Love Is All You Need is set up as a romantic comedy, and it is pretty much by the numbers. Only the numbers don’t add up to a top-tier successful movie – which has been proven by a weak box office. The film was directed by Susanne Bier – who won an Oscar in 2011 for Best Foreign Language Film with  In a Better World. To give you some idea of what the world’s film industry thinks of Bier; currently she is post-production of a film she directed called Serena which stars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper which will open overseas in the fall.

We meet the two leads quite simply. Ida is a hairdresser employed ‘somewhere in Copenhagen’. She’s also been through a mastectomy and chemo for breast cancer. Her physician announces that things look under control (as in remission) but there’s no guarantees. And would she be interested in breast reconstruction. Ida says – no thanks – my husband hasn’t noticed that there’s only one.

But before you decide to stop reading any further – thinking this film is going to be about illness – it really isn’t. Ida looks wonderful in a blonde wig – the chemo has taken her hair. Ida is played by Trine Dyrholm. When she gets home from the hospital she finds her husband frolicking on the living room with a blonde bimbo half his age.

He explains that he was on his lunch hour. And this is Thilde from Accounting.

I don’t know if he should be called a brute, a lout, or just an idiot. Or all three as he tries to blame Ida by claiming that her illness was difficult for him too.

Then we meet Pierce Brosnan as a Philip, a rather successful British importer of fruits and vegetables (of all kinds). He’s kind of a dour guy. He’s never gotten over the death of his wife in a tragic accident years ago. He wears sorrow and sadness as part of his regular ‘look’. When one of the office ladies makes a play for him – he turns her down flat.

You gorgeous, sweet beautiful girl  - this is never going to happen. I’m a guy who has chosen to be by himself. Simple as that.

So Ida and Philip meet at the airport – in a not unexpected fender-bender. And the world is so small that:

1) They are both flying to Italy to attend a wedding 2) His son 3) Her daughter 4) Are marrying each other 5) At Philip’s villa estate overlooking Naples Bay in Sorrento, Italy.

Of course it is hate at first sight – we shouldn’t have expected any thing less. But the moonlight, and the sea, and the lovely flowers can make anyone feel good. Toss in Dean Martin crooning That’s Amore, which despite being something of a cliché, still helps set up a romantic film.

Only these families are far more on the side of dysfunctional than normal. Problems arise by the minute – lusty sister-in-law, philandering husband who brings his tootsie to the wedding, worries between the bride and groom, family feuds, and so forth, pepper the story. Things do work out but not without some bumps in the road.

Bier, along with her regular writing partner – Anders Thomas Jensen, have scripted a film that should be a romantic/comedy/drama only it doesn’t garner a lot of laughs, it doesn’t tug at your heart, and it doesn’t induce tears either.

Yet – the setting is so wonderful that you sort of get carried along and involved which is good but decidedly different from deeply involved and moved. However, the sensation is pleasant. What I’m saying is that the movie isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, yet it should have been, or could have been far better.

Brosnan is rather good in these kind of roles, and now that he’s an Ex-Bond, he should look for more work in this kind of role. I’d say this was a walk in the park for him – certainly he wasn’t forced to work all that hard to bring us Philip. Trine Dyrholm, as Ida, had a much more difficult role. She was simply superb. I’d pay money to see her again.

The film gives you what we can call a familiar and comfortable feel to it. It is by no means something you must avoid. I’d recommend it for the settings, the climate, and a rather workable romantic pair with Brosnan and Dyrholm. But that is about as positive as I can get. One more thing – the film has the unusual mix of being half in Danish, with English subtitles, and half English as well. Three point zero is the rating. Check out the trailer.

Loved the line the Detective Sarah Linden said to the old-timer and arrogant SOB, Detective Carl Reddick:

Why haven’t you made sergeant despite your 23 years of experience, [because] all you are is in the way.

