York

Review : Eternal Law

January 5th, 2012
Vicky Parry
GD Star Rating
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If this had been an ode to the city as opposed to a drama I may have more positive things to say.

I was really desperate to like this series. In fact it has all of the ingredients to make it not only a success, but also utterly my cup of tea. Sadly however; after the initial pleasure of seeing our much beloved city, my excitement soon became marred by what can only be described as questionable acting.

With the likes of Samuel West and Tobias Menzies, this should not have been the case. Both are great actors yet seemed somehow lost amidst the secondary actors, and at times even the extras. The script also left me cold and at points I sadly found myself cringing.

Now, this isn’t to say I am not going to watch it again. There were elements of humour in the script and story lines that caught my interest sufficiently to warrant further attention. It also needs noting that many programs suffer with the pilot episode; trying to build characters, plot lines and relationships all within an hour can often cause the initial episode to be slightly lacking in story. Therefore I will give it another shot.

On the plus side York also looked beautiful, the size of the city made a perfect backdrop and the use of its iconic buildings lent themselves beautifully to the film set. The sweeping views, higgledy-piggldy alley ways and neo classical elements of our architecture all made for an aesthetically pleasing set.  The quietness of the streets however did at times make for a disconcerting feel and the filming seemed isolated and lacking in atmosphere. This may have been an intentional construct to highlight the alienation of the angels; I suppose I can only decide once I have seen more episodes.

All in all I am left feeling slightly cold by what I just saw and really do hope that the series picks up.

If you too have just watched the first episode of Eternal Law then let us know your thoughts.

 

 

  • Dave 42

    I am fully aware of what has lead people to strike. I however am saddened by the inconsiderate nature which has lead them to do so.

    I lost my job this year due to cuts (after working with the company for 40 years) and have since been unemployed. Therefore to have utter mass hysteria due to pensions just seems a little thoughtless.

    I hope people reach their resolution, I am just sad we are all suffering because of it.

  • Bruno

    I saw some picket lines on my way into town this morning at York St John’s and the hospital. Good to see people sticking up for their rights. It’s not as if we strike every week like the French… people only do it as a very last resort here and we should be proud of that and proud that we have the right to take action if we feel we are not treated fairly. Interesting to see how the Tory government has hyped up the disruption before hand to create hysteria and turn people against the workers when the actual reality, as is being reported this morning, is that there is very little disruption on the trains, ferries and airports.

  • Bruno

    @Dave 42 We ‘claim this is a democracy’? Well we vote and although perhaps not perfect we do have one of the fairest political systems in the world so I think we can say that yes we do have a democracy or as close to a democracy as we’ll probably get.

    You say “stand up for your rights” like that’s a bad thing?

    We can blame the government, previous government’s and yes even ourselves. This is true.

    Is there ever a right time? I suppose people could wait until the current problems in the public sector magically go away and then we could discuss the issues?

    I think I’m pretty fairly treated in this country if I’m honest. Especially compared to a lot of other places… but again you treat this like it’s a negative thing to want to be fairly treated. So in your view no one is fairly treated so we should just accept that and move on without questioning or trying for a fairer society?

    A point a lot of people miss when talking about industrial action and non-violent protest is that it is actually the sign of a healthy democracy. It means we have a society where people can disagree and openly show that disagreement without fear of arrest and imprisonment. Strikes and protests may not be pretty but sometimes the last resort is necessary. A society where we are not able to do this would not be a nice place to live I promise you. If you disagree then get a history book and turn to the page on Europe in the late 1930s. Even if you only look at the pictures you’ll probably see what I’m getting at. Try standing up for your rights in Syria, Iran or North Korea and you might get a bit of a better idea about being fairly treated.

    We generally have it pretty good here and that’s because we have the right to stand up for ourselves.

  • Dave 42

    You have clearly read up on your informed answer. Where is the humanity however in that? I am appealing to human emotion as oppose to historical fact. There are two sides to this strike and a forgotten majority. I was however not questioning peoples voice. I am saddened that people like myself are out of work and the people in work are making this massive disruption.
    Also, you got defensive of our country “I am fairly treated in the country” I never brought nationality into it.
    My point was that I don’t know anybody who hasn’t got things to moan about. Long hours, redundancy, under paid, over worked. I am not saying that because all is wrong we should accept it. I am saying that there are millions of “dissatisfied” people out there who have no alternative. Although people should stand up for themselves, there must be better ways of doing it. Ways that don’t alienate the rest of us.

  • Bruno

    @Dave 42 Fair points. It’s an emotive subject on all sides. Any disruption to people’s lives is sad. I think a lot of people are just genuinely worried about the future, whether in employment or not. But of course it’s harder if you arn’t and it must rankle as you say.

  • Corrie Renton

    Thats unbelievable!!!! Any idea if this is going to happen again anywhere else?

  • AndrewJones

    Very clever. :D @Corrie Renton

  • JonnyMotto

    Even though I don’t think strikes work, I will always defend the right to do so. Having said that, the strikes over the last few years have had little impact. When I worked for DWP, we were told well in advance of strike action and the managers/senior staff ensured there were plenty of resources for dealing with workload which avoided distruption to services as I don’t think you can call immediate strike action nowadays.

    The issue I don’t understand is how representive the union calls for strike action are. Currently ballots only need a 1% return and then whatever the majority of that return is will determine if strikes happen. In today’s example, 2.6m (approx) were balloted and something like 750,000 said ‘yes’ to action. With others saying ‘no’, failing to return or unsure whether to strike – is that really representative of the total union membership?

    I now work in the private sector; having to work longer hours, lower pay, less favourable ‘packages’ than if I stayed in public sector and I have to pay a higher pension contribution to have any chance of having some income when/if I can retire. It’s tough. I just have to get on with it. Even though I work more thatn my contracted hours.

    I walked through York just now and I haven’t seen the march, so not sure if the numbers were exaggerated or maybe I just missed it, but there were plenty of shoppers, and ques to get in to Pizza Hut and Pizza Express as well as full bars!

  • KiranTanna

    An update on the above article: police and demonstrators have agreed that the number of demonstrators on the march was counted at approximately 2000.Source: North Yorkshire Police.

  • KiranTanna

    There have also been calls for York St John University and The University of York to put the money saved on unpaid wages to UCU members into their grant schemes so that students (as opposed to the executives) can benefit directly from the time taken off by academics.Sounds good to me.

  • mr_andy_c
  • BenOsborne

    @inkchamberlain@JonnyMotto Thanks for clearing that up guys.

  • JessLeeCurran

    Too bad I missed it when it was at the Metro centre :(

  • 161

    The map is a little misleading: the hot air baloon is no 19 while the gallery is right at the southern end of the road – that’s the reason I added the sentence in the original item.

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