do I do this to myself? 🤦🏽‍♀️

I thought I was going to like it but didn't.

It tried to do too many things, I think. A provocative look at intra-female conflict, a what/whodunnit thriller, an indictment of the failures of the medical profession wrt women and especially their mental health.

It couldn't make its mind up what it was and thus, for me, fell a bit flat.

Ah no the bit eith Emma’s husband having the (not) affair was really important because that really made her sympathetic to connie, thinking she was facing the exact same thing. It was definitely not filler. Some of it is quite clever; I’m not sure enjoyed is the word Id use as it was a sad little take but I thought it was good if you suspended some reality.

I think it missed the mark in that the presentation was that of a mystery (why did Connie drive off the bridge, why couldn't she remember etc.) but the real point of interest was her break down - what led to it and so on. The fact she wasn't in her right mind when she did it should have gone without saying.

@ForgedInFire

I thought it was interesting they used "The End of the World" because it was also featured in Girl, Interrupted (another movie set in a psychiatric hospital) and Connie's physical appearance reminded me a bit of Angelina Jolie in that movie.

YES that's exactly what I was thinking watching this!

And then the creatures on her made me think of The Craft!

Having the children in the car made me feel uncomfortable although I guess it would not have made a story if it was just her that had did this on her own. Plus Emma was sympathetic because she had let Abigail die in that accident. She was negligent there.
Did Ness's child die ?