That was the highlight of the show. Last week I did a write-up of the first three episodes of Season 3 of AMC’s The Killing. I felt quite positive about the show, despite the difficulties in dealing with a show about runaway kids, and a predator who makes some of them dead. So I had high hopes and was looking forward to the 4th episode.

Simply – for almost all of the episode, nothing much happened in terms of action. But there were some advances made on the case. They busted the motel proprietress known as ‘Mama Dips’ played by Grace Zabriskie who long ago portrayed George Costanza’s almost mother-in-law on Seinfeld. I did get a kick out the way Mama Dips snarled and acted all tough when she was grilled by the cops.

Twitch (foreground above) suffered at the hands of his parole officer before going out of his way, seemingly intentionally, to get beaten up by some young punks at a skating playground called Freeway Park. Bullet did her part by trying to dissuade Twitch, but he ignored her.

Bullet suffered silently, maybe I should say waited patiently, at the 5-0 HQ. She would ID the ring on Kallie’s hand in the motel video. Bullet is an intriguing character. She’s tough, she’s brazen, and she’s often guilty of exposing a bit too much uncalled for, even foolish – bravado. Then I have a gripe about her latest look. She looks androgynous – so why ruin the look by burying her beneath a baseball cap?

I don’t get Stephen Holder. Is it the actor’s choice, or is he written as a cop born elsewhere. His drawl doesn’t seem Northwestern as much as it does Southern.

Linden and Holden’s boss Carl Skinner (Elias Koteas) seemingly ran into a problem from his bosses about the motel busts. He also has his past relationship with Linden to deal with.

I’m also perplexed by what’s going on with Seward on Death Row – I mean he had help – the razor blade in the bar of soap in the prior episode – but what was the point of it? And what was the point of him refusing his meds – which led to another prisoner being beaten up  by the prison guards. Either he wants to live or he doesn’t. Either way, it seems as if compliance would be in his best interests. Unless Seward is simply nuts.

As usual – Linden (Mireille Enos) was great. But it seems quite likely that she will have to face some personal demons, some setbacks, as well as some intense emotional stress before solving the case. While her character Sarah Linden is brooding – it is still a joy watching her act.

I think this series – The Killing (Season Three) is a dark story that isn’t easy to watch. There’s almost nothing onscreen that seems to warm the heart – and speaking of that, let’s start a list of least loved characters on the show – I nominate Kallie Leeds’ Mom – Danette Leeds as most disliked.

Who do you feel should earn this sobriquet?

Let’s start with two women who live more than 500 miles apart. They don’t know each other, and have never met. They have something in common, and that is that each of their husbands have taken jobs overseas. The husbands leave on the same day from their respective locations. Left behind are the wives who have to live with the memories of their last nights with those husbands for an indeterminate amount of time.

As beautiful as the above and below images are, the next day, one of these women looked at a bus pulling out of a lot, and the other watched a train leave a station. At the moment they knew nothing about the other, nor had they any idea that circumstances overseas would bring them together in the future.

In today’s world where our films are filled with violence, explosions, drugs, and corruption, where our films are technological marvels with special FX, 3D, CGI, Imax, and so forth – it is refreshing to watch a film that makes you think and feel. In the words of the director:

Every scene is filled with drama. If it is not the actors and the script, then it is the location. If not the location, then it is the camera angles, and if not that – it is the lighting.

Aren’t those marvelous words? And don’t you want to watch a film that makes your heart beat faster, not from action but from emotion. A film that makes you think, feel, and care – and does so without simply battering the senses?

The film is called Dor and it came out in 2006. One woman is called Meera. She’s played by Ayesha Takia (above as Meera and below as herself). Meera lives in a suburban compound near a large city with her husband’s family. She’s a traditional girl, and has fully accepted her role, as a married woman, that her community and religion have placed her in.

