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Partners in Crime, Descendants
Aug. 3rd, 2015 08:57 pm1. I've watched the first 2 episodes of the new Partners in Crime series, and...it's actually quite enjoyable, if you ignore the fact that it's meant to be Tommy and Tuppence. Instead of The Secret Adversary being set in 1919 with a young Tommy and Tuppence both relatively recently returned from the war, recently reunited and mutually unemployed and barely scraping by, we have Tommy and Tuppence in the 50s, married for a least a decade, complete with child, still mostly broke, quite bored, and not completely happy in their relationship. Now, I'm all for married couples having adventures and spicing up their sex lives by barely surviving get shot, but the plot of The Secret Adversary, even drastically altered as it is here, is both very much rooted in the mindset of the times, and in the fact that Tommy and Tuppence are young and rootless and haven't really readjusted to "normal" life yet. Long-married Tommy and Tuppence with roots and responsibilities and obligations and years away from any war are completely different, and irrepressible youthful need for adventure is now more desperate need to escape tedium.
The there's the characters. Jessica Raines' Tuppence is rather like Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie and Jane Marple. It isn't the character from the books, but it's a character I can see coming from the character in the books. Tuppence is clever and witty and always has an eye out for adventure, even if this Tuppence has been repressing her's for years. But then there's Tommy. David Walliams does a good job with the character he's given, but the character isn't really Tommy. They seem to have taken the fact that Tommy is slower to act than Tuppence and not as clever and gets pulled into her adventures and turned that into the bulk of his characterization. Tommy should be witty and dapper, but also calm and intelligent. He isn't as clever as Tuppence, but he's more considered and careful in his actions. He thinks things through before acting, as long as the situation allows it, and while he gets pulled into Tuppence's adventures, he does it mostly willingly and with his eyes wide open (not even including the time he bought a detective agency to keep her entertained). This Tommy isn't dim or bumbling, but he seems to be going into things lost and stumbling his way through as opposed to absorbing and processing information and getting through because he's a little bit smarter than most people.
There's also Julius Hersheimer, now Julius Finn and Jane Finn's uncle, instead of her cousin. In the books, when Tuppence is falling for Tommy but not quite realizing it at first while indulging in a light flirtation (that then becomes more serious on his part) with the slightly older, rich American, there's absolutely nothing going on to raise any eyebrows unless you clutch pearls at the idea of your female lead noticing any male aside from her Designated Love Interest. But when it's long-married Tuppence in love with but bored and somewhat disappointed by her husband being intrigued by a man she just met, it actually comes across as a bit sad. On Julius's part, well, it's one thing to be flirting with/falling for a nice, single girl who MIGHT have something going on with that friend of hers, but maybe not. It's another thing entirely to be openly flirting with a married woman in front of her husband, and pretty obviously holding said husband in contempt.
And all of that is pretty critical, but really, it's critical of it as an adaptation of Tommy and Tuppence books. As an independent series about a married couple in the 50s who escape ennui with adventure, it's actually VERY enjoyable.
2. Completely on the opposite end of the spectrum, I also watched Disney's Descendants, a TV movie musical about the offspring of Disney villains being sent to the school for the heroes' children as part of an exchange program, with a mission to steal the Fairy Godmother's wand, or face their parents' wrath. The first 10 or so minutes were bad in a truly cringe-worthy way, but the rest was enjoyably cheesy and cliched. It also had people who could act and sing, which helped considerably. It's apparently meant as a lead-in to an animated series this fall, and I think it will work much better that way that as live action. Ever After High is better, IMO, but the animated series should be fun, as long as I like the animation.
The there's the characters. Jessica Raines' Tuppence is rather like Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie and Jane Marple. It isn't the character from the books, but it's a character I can see coming from the character in the books. Tuppence is clever and witty and always has an eye out for adventure, even if this Tuppence has been repressing her's for years. But then there's Tommy. David Walliams does a good job with the character he's given, but the character isn't really Tommy. They seem to have taken the fact that Tommy is slower to act than Tuppence and not as clever and gets pulled into her adventures and turned that into the bulk of his characterization. Tommy should be witty and dapper, but also calm and intelligent. He isn't as clever as Tuppence, but he's more considered and careful in his actions. He thinks things through before acting, as long as the situation allows it, and while he gets pulled into Tuppence's adventures, he does it mostly willingly and with his eyes wide open (not even including the time he bought a detective agency to keep her entertained). This Tommy isn't dim or bumbling, but he seems to be going into things lost and stumbling his way through as opposed to absorbing and processing information and getting through because he's a little bit smarter than most people.
There's also Julius Hersheimer, now Julius Finn and Jane Finn's uncle, instead of her cousin. In the books, when Tuppence is falling for Tommy but not quite realizing it at first while indulging in a light flirtation (that then becomes more serious on his part) with the slightly older, rich American, there's absolutely nothing going on to raise any eyebrows unless you clutch pearls at the idea of your female lead noticing any male aside from her Designated Love Interest. But when it's long-married Tuppence in love with but bored and somewhat disappointed by her husband being intrigued by a man she just met, it actually comes across as a bit sad. On Julius's part, well, it's one thing to be flirting with/falling for a nice, single girl who MIGHT have something going on with that friend of hers, but maybe not. It's another thing entirely to be openly flirting with a married woman in front of her husband, and pretty obviously holding said husband in contempt.
And all of that is pretty critical, but really, it's critical of it as an adaptation of Tommy and Tuppence books. As an independent series about a married couple in the 50s who escape ennui with adventure, it's actually VERY enjoyable.
2. Completely on the opposite end of the spectrum, I also watched Disney's Descendants, a TV movie musical about the offspring of Disney villains being sent to the school for the heroes' children as part of an exchange program, with a mission to steal the Fairy Godmother's wand, or face their parents' wrath. The first 10 or so minutes were bad in a truly cringe-worthy way, but the rest was enjoyably cheesy and cliched. It also had people who could act and sing, which helped considerably. It's apparently meant as a lead-in to an animated series this fall, and I think it will work much better that way that as live action. Ever After High is better, IMO, but the animated series should be fun, as long as I like the animation.
