Taken Down [RTE]

The Late Late Show

jvan wrote: »

Didn't think episode 5 was that bad. Story progressed a bit but its still so bloody slow.
I've lasted this long so will watch next week and then make final judgement as a whole.
Hopefully they don't leave any major cliffhangers for series 2!

The slow pace is one of the problems with it and it never came alive in the first 3 episodes I saw. The whole thing could actually be done in a standard 45 minute US cop show episode. Taken Down like a lot of RTE shows has an identity crisis: is it a cop show or is it a drama about about direct provision?

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

This series has been so slow, preachy, drab, did I mention boring? I hope it is put out of its misery next week.

Some awful awful acting in it. The main hard chaw guy is over acting so much he’s chewing the scenery. A number of the African actors are rubbish. The two women gardai-dreadful, and the culchie garda a total clown.

Consign it to the RTÉ archives so it can be forgotten about!

I predict it will get a second series much like Striking Out did. Then it will be politely dropped and something similar will be made to replace it. Taken Down is more or less the same concept as Acceptable Risk and is chick lit crime drama made for fans of Daniel and Majella's B&B Roadtrip and Dancing With The Stars.

Slow, preachy, drab, boring are all words to describe this and many other RTE dramas. The Big Bow Wow finished me with Irish drama before and Love/Hate renewed my interest in Irish drama but now I am less and less interested in Irish drama once again. Striking Out finished me with Amy Huberman and is why I avoided the second series of that and also Finding Joy. Taken Down has only confirmed for me that RTE hasn't got it in them to do another Love/Hate. It is perhaps time for RTE to stop trying to make crime dramas if they cannot show their world in an uncensored format. But in a time when even the song Baby it's Cold Outside is considered offensive, RTE will not be risking another Love/Hate type drama.

123balltv

Just take it off air now.

clfy39tzve8njq

123balltv wrote:

Just take it off air now.

Right this minute like :-)

Bad state of affairs when yer man from fair city put in the stand out performance..

The Late Late Show

Kyle More wrote: »

That's a very fair comment. I mean, people still talk about it to this day. It's kind of like Bosco, an Irish institution of sorts from a different era, that's still fondly remembered.

In the modern era of Irish drama, it's quite possible that Love/Hate was just a great match from an average player who hasn't been able to repeat their performance since. With all the hype surrounding Taken Down and its ties to Stuart Carolan, I was expecting more. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing either. I'll give it one more chance to redeem itself, then it's game over for me (if it actually gets a second series).

Glenroe was good in its era and the original Wesley Burrows episodes showed a talented writer who knew how to pull off such a show. It had many memorable characters and was the last set of a series of 3 that began with The Riordans.

I do not blame Stuart Carolan at all for why Taken Down was a disappointment. It is all the agendas since Love/Hate that have stifled things. RTE do not want to show anything controversial like the Love/Hate scenes and Taken Down and other recent RTE series are a victim of a neo-puritanical environment where PC encroaches on drama in a very bad way.

Don't get me wrong, I am pro-PC and anti-misogyny, anti-racism, etc. but drama is drama and should show its world. No one is accusing The Handmaid's Tale of being pro-misogyny are they? It is a lesson about misogyny taken too far. Love/Hate was a lesson about why being a gangster is not as good as some may think. Not one of the characters was happy or ended up well.

FrancieBrady

I don't need my drama to be all bang crash whallop and full of cliched characters and plotlines.

I kinda of like the slow evolution of the storyline here.

Although it has it's issues (some acting and plot) this kind of exposition has potential.
Clearly it isn't to everyone's taste and it was perhaps unwise to put it in this slot where there seems to be a cohort who want Love Hate and nothing but Love Hate. Bit early in Carolan's career to be pigeonholing him.

TerrorFirmer

I honestly don't think it's that bad and the story is interesting, it's the ropey acting from some of the actors that really sinks it....and it's the Irish actors which are by far the worst offenders. The only one of them offering a somewhat consistently realistic, and not over-acted performance is the lad playing Gar, Brian Gleeson is alright as well.