Ayesha Takia

The other is an independent woman who lives alone, and supports herself as a teacher, and has married just prior (actually the day before) to her husband’s departure. She is based in the foothills of a mountainous region. She lives in what could be called a rustic cabin. She is in a difficult position as a daughter-in-law as she and her husband married without his parent’s approvals.

Her name is Zeenat, and she’s made the adjustment. Her in-laws and she get along fine, and though she maintains her own home – she gives all the money sent by husband to her in-laws. She is played by Gul Panag (above as Zeenat and below as herself).

Gul Panag

It is a movie about relationships, a film that has at its core a story about having the courage to never give up, and as the film’s tag-line asks: How far would you go to save the one you love?

Without giving too much away – what happens is that one of these women will lose her husband and will then live a life without flavor, joy, color, or delight. She is plunged into a traditional widowhood – which makes her a near outcast, or said differently – a near slave to her deceased husband’s family.

The second woman needs to find this first woman in order to save her own husband. All she has to go by is a photo, and she nonetheless begins a long journey to a neighboring state in an attempt to track the woman down.

I shall not make any comments on the topics of the film which concern widowhood, service, and family traditions, and the religious and communal requirements concerning those things. The film doesn’t really take a definite position either beyond the hope that people should embrace humanity rather than clinging to the old or archaic ways. The film’s strengths are its positive outlook and the fact that there’s always hope – just ahead – if you keep going.

As touching and beautiful as this story is – it is also spectacular visually. The locations are all real and there’s very little of this film that was shot in a studio. The story is filled with willingness and energy as well as determination and pain. However, there is balance, as a third character, a country fellow who plays an actor who is also a conman, and thief, as well as a guide and a companion. His presence adds a light touch. More than likely the locations will all be new to you, and some are quite breathtaking. Then there are the strong and marvelous performances by the two leads.

Directed and written by Nagesh Kukunoor, this is truly a memorable film. Available on DVD, and as a DVD rental from Netflix, or the film is available via streaming from Erosnow.com . Beyond the film, on the DVD, there is a 15 Minute Special Feature where the director, and the actors all speak about The Making of Dor. It is a real insider look at the art of film, and very rewarding in its own right. I’m going to give this film a four point zero rating out of five, and also give it a strong recommendation.

Aside from that, Magic City was less than scintillating. I’ve seen better Magic from Mr. Clean’s Bath scrubbers. Talk about dull … oh wait I called the show dull last year. All the improvements made in the last five episodes of the first season were washed away between boring board room meetings about where and how to bail Ike out of jail and some agonizing jail house meetings between Ike and his ill-dressed attorney.

You recall that the cliff hanger finale from last year was that Ike was arrested for the murder of Jimmy ‘Shoes’ Clayton. State’s Attorney Klein thought he had his case all wrapped up with the testimony of the prostitute. But she recanted and beyond that, she told the Grand Jury that Klein had threatened her at gunpoint.

Even the judge, in an ex-parte discussion in the courthouse men’s toilet got a chuckle out of it. How could Klein not have seen that one coming?

Aside from that, the sexual content was diminished. Ben Diamond fondled a bare breast as he cooked up a business deal with a Madam to run a house of pleasure in Opa-locka that he would bank roll in exchange for 70% of the profits.

Ben to Ike: You have a choice to make – adapt or die

And they revisited, via flashback, the explicit lovemaking between Stevie Evans and Mrs Diamond as Ben watched from above. Once Ike was sprung from jail – they had a party in Atlantis, the subterranean poolside bar. Diamond came in, and Ike basically blew him off. Diamond didn’t like it and left with this oh-so-scary parting shot – Ike, I believe you have forgotten who you can, and who you cannot disrespect.

Ike must have been quaking in his boots upon hearing that.

Then there was the business about the mysterious jacket, which Ike’s son Danny discovered and then burned. I think I missed the whole significance of it.

Sy: Before you answer, think about it, and choose your next words very carefully

No matter, we still have Sy Berman to look forward to.

