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Original poster

Rain Dogs anyone watching?

152 replies

crochetmonkey74 · 04/04/2023 21:12

What do you guys think?

OP posts:
Jellyheadbang · 13/04/2023 10:55

Cheekymaw · 13/04/2023 10:29

I love DMC but found this utter shite. Watched three episodes. Really dreadful writing . Like it's aimed at Guardian readers' toxic single mum fantasies(used to read The Guardian myself until it turned into a misogynistic cesspit). I doubt the writer has ever met a working class or underclass person in their lives. Vile and not funny.

Lol. I also stopped reading the guardian and rescinded my labour party membership when I realised neither speak for me anymore.

i feel disenfranchised with this gap between the moneyed socialists and the have nots.
Sadly, certain political elements have seen this gap and disenfranchisement and leapt in to spread rhetoric about the 'real reasons' our country is such a mess and made the gap even wider, and splitting the working classes into groups alienated from each other, leaving so many people without any real representation.

SpringyAF · 15/04/2023 22:43

I’m on number 4 and I love it.

brizzyy · 17/04/2023 02:06

I don't think a lot of people quite understand the premise of the show. Yes it can make you feel grubby and uncomfortable, and yes, there are some degrading and unpleasant scenes. But if we forget our privileges for a second, and remember that poverty is a very real and prominent issue in our time, it's actually an extremely realistic depiction of the way single mothers have to hustle just to keep their families from breaking. The sex stuff is harrowing, but real. I don't think it's un-believable at all. We must also bear in mind that this is a TV show; some things are made to be dramatised.
i thought it was a very clever and touching story, and the way it explores toxic relationships and mental illness was brilliant. Things like this touch so many people's lives, but people rarely talk about it to their peers.
The acting was exceptional. Cannot be faulted.
This is all coming from the mind of a 19 year old, childless, university student though, so take what you will from my opinion!! But I thought it was enticing and raw, and an absolutely brilliant watch that my friends and I have been raving about

Original poster
crochetmonkey74 · 17/04/2023 06:44

brizzyy · 17/04/2023 02:06

I don't think a lot of people quite understand the premise of the show. Yes it can make you feel grubby and uncomfortable, and yes, there are some degrading and unpleasant scenes. But if we forget our privileges for a second, and remember that poverty is a very real and prominent issue in our time, it's actually an extremely realistic depiction of the way single mothers have to hustle just to keep their families from breaking. The sex stuff is harrowing, but real. I don't think it's un-believable at all. We must also bear in mind that this is a TV show; some things are made to be dramatised.
i thought it was a very clever and touching story, and the way it explores toxic relationships and mental illness was brilliant. Things like this touch so many people's lives, but people rarely talk about it to their peers.
The acting was exceptional. Cannot be faulted.
This is all coming from the mind of a 19 year old, childless, university student though, so take what you will from my opinion!! But I thought it was enticing and raw, and an absolutely brilliant watch that my friends and I have been raving about

See I totally disagree and having been brought up in the exact situation there was nothing I recognised

Also loads of the nuts and bolts didn't work. How did she afford travel into soho?
Where was her daughter in the evenings?
Not one person I knew growing up behaved like this

OP posts:
SequinsandStilettos · 17/04/2023 06:50

I thought Cash had been exposed as a middle class author pretending to be a struggling single mum from a council estate and her book Skint Estate was just fiction?
It's very odd. All of it. Three possible name changes, alleged discrepancies deleted from the internet, the rights of a memoir bought with Billie Piper as a potential lead, changed to fiction as long as Daisy May Cooper was attached.
Rain Dogs having the plotline of not working class enough to get published.
Both DMC and CC supposedly read threads on here. Shame we cannot have an AMA. Misery Porn and Poverty Porn are not my chosen genre to read - it hits a nerve - but I have no issue with writers crafting whatever they want.
Just don't sell it originally as memoir if it's not. Embellishment, partial fabrication, lived experience, own truths...makes it impossible these days to judge authenticity. As a work of fiction, however, I didn't find the characters in Rain Dogs relatable or credible even if the situations themselves may purport to be true-to-life.

dayswithaY · 17/04/2023 07:12

Exactly, just sell it as a work of fiction. Most authors haven’t lived the same life as their protagonist, it’s why you have an imagination.