Most of the Nigerian actors, or actors playing Nigerians, are pretty credible too. But most of the overall support cast is just plain awful, and some of it falls down to the direction because there's a few actors stinking up the place that are capable of, and have previously delivered, far better.

Love/Hate is a tough metric obviously but putting that aside, at the very best this is a painfully average production, and a few weeks after it airs no-one'll even think about it, let alone be talking about it. It's a good idea just executed really badly.

The Late Late Show

FrancieBrady wrote: »

I don't need my drama to be all bang crash whallop and full of cliched characters and plotlines.

I kinda of like the slow evolution of the storyline here.

Although it has it's issues (some acting and plot) this kind of exposition has potential.
Clearly it isn't to everyone's taste and it was perhaps unwise to put it in this slot where there seems to be a cohort who want Love Hate and nothing but Love Hate. Bit early in Carolan's career to be pigeonholing him.

Taken down taken down.

ThunbergsAreGo

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I honestly don't think it's that bad and the story is interesting, it's the ropey acting from some of the actors that really sinks it....and it's the Irish actors which are by far the worst offenders. The only one of them offering a somewhat consistently realistic, and not over-acted performance is the lad playing Gar, Brian Gleeson is alright as well.

Most of the Nigerian actors, or actors playing Nigerians, are pretty credible too. But most of the overall support cast is just plain awful, and some of it falls down to the direction because there's a few actors stinking up the place that are capable of, and have previously delivered, far better.

Love/Hate is a tough metric obviously but putting that aside, at the very best this is a painfully average production, and a few weeks after it airs no-one'll even think about it, let alone be talking about it. It's a good idea just executed really badly.

I think the guy playing the main "bad" Nigerian is dreadful. I cannot take him seriously at all

The dialog is also appalling especially the "interactions" of the gardai

FrancieBrady

The Late Late Show wrote: »

These all are good points. A major problem with this was it was put on at the same time of year as, written by the main writer of and sold as from the makers of Love/Hate. I quite enjoyed Amber and Charlie and noted neither was sold as a variant of Love/Hate (despite 2 main Love/Hate actors being the lead stars of the latter).

There is no doubt I would like to see a Love/Hate revival or a drama similar to that done. There are many out there who would want the same. If RTE gave us that, they could then produce other dramas. Who knows: if sold without mentioning Love/Hate, then people may feel differently.

:rolleyes:

I go to theatre all the time that is sold as 'from the writer of XXXXXXX' or 'from the producers of XXXXXXX' and I would never expect the same thing again as XXXXXXXX. That is just silly.
Carolan has tried something different, it isn't wholly successful, has the same faults as L/H.

Your ultimatum (bolded) to RTE is hilarious. :D Nobody can produce drama for consumers like you tbh.

prunudo

It was only after reading this thread that I realised the madam in the brothel was called Marvellous. Thought they were calling her Mavolus.

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naughtb4 wrote: »

I think the guy playing the main "bad" Nigerian is dreadful. I cannot take him seriously at all

The dialog is also appalling especially the "interactions" of the gardai

The interactions between the Gardai and the awful cliched humour attempts are surely appalling. These sort of interactions have marred many RTE dramas and they still don't learn.

FrancieBrady wrote: »

:rolleyes:

I go to theatre all the time that is sold as 'from the writer of XXXXXXX' or 'from the producers of XXXXXXX' and I would never expect the same thing again as XXXXXXXX. That is just silly.
Carolan has tried something different, it isn't wholly successful, has the same faults as L/H.

Your ultimatum (bolded) to RTE is hilarious. :D Nobody can produce drama for consumers like you tbh.

Why the personal bullying? My views are EVERY BIT as relevant as yours and I don't get abusive to other posters including yourself. Who said I wanted bloody Taken Down to be a carbon copy of Love/Hate but I expected it to be made in the same bloody spirit which it CLEARLY is not. It is tame, poorly acted and looks cheap. It is cheaply made and we know RTE do not have the money because they are paying their presenters the money that could be spent on drama. If something is from the makers of X, then it is EXPECTED it is to be the SAME QUALITY as X.