Yes, terribly disappointed are the terms I’m looking for to best describe this the opener of the Second Season. Last year, they proudly trumpeted across tv-land that Magic City had been signed on for a second season even before the first season has shown even one episode. That may be a decision that is now being regretted as no such announcement has been made for a 3rd season.

But really, you know what the biggest mystery of all is?  Isaac Michael (Ike) Evans runs the Miramar Playa Hotel. To the best of my knowledge, Ike was not seen sunbathing even once all of last season. Yet despite all of his time being spent indoors – in his office, or in his bedroom, or in the smoky cafe, the Atlantis, as well as in jail - why is it that he looks darker and has more of a tan, one that you can actually see, than does Ben Diamond – who was seen taking the sun in almost every episode last season.

Ike: I want Ben Diamond fucking gone…

I’d like someone to explain that.

Watched the Graceland series pilot (Show # 1) last week and did a write up of that show here. Last night was the 2nd show of the series, an episode called Guadalajara Dog. No, that reference isn’t about some case in Guadalajara – it’s just the third time in two weeks when our intrepid UC’s head off to a food stand on wheels. This week it was the Sun City Hot Dog truck and the specialty of this kitchen-on-wheels is a fanciful hot-dog called the Guadalajara Dog. But that’s getting a bit ahead of ourselves.

So, to get back in place, to open the show, Briggs takes Mike and Johnny to a place of gastric delights called Hector’s Taco Stand. Some kid steals a bag of chips and Mike high tails it after this perp. Until he’s intercepted by Johnny. Briggs and Johnny lay into Mike heavily – about possibly blowing his cover to chase down a thief of potato crisps in a bag. Lesson learned. We hope. Not to worry, it’s all part of Mike’s learning curve and that’s both necessary as well as fun for us.

As you know, FBI agent Mike Warren (Aaron Tveit), who is just out of the Academy has been placed into Graceland. His main job – to keeps tabs on Paul Briggs (Daniel Sunjata) who the FBI higher-ups suspect, no, believe – is dirty. But they need to catch him in the act of breaking the rules, and the law. They’re looking for an indictable offense.

But Briggs is no fool. From the jump he has been suspicious of Warren. Which creates a level of undercover within the undercover roles all these agents play. However this presents a structural problem for the show.

Briggs must be dirty – otherwise why is he so suspicious of Mike Warren. But if Briggs is dirty – we haven’t seen any evidence of malfeasance yet.

Warren is super smart. He’s clever. He can think rapidly while under duress. He’s very observant. The script has dropped more than a dozen visual clues at we viewers that Briggs suspects Warren. Warren is too smart, too observant to not have noticed.

So let us assume he’s noticed. How come he hasn’t reported this to his handler? How come he hasn’t suggested that he back off for a while and sever contact with HQ until Briggs is less suspicious?

Well the reason is obvious. The tension of Warren walking that fine line of being an under cover operative out in the world as well as being an undercover within Graceland is what drives the show and gives it an edge. But they’ve got a handle on this. Warren wants to do more and more. Briggs keeps putting him off, saying he’s too new, too inexperienced – too green. And it is working, Watch:

But beyond the basics of A watching B, and B knows A is watching him, and A knows that B knows, and B knows that A knows he knows – we will have to get down to basics and fairly quickly. When an alpha male – be it dogs, apes, or even men – begins to feel uncomfortable by the presence of another male – sooner or later – we will have a flash point. It is like a law of nature. Immutable and inevitable. Which is pretty much at the heart of this show. And why we watch a show like this.

Then there’s how some of the other situations occur. In this week’s episode, DJ is undercover and still working the exotic bird smuggling case. The caged birds are in a truck which also has a large wooden case with 1000 rounds of illegal ‘cop-killer’ bullets. What a coincidence! And this followed the bit in the pilot where another buy and bust lead to 14,000 pairs of stolen designer jeans. That’s twice in two weeks that they went to the not so brilliant contrivance of ‘well look what we found’.