It’s just a very stylised version of poverty and quite insulting to those living through it.

MetaDaughter · 17/04/2023 07:47

I don't think a lot of people quite understand the premise of the show.

But if we forget our privileges for a second, and remember that poverty is a very real and prominent issue in our time, it's actually an extremely realistic depiction of the way single mothers have to hustle

This is all coming from the mind of a 19 year old, childless, university student though, so take what you will from my opinion!!

Indeed …

Crumpetdisappointment · 17/04/2023 07:55

oh check your privileges!?
i dont agree with that.
she had a council flat - she did sex work
she moved in with a rich friend
somehow ended up in a refuge
shunted off to Somerset
I guess the book might have been interesting but the tv show was just disjointed i dont care who liked it. it didnt appeal to me

Ivalueloyaltyaboveallelse · 17/04/2023 08:02

I liked it. What I enjoyed was the toxic friendship they had, and how trauma affects attachment and the choices they made. It showed mental health, vulnerability and humour while being dark and disturbing at times.

Southeastdweller · 17/04/2023 08:59

This is fiction, not a documentary. Some people on here need to lighten up!

Original poster
crochetmonkey74 · 17/04/2023 09:05

Southeastdweller · 17/04/2023 08:59

This is fiction, not a documentary. Some people on here need to lighten up!

nah
It's through fiction that people understand other people's lives and when things are rooted in 'reality' but represent something people actually living that reality totally wrongly - it's perfectly fine to question that

OP posts:
Nimblesandbimbles · 17/04/2023 10:33

I am finding this thread very eye opening. When I originally watched this I assumed it was based on CC’s experiences although exaggerated for effect. Now I can see that this type of production can be problematic in many ways & not representative of the experiences of many that find themselves in poverty. I did think watching it that the escape in the form of Selby’s country house was quite convenient. I think as others have said the likes of Jack Monroe have been criticised for embellishing their back story to make it more gritty to appeal to Guardian reader types. It made me think of the Pulp song too!
Anyway others have put it better than me.

mewkins · 17/04/2023 19:24

Ivalueloyaltyaboveallelse · 17/04/2023 08:02

I liked it. What I enjoyed was the toxic friendship they had, and how trauma affects attachment and the choices they made. It showed mental health, vulnerability and humour while being dark and disturbing at times.

I wanted to see more about how they came to be friends and the beginnings of their relationship etc. That felt a little unresolved to me. Maybe they're saving it for series two.

Tellmethespoiler · 17/04/2023 20:08

Southeastdweller · 17/04/2023 08:59

This is fiction, not a documentary. Some people on here need to lighten up!

But it doesn’t work as fiction - because the characters and the story aren’t credible.

SequinsandStilettos · 17/04/2023 20:47

Credible - wanker bailiffs not caring about the individual
Not credible - getting out with any bags/electronics intact
Credible - bloke expecting sex in lieu of rent
Not credible - that she wouldn't realise this
Credible - meeting a rich screw-up at uni
Not credible - him going off the deep end re adopting
Credible - writing about sex work
Not credible - having her actual photo printed/no SS involvement
Credible - loving her child
Not credible - having no SS involvement/child being so positive/child being so clean in the context of them being thrown out etc

Like a pp I would be interested how she and Selby met, who he attacked for her, how she went from gaining a degree to ending up doing sex work etc

The episode with the trolling was a reference/rebuke imho to those on here/on Tattle who alleged/said similar irl about her "credentials", her revelations, her child etc She was alleged to be writing as a character/performance art, being middle class, won't somebody think of the kid etc Similar to JM. Others said she had used their anecdotes.
No receipts though - and there have been enough examples in the past of memoirs not being clearcut-James Frey was accused of fabrication, Augusten Burroughs of defamation/sensationalism, JT LeRoy was a hoax, Anthony Godby Johnson was a hoax, Dave Eggers stated from the outset parts of his book were fictionalised. You'd have thought therefore if there was an actual story there regarding CC's accounts of her lived experience being dodgy, she'd have been cancelled by now.

