The Day of the Jackal

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Anyone watching? So far I'm really liking the lead actress.

But they keep talking about a Northern Irish weapon-maker bloke being British. I thought Northern Ireland was part of the UK, but not part of Great Britain? Isn't that why our passports say great Britain AND Northern Ireland? Annoying.

On the upside, I loved it so much when the lead lady said "pre planning? Isn't all planning pre ?!"

OMG I hate all this "pre" business, "pre" ordering etc. It's already in advance! (Probably a thread for the pedants section)

I love the lead actress though.

I thought this was because he literally had to get back to Croatia and kill UDC within 24 hours. Alvaro is standing there inviting him to lunch at 1pm- Nuria has asked him to solve this.... Jackal is rushed and that's why he's making mistakes. Everything he did at the beginning was meticulously planned and timed, and as the episodes progressed his actions are more reactions and he doesn't have time.

The car crash scene was totally ridiculous - how many times did the camera show him doing a handbrake turn? . I didn't really enjoy the last episode tbh. I don't think he'd have shown remorse about killing the campavan people - I mean he killed Rasmus without so much as a second glance. Seemed like they were trying to make him be more likeable (and we didn't need them to - we were all rooting for him anyway!).

I think the issue with Bianca is that she had family. I suspect if she'd been single, more of you would have liked her, and her commitment to the job would gave made more sense maybe? But perhaps that's inherent sexism! - a pp mentioned we'd probably not have had the same feeling if she'd been male with a wife and daughter at home. I do think it's a shame that series 2 can't be about her seeking revenge for the boss, or continuing to hunt down the jackal. Nor sure what series 2 can be if it's just the jackal looking for nuria. It needs a cop to be hunting him down too... and if it's someone new it won't have the same continuity or personal touch to it. (I'm thinking about killing eve now!).

I think any sympathy for Bianca ended when she thought it was a good idea to wander round his house - the excellent sniper who can kill people
from 1k away. He’s going to have no trouble dispensing of them…

Sheer stupidity.

I loved it all. I think it’s important to be willing to suspend disbelief to some extent in this genre and just enjoy it. I usually find car chases really tedious, but I actually loved that one. I think the remorse over killing the elderly couple was due to them being older, reminding him of his parents etc.

I mean I know I've criticised different aspects of it but I did absolutely love it!

I also loved it. I just enjoy pointing out the odd plot hole for fun. Best thing I’ve seen in ages!

I only started watching this last night. I'm only on episode 2 but I love it! 2 more tonight!

The stupidity started in episode 2 when she went to Belarus

Shame really that they got it so wrong with the Bianca's silly story line

Overall I loved it however I didn't like the Bianca character from the get go. At first I thought it was the way the character was written but as time went on I felt that it was the actress, her acting was poor, she simply couldn't play that character. She was supposed to be a strong character with a successful track record, pushes the boundaries but is intelligent, persuasive and respected. Instead she came across as a self centred petulant child, stomping around being rude, nothing clever, no subtle change of approach, just playing every scene the same way - very flat.

Eddie Redmayne on the other hand was outstanding, perhaps his skill showed her up even more?!

Yes, she was very flat with her acting. And she just didn't seem like a plausible special agent. Osi would have played the role better I feel.

It was to test using the gun on a boat. It was a trial run for the attempt on UDC

The other thing that bothers me is about midway through when Bianca's home is broken into and her daughter is threatened by the brother of the weapons expert (forgotten his name!).

So then her husband and daughter decide to move to....the husband's ex-wife's house?

I mean even if the husband and his ex had a great relationship surely there are better, safer ideas?

If someone with strong connections to a criminal network broke into my house and threatened my family I would go have my family shipped off to some high security safe house. There's a really clear paper trial (marriage liscences, siblings birth certificates) that connects the husband's ex to the family.

Bianca seems very lax about this stuff, but she's supposed to be super sharp, super determined etc.

Looking for plot holes spoils it for me. We’re all different

I agree.

He killed him because he stupid BIL admitted to him that he had told the Gangster “all about him . . . . but it’s fine, he’s trustworthy”. Clearly, he had told go!