Nobody can produce drama for consumers like me????!!!! Love/Hate, The Handmaid's Tale, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, McMafia, Charlie, Strumpet City, Dallas old series, Dallas 2012-13 series, Gotham, etc, etc. prove otherwise!! That is a lot more than nobody! Plus they are different types of drama and none is a copy of the other.

FrancieBrady

The Late Late Show wrote: »

Why the personal bullying? My views are EVERY BIT as relevant as yours and I don't get abusive to other posters including yourself. Who said I wanted bloody Taken Down to be a carbon copy of Love/Hate but I expected it to be made in the same bloody spirit which it CLEARLY is not. It is tame, poorly acted and looks cheap. It is cheaply made and we know RTE do not have the money because they are paying their presenters the money that could be spent on drama. If something is from the makers of X, then it is EXPECTED it is to be the SAME QUALITY as X.

Nobody can produce drama for consumers like me????!!!! Love/Hate, The Handmaid's Tale, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, McMafia, Charlie, Strumpet City, Dallas old series, Dallas 2012-13 series, Gotham, etc, etc. prove otherwise!! That is a lot more than nobody! Plus they are different types of drama and none is a copy of the other.

'Personal bullying'? 'Abusive'? What are you on about?

I countered your opinion that 'from the makers of Love/Hate' somehow gave you the right to expect Love/Hate. It's a ridiculous opinion tbph.

I also found your ultimatum to RTE 'to give us Love/Hate 2 or else' ridiculous and simply said so.

Your only problem with this series is that it isn't something else. How could anyone satisfy that critical appreciation?

The Late Late Show

FrancieBrady wrote: »

'Personal bullying'? 'Abusive'? What are you on about?

I countered your opinion that 'from the makers of Love/Hate' somehow gave you the right to expect Love/Hate. It's a ridiculous opinion tbph.

I also found your ultimatum to RTE 'to give us Love/Hate 2 or else' ridiculous and simply said so.

Your only problem with this series is that it isn't something else. How could anyone satisfy that critical appreciation?

My problem is not that the series isn't something else (afterall, Love/Hate is not The Handmaid's Tale, neither of them 2 are Peaky Blinders, and neither of those 3 are McMafia but they are all good, different and professionally made). There are a lot of things wrong with Taken Down ranging from a deliberate tameness (which should never be in a crime or dystopian drama any more than we should see violence in Mary Poppins or The Sound of Music) to some very poor acting and cliches (the Gardai).

FrancieBrady

The Late Late Show wrote: »

My problem is not that the series isn't something else (afterall, Love/Hate is not The Handmaid's Tale, neither of them 2 are Peaky Blinders, and neither of those 3 are McMafia but they are all good, different and professionally made). There are a lot of things wrong with Taken Down ranging from a deliberate tameness (which should never be in a crime or dystopian drama any more than we should see violence in Mary Poppins or The Sound of Music) to some very poor acting and cliches (the Gardai).

And Love Hate suffered from the same thing. Too much violence and cliche galore.

This is good drama (Taken Down) it isn't brilliant or groundbreaking, but well worth investing in by a broadcaster, in it's own right and without having to live up to anything else.

Atlantic Dawn

I see it's being release on futuristic DVD in 2 weeks time, bit of a risk taking the leap from VHS...
https://ebuzz.ie/products/taken-down-dvd

FrancieBrady

FrancieBrady wrote: »

:rolleyes:

I go to theatre all the time that is sold as 'from the writer of XXXXXXX' or 'from the producers of XXXXXXX' and I would never expect the same thing again as XXXXXXXX. That is just silly.
Carolan has tried something different, it isn't wholly successful, has the same faults as L/H.

Your ultimatum (bolded) to RTE is hilarious. :D Nobody can produce drama for consumers like you tbh.

But Francie, it is unusual to see such a radical departure from Love/Hate given that its the same team involved. Love/hate pushed the boundaries whereas this pushes a bit of an agenda.