And how did the bird guys deal with Jakes. They simply locked him in the truck and ran off. They left him with his phone. If they owned the bullets – why wouldn’t they kill him. And even if they were just transporting the bullets why wouldn’t they make a call? I thought that was kind of weak.

Another problem was the 2nd off-base party by the agents. This week on the beach. Last week it was also on the beach when Mike Warren got a call from Deputy Director Campbell in the midst of this party. No phone call this week – but Briggs was still suspicious. But two weeks in a row of fireside chats where they recap the days action. We saw it happen – we don’t need one agent telling the others how it played out. It is simply a waste of time otherwise known as filler.

As predicted last week, the cast has changed. No sign of Graceland House Manager Gerry Silva this week. Agent Lauren Kincaid apparently has been pulled leaving her involvement with the Russians dangling, and she’s been replaced by a new female agent. And Agent Donnie Banks has been given his walking papers as well. As they say in TV-land – his character has been written out.

No sign of Deputy Director Campbell (Courtney Vance) either.

I think the show has some structural issues to deal with, and the show also needs some more varied  situations. Meaning less repetition – unexpected swag, beach parties, etc. Plus until Briggs shows his colors, we need some villains to capture our attention. Last week, in the pilot, the Russian boss was compelling. This week we had no such character.

On the positive side – this week’s episode seemed better paced, had far better writing, and they cut the surfing down to none. We have a new female agent in place, Paige Arkin who is played by Serinda Swan, and Warren has a new handler down at FBI HQ, one Juan Badillo, played by Pedro Pascal.

I’m still positive about the show – and I hope to see some more improvement. One more thing, the show is visually beautiful, You know, those transition shots to show the passage of time, are superb. Unlike CSI Miami which made it into an art-form, yet used the same ones over and over, so far Graceland has not repeated itself.

What about you? I’d love to hear some of your input. Things you love or hate about the show.

In nearby Cuba, Fidel Castro was about to take over the country, and that would mean that the big Havana tourism industry with its triple threat attractions of the exotica, the beaches, and sex, all found at the hotels, would be nationalized, and US interests in Havana, including those of organized crime, would have to find a new place to put their stakes into the ground. That would of course be Miami and Miami Beach.

Evans was a widowed man with two grown sons, and small daughter. He had remarried and he had met his new wife when she worked at a dancer at Havana’s Tropicana Club. She’s played by Olga Kurylenko.

Danny Huston portrayed mobster Ben (the Butcher) Diamond who was Ike’s silent minority partner. When Ike Evans was facing a strike threat by the hotel workers, he had to go to Diamond, who promptly took care of it by the simple measure of having the union boss (with a gun pointed at his head) call off the strike.

Once that was done, the union boss, Mike Strauss, who was Ike’s boyhood friend, was quickly sent to ‘sleep with the fishes’. So Ike owed Diamond.

Diamond’s wife Lily (above) played by Jessica Marais, was the lover of Ike’s son Stevie Evans. This would run all through the first season, and involve blackmail, murders, and ultimately, as Season One ended, would lead to the cliff-hanger finale of Ike being arrested for murder.

I had watched the first three episodes of Season One, and did a review (<—click), and basically wrote the show off. I didn’t like the casting, thought the stories and characters were dull and uninteresting. I also stated that I thought the show spent far too much time in dark interiors watching people drinking, smoking, or having sex. Not that people shouldn’t do those kind of things, but the show lacked dramatic intensity as well as balance because of this.

I later went back and watched the last five 5 episodes of the 1st season. I haven’t changed my mind. However I will state that the show showed decidedly positive signs of improvement. Topics like voyeurism, adultery, and criminal activities are fine topics for adult TV. When you bundle those against a period when people didn’t have cell phones or personal computers, when Castro’s forces were taking over Cuba, and set the whole show in Miami Beach, with ever-increasing amounts of time given to AT & T – alcohol, tobacco, and tits, I can see the appeal to viewers better now than I did after just three episodes of April 2012.