Bianca came across as a grumpy thug.

Eddie/Jackal was genius.

I thought Nuria’s character was a bit daft. She was more interested in her big house & whether hubby was home for lunch than dealing with him being a serial killer.

Well that ending was a bit shit! Like that it keeps things open for series 2 though and very glad the character of Bianca and her dull husband won’t be back.

Completely agree with the posters who said here that the performance of the actor playing Bianca was all “one note” - I think that is what made her family life seem so incongruous. It was like this hard arsed ruthless killing M15 machine turned up and was “pretending” to be a mum. I just wasn’t convinced and it made me not care about her personal life one bit or get invested in her family.

Just been watching Succession alongside this (making the most of the temporary Now TV subscription!) and it knocks the socks off the acting in this.

Was much more convinced by Eddie Redmayne but was a bit 🤨 about him becoming so chaotic and crap compared to his previous meticulous planning. The best bits of the original story is how the Jackel does the planning and execution (no pun intended) and thus the inability of the security services to catch him. But as someone else up thread pointed out maybe it was to show the impact of his wife knowing etc etc.

Still enjoyed it though 😂

I agree with the acting bit to a degree but I also think Bianca's character was let down by the script. We didn't get any backstory into why she had a kid so young, how she ended up at MI6, how she became a firearms expert, where these contacts from Northern Ireland came from. We were just left to fill in the gaps and, since it was already quite unbelievable, it was hard to connect with her.

The soldier backstory episode humanised Eddie Redmayne's character. I think we should have had a similar one for Bianca.

Yes I thought there was a lot of detail missing about Bianca- it took me a few episodes to work out whether she was Jasmine's mum or stepmum? Especially when the husband and Jasmine loved back to his ex-wife's house. What was the story there, how did he and Bianca meet and how young was she when she had Jasmine? But I think that they probably couldn't make the timeline work to explain it.

I'm also curious if Gary will reappear - his army spotter. I was waiting for him to pop up in the last episode as he's definitely been left as a loose thread - is he still alive or did the jackal have to kill him after killing the rest of his unit?

Really enjoyed it overall tho - didn't think I'd be keen on ER but thought he was brilliant!

I wondered how Bianca and husband could afford the house they were living in in London. She had a child young on her own, didn't she say her mum was an alcoholic. Husband divorced with two kids. Good jobs but not huge earners. Near the start the mole hunter was asking about her finances implying that she would be suspectible to bribery. I thought that was going to lead somewhere.

I'm also curious if Gary will reappear - his army spotter. I was waiting for him to pop up in the last episode as he's definitely been left as a loose thread - is he still alive or did the jackal have to kill him after killing the rest of his unit?

I think he will reappear in next series... after all, we saw all his kills... just not this one!

A bit of a back story of how Bianca became the weapons expert would have been so much better than her strange family set up

Her arc of how she was used and betrayed by her superiors would have been interesting for series 2.
I take it she really is dead?

Jackal has been the best thing on telly for a while and one that I've looked forward to. I actually quite liked the Bianca character but all her super whizzy cleverness seemed to disappear completely when she just wandered into the Jackal's house to look for him, so that was difficult to believe. She was so obviously set up by her boss that it was difficult to believe she would fall for it. Just go off with your friend and have a go at killing him, no back up or anything! I'd have thought her training would have just made her say no to that if she had any sense, but I suppose it was her ego that trapped her.

It did get me hooked - I caught part of one episode randomly on TV having previously been why are they bothering remaking - then went back and watched the first 6 and was excited for next episode drop for weeks.

So while I had problems with Bianca character series was still best thing for ages - and I'll happily keep eye out for series 2.

I also think * *Gary will reappear either the Jackal killed him - or he got recognised after a first few jobs and killed and that's why Jackal got so good at disguises - or he still around and next lot of MI6 agents find him and he's the way they get close.

It was dire! I enjoyed the first couple of episodes but it just got so ridiculous and I hated both the leads and didn't care which one of them died. So many plot holes - I hate it when writers treat the audience like idiots.