Oh wow, this is a gorgeous, gorgeous thread! Thank you so much for all the reviews, images, scenes, fanarts and gifs.
Thank you, Michaela! (And thank you for stopping by!)
I watched this show when it aired in Sweden (last episode aired two weeks ago.) And I must say it's been difficult to get it out of my mind since.
Exactly. I'm a bit on the obsessional side
normally 
but this is quite something--beyond.
The acting was phenomenal, - Ben Whishaw should win ALL the awards!
Yes. And so many moments--so hard to pick which are the best, but one on particular, in episode 5, when Danny is with Frances
in Alex's 'blackboard room' completely covered with equations--
Ben Whishaw/Danny is repeating/reciting something that we have already seen, in flashback, more than twice:
Alex said to Danny (and now Danny says to Frances): "I want to tell you a story--"
Look at Ben Whishaw's
face when, speaking to Frances, he says, while remembering/reliving/reciting poor dead Alex's words:
Danny: And while he did everything to signal to the world that he wanted to be left alone--
Alex: More than anything, he hoped that someone passing would understand that what he really wanted was the exact opposite....and that this someone would sit next to him--
Danny: --and strike up a conversation.And after those short words
strike up a conversation--the pain in his face. Ben/Danny's face. Because it was
Danny who was that
'Someone' who
did strike up that conversation.
And, he realizes, in the end, striking up that conversation eventually meant--Alex's death.
Ben's face--or rather, Danny's face. Four or five seconds. Devastating. Just devastating.
Ok, one other moment. The tone, the pitch, the timbre, the
catch in Ben/Danny's voice when, in episode 4, identically dressed, facing the literally surreal, shockingly bizarre Doppelganger/escort in the Southbank restaurant, Hixter, where, eight months prior, Danny had had his first date/meal with Alex:
Danny: Why did they hire you?
Doppelganger: I don't know, I don't care. It's just a job.
Danny: He's dead. Your job. He was murdered. You think you're not involved? Because you seem like a loose end to me."He's
dead. Your
job." The voice. No change in volume, no change in speed, but--the catch in the voice. How does he do it? Simply amazing.
-- and the dark, depressing, enigmatic tones and nearly glacial plot movement in many scenes are strangely captivating even if frustrating. I realize I did believe 100% in the love story, but not in the insanely convoluted and complex secret plot set in motion against Alex and Danny - but I somehow didn't care about that. So captivating.
Glacial? What can I say, I
like glacial. And yes, the love story. Oh my god Yes. The plot was less so--at first. It will take me quite some time to explain to anyone else that--well, what I first thought was over-the-top/jumping the shark is now, to me--completely believable. Those holes no longer look like holes.
Ok, maybe one hole--after his (fake/forced 'suicide') we learn that Scottie sent Danny's precious notebook to Claire (the
president provost of the University of London!) with a note appended saying: 'Ambition, no conviction.' Really? How--how
mean. Yes, he had said it to Danny himself (frankly but not meanly), but to say it/send it to Claire--hmmm. Yet--maybe *they* did it, and once again the holes start to close.
Perhaps it was Whishaw, Broadbent and Rampling's sheer talent, or Holcroft's beautiful face, but--now I *believe* the crazy plot (within the bounds of the story). In a world in which
Alexander Litvinenko, Gareth Williams,
Edward Snowden are
real people, not characters in some crazy spy thriller--why not?
You've seen the whole show, I assume, John? The final episode was very tough to take, but I am firmly in the 'Alex's brilliant mind was too valuable to be wasted so he's alive under lock and key in the US' camp. One day Danny will find him. <3
First episode--I saw the first 40 minutes, until Danny rang the doorbuzzer at 71-80 Prince of Wales Drive, Battersea (yes, like other crazy people like me, I found the building with Google Maps/Street View) and then I STOPPED. Couldn't go any further. Saw the first 40 minutes over and over, maybe five times--then, a week later, watched the last 20 minutes. Like Danny, I have visited the attic Once only. Yet.
Last episode, same thing. When once again, that same fated night, Danny walks up to the door, with his small rucksack/backpack on his shoulder, knowing that he and Alex will soon be leaving for their planned weekend in the country--and then, for the first time, we see Frances is waiting in a car across the street, and I just--STOP. I know everything, I've read everything, I know what happens, but I just CAN'T. I thought I could watch it tonight, but I still can't. I will. But.
Re: (as poor Scottie once blithely said) "possibilities and dreams"--there was a Fanart cartoon that I saw at least twice and thought I could easily find it again before saving, but now seems lost--I think it was made by one of those lovely/completely bonkers Korean girl/artists--it showed the happiest of scenarios: Alex, confused and uncomprehending, sitting in a half-opened packing crate (NOT that tragic trunk), and Danny, knowing and happy, trundling up with his wheeled carryall case with USA visa/passport in hand. Wishful Sigh (Found it! see next page in this thread, Page 12, Reply 112.)
Different cartoon--
not the one I'm still hoping
to find, unfortunately:
The missing cartoon
might have been done
by this artist--it had
that same tone/feeling--
very optimistic!