Which brings us to Season 2 which will begin tomorrow night. James Caan will be introduced as Sy Berman, a Chicago mob boss, who might be some one Ben Diamond will have to answer to.

Some of the quotes from the principals, lead me to believe that I will be among those who watch Magic City’s Season 2.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan: The show will be bigger, better, and more [everything]…what comes with that is more casualties – [so] there will be blood.

Danny Huston: …New faces, new forces, and new influences…

Executive Producer & Creator Mitch Glazer:  There’s a deeper window into the dark side of Miami, the gangster side of Miami. The scope of the show has grown. We’ll have more location shooting. We’ll be facing real history bumping up against our own fictional characters. Season Two is really a rocket sled. The threat, menace, and danger is accelerated.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan: ….bigger, harder, … faster.

Ike Evans with his sister-in-law – played by Kelly Lynch

So it looks like comments like dull and uninteresting will no longer apply. Check out the Season Two Premier Trailer:

Here I am approaching June’s midpoint and I’m up to my eyeballs with a TV serial killer addiction. I’m watching two shows – The 5 episode psychological thriller, The Fall, which screens on Netflix, and The Killing Season 3, which I am watching on the AMC Network.

Up until a few days ago I hadn’t heard of either of these shows. A family member urged that I watch The Killing. He compared it to Top of the Lake with the qualifier – that this is how a multi-part drama involving criminal activities, detective work, and capture of the perpetrator – should be done. He said that this was a police procedural that was top of the line. He even went so far as to call the performance of Mireille Enos, who plays Detective Sarah Linden, as the best work of any actress currently on tv.

To be totally upfront, I did not watch Season One or Season Two of The Killing, so I came into Season Three without any background about the show other than it was about solving one case. I’ve watched the first three episodes of Season Three, and while there are references to the past seasons – one can watch Season Three as a stand alone.

Detective Sarah had left the force, shattered or at least seriously emotionally damaged. Rather than working Seattle’s mean streets also known as The Jungle, she’s working on the Vashon Island commuter ferry as a deckhand. Her former partner, Detective Stephen Holden, played by Joel Kinnaman, who was a somewhat green, naive, and inexperienced detective in the first two seasons, now has a new partner, Detective Carl Reddick, a 25 year veteran who has seen it all, and done it all.

As Season Three begins, Holden is more self-confident and assured. He and his partner catch a new case – a young woman has been brutally killed. Reddick suggests they hand the case off to another Detective, but Holden decides to pursue it.

He goes to talk it over with Linden at her home, and – on purpose –  he leaves the case file in Linden’s house. And as expected, she’s drawn back in. So it is ‘Adios’ to the ferry and welcome back to the force Sarah.

We also come to learn that the convicted killer, Ray Seward, played by the riveting Peter Sarsgaard (above), of Season One & Two’s case, has been moved to a different prison block – C block – aka death row. He’s out of appeals and has one card left to play – a Governor’s commutation of the death penalty for his case. Rather than undergo a lethal injection, he opts for hanging in case his death sentence is not canceled by the governor.

The things that are most interesting about The Killing is where it is set, and who are the victims. So far, the victims are all young girls, all runaways, or cast-offs, who are living on the streets. They crash in a church sponsored dorm with only a few beds available each night, and the decision about who gets the beds (for a night) which also include a shower, breakfast, and fresh clothes, is done by a random selection process – numbers are drawn from a hat.

Other than that, these girl crash where they can, or they become working girls – sex is exchanged for money so they can buy a room at a local roach motel.

Looks like a boy, walks and talks like a boy – only she’s a girl. This is Bullet – on the streets since she was 13.

A few girls are introduced and we watch, helplessly, as they are victimized, or brutalized. It isn’t pretty at all. We just know, because we’ve seen it at least a few times, in this season’s opening episodes – that once they get into a car – it will be a one way trip to oblivion.