BonnieLisbon · 17/04/2023 21:12

Like a pp I would be interested how she and Selby met, who he attacked for her, how she went from gaining a degree to ending up doing sex work etc
I'd be interested in this too. I'd watch another series of it to find out.

Tellmethespoiler · 17/04/2023 21:18

@SequinsandStilettos
Exactly. Some incidents are credible in very tiny isolation but not as part of any bigger picture, either story-wise or character-wise.

the80sweregreat · 17/04/2023 21:34

Selby's hair annoys me.

Girliefriendlikespuppies · 18/04/2023 09:00

I've got two episodes to go, I have enjoyed it although have been repeatedly frustrated at Costellos character! I have raised my dd single handedly so I know it can be done. If she has a degree surely she could be looking for an actual job? Her dd was 9-10yo assuming she'd been homeless or renting for the same amount of time she could have got a council/HA flat in that time. She would have been eligible for a fair amount of benefits and this is never mentioned.

The insistence she had to stay in London wound me up as well, why?!

I thought it did demonstrate how childhood trauma then pollutes adult relationships and choices. The self sabotage in the choices she made were all linked to the abuse she suffered as a child.

Selby is well acted and a terrible person, I thought Costello was mad to even consider him adopting her dd!!

the80sweregreat · 18/04/2023 09:19

Iris is 12, I am guessing that any benefits she was entitled to would have stopped ? I'm ignorant about benefits though , so I'm probably wrong, but it's obvious something like that has happened here.

I am assuming that we have to believe she was drinking and not paying her bills for many years to run up such a big rent debt too. She mentioned that Selby ' ruined her life ' too, but not sure what she meant by that?

Original poster
crochetmonkey74 · 18/04/2023 09:22

the80sweregreat · 18/04/2023 09:19

Iris is 12, I am guessing that any benefits she was entitled to would have stopped ? I'm ignorant about benefits though , so I'm probably wrong, but it's obvious something like that has happened here.

I am assuming that we have to believe she was drinking and not paying her bills for many years to run up such a big rent debt too. She mentioned that Selby ' ruined her life ' too, but not sure what she meant by that?

You are totally wrong about benefits here - much like Cash Carraway which is why it was so crap

OP posts:
Girliefriendlikespuppies · 18/04/2023 10:27

the80sweregreat · 18/04/2023 09:19

Iris is 12, I am guessing that any benefits she was entitled to would have stopped ? I'm ignorant about benefits though , so I'm probably wrong, but it's obvious something like that has happened here.

I am assuming that we have to believe she was drinking and not paying her bills for many years to run up such a big rent debt too. She mentioned that Selby ' ruined her life ' too, but not sure what she meant by that?

Iris had her 10th bday when they were in Bruton and why would benefits stop when your child turns 12?! It is possible that the rent debt was wracked up because of Costellos drinking/gambling etc although if this were the case ss would likely be involved.

Anyway as a piece of entertainment it's fine and I will finish the series tonight.

the80sweregreat · 18/04/2023 10:32

Sorry , am wrong , but I thought that certain benefits stopped for children at some age?

Catspyjamas17 · 18/04/2023 10:32

I've watched three and thought it was excellent but so bloody grim. DMC is great at grim! Does it get more hopeful? AIBU was fab.

Have you read her autobiography? It's very good and while it's not as grim as Rain Dogs I think she's pretty qualified to write such a story.

MetaDaughter · 18/04/2023 10:34

Perhaps it might have been enlightening to deploy Google before posting, @the80sweregreat?