And we have no idea who the killer is. It seems that there are definite connections to the earlier case, which is why Sarah has re-joined the force. But the convicted killer is sitting on death row. Or is he the real killer? When Sarah questions her boss, he says, Rosie (the original victim) should get justice.

As has been written elsewhere – the show is addictive. But I have to tell you that watching street kids take some of the worst shots that life has to offer (this is not even including those from the serial killer) is a lot to handle. The kids act tough and yet their vulnerability oozes out of every pore.

As for the cops – Sarah needs an upgrade from the cable knit sweater and the L.L. Bean style field coat she wears. And Detective Holden, seems to not only just wear a black raincoat, a white shirt, and a striped tie but it seems that he sleeps in those same clothes.

Still, there’s no denying the edge the show creates – both by the story line and the actors performances.  It’s not just the brazen and street tough style the kids emit, but the fact that these detectives, don’t pull rabbits out of hat – detective work is hard – and it shows. Yes, watching the show requires that you immerse yourself in Seattle’s street Jungle, that you watch the savagery (the killer’s trademarks) and then there’s those incessant gray skies, or gray skies with rain. But to pull a one-word description of the show out into the light so you can think about it – fascinating.

Across the pond – literally, as The Fall is set in Belfast, in Northern Ireland, there’s another fetishistic serial killer on the loose. Only in this show, there’s no mystery. Fifteen minutes into the 1st episode we knew who he is. I’ve watched three episodes here as well, but, this time around, rather than not know, we see him up close and personally either in his work – he’s a grief counselor, or in his family life – he’s a doting Dad and husband, as well as in his leisure activities which are both horrific and perverse.

It’s not that he carves up his victims – rather he takes his time strangling them as they look directly at him. Once that is done, he’s quite tender – he cleans and washes his victims, he even cleans and washes the bedding and straightens the apartment before taking photos of his victims in poses that look merely erotic and artistic rather than deadly.

You see he keeps a detailed ‘scrapbook’. And he uploads the images to his computer. The scrapbook is stored in the crawl space above his daughter’s bedroom.

It’s like he’s setting himself up for a post-mortem discovery. After he’s dead, these particulars will be found in his house. At least that is the feeling I have three episodes in. The series will run for just 5 episodes.

So who is the S.I.O.?

None other than Gillian Anderson – once known all over the world as Dana Scully in the X-Files. Here’s she’s a no-nonsense Detective in charge, or as they call it in Belfast, The Superintendent of Inspectors Officer.

As Stella Gibson, Anderson plays an older version of Detective Robin Griffin played by Elisabeth Moss in Top of the Lake. Anderson is direct and brusque when she needs to be, or blunt as necessary. She worries about nothing. But she’s so good in what she does.

There’s not been any substantial clues discovered by the Belfast 5-O just yet and while we can’t really see the noose of detection tightening – we know it is so. We’ve been with the killer and we know that he’s made a couple of serious mistakes, as yet unknown to the police. But they’re mistakes just the same and completely obvious to we in the audience.

But watching Gillian Anderson take command of a press conference room, a detective briefing session, a crime scene, or even in the way she takes a lover – is just scintillating.

This series moves at a far slower pace – meaning longer scenes than does The Killing, and while the supporting police personnel are finely written and performed by actors all unknown to me, it is worth noting that I appreciate the longer scenes in The Fall because it gives you more time to savor the nuances of the script, the acting, and the horror of the killings.

In both shows, the writers have hooked me and I am unable to look away, or walk away from either show.

As viewers, we are hooked and once you come to realize this, once you begin to ask yourself why, you must also ask yourself if you can you explain your fascination with serial killers – those who prey on young girls in The Killing, and in The Fall – all the victims have been beautiful attractive and successful women.

I recommend both shows – AMC’s The Killing – which you can watch on TV or via a computer, and The Fall which is available vis Netflix streaming service.