David Simon is an example of writing style staying consistent with the Wire, the Deuce, Homocide, etc. It remained true to his style of writing and every character was told from every angle

FrancieBrady

Deleted User wrote: »

But Francie, it is unusual to see such a radical departure from Love/Hate given that its the same team involved.

It's not really in either the film or theatre world. Why you would expect the same in a television environment escapes me.
This series is about the same in terms of writing or production values as Love/Hate. That L/H garnered the love of a certain viewing audience has to be taken into account. While it reached a good standard, it was neither original or groundbreaking.

The Late Late Show

Deleted User wrote: »

But Francie, it is unusual to see such a radical departure from Love/Hate given that its the same team involved. Love/hate pushed the boundaries whereas this pushes a bit of an agenda.

David Simon is an example of writing style staying consistent with the Wire, the Deuce, Homocide, etc. It remained true to his style of writing and every character was told from every angle

Taken Down is the direct opposite of Love/Hate. This is mainly because it is written for the most part by someone else, because it is in line with RTE's new sanitised agenda for drama and features no iconic character like Nidge or Fran.

Love/Hate pushed the boundaries and went where other dramas were and sadly now are again afraid to. As said before, I do not watch or enjoy the likes of Dancing With The Stars or Daniel and Majella's B&B Roadtrip but do enjoy gritty crime and dystopian dramas. Why then are RTE making crime dramas for the first audience and not for the second? All those who do not enjoy 'torture porn' or whatever they like to call it should stick with Daniel and Majella and the Dancing thing and let crime and dystopian drama fans watch proper stuff and not watered down rubbish.

It's watchable but there's a seeming p1sstake of AGS going on..... when you acknowledge/presume that's not the case it's a bit sh1t.
But then, the first time I saw Willie O'Dea on TV I thought that was a p1sstake too.

FrancieBrady

The Late Late Show wrote: »

Taken Down is the direct opposite of Love/Hate. This is mainly because it is written for the most part by someone else, because it is in line with RTE's new sanitised agenda for drama and features no iconic character like Nidge or Fran.

Love/Hate pushed the boundaries and went where other dramas were and sadly now are again afraid to. As said before, I do not watch or enjoy the likes of Dancing With The Stars or Daniel and Majella's B&B Roadtrip but do enjoy gritty crime and dystopian dramas. Why then are RTE making crime dramas for the first audience and not for the second? All those who do not enjoy 'torture porn' or whatever they like to call it should stick with Daniel and Majella and the Dancing thing and let crime and dystopian drama fans watch proper stuff and not watered down rubbish.

I think Love/Hate 'pushed boundaries' for people who don't watch much drama tbh.

It really didn't push anything.
Dramas that successfully 'push boundaries' generally make it big around the world, if not with the public then certainly critically. And L/H, didn't go anywhere near that.

Your continued lament for the lack of graphic violence is bewildering too. This series set it's style early on and it just isn't concerned with that.

Atlantic Dawn

One plus which Taken Down has going for it is that the Garda focused setup allows the next series to be a completely new storyline involving a more Love/Hate style drugs gangs instead.

Imhof Tank

Gar to underage, trafficked, Flora on her initiation: "Well now, I'm goin to give ye............ an auld lash"

Late Late Show - you really think that's tame??

bodhrandude

The Late Late Show wrote: »

Taken Down is the direct opposite of Love/Hate. This is mainly because it is written for the most part by someone else, because it is in line with RTE's new sanitised agenda for drama and features no iconic character like Nidge or Fran.

Love/Hate pushed the boundaries and went where other dramas were and sadly now are again afraid to. As said before, I do not watch or enjoy the likes of Dancing With The Stars or Daniel and Majella's B&B Roadtrip but do enjoy gritty crime and dystopian dramas. Why then are RTE making crime dramas for the first audience and not for the second? All those who do not enjoy 'torture porn' or whatever they like to call it should stick with Daniel and Majella and the Dancing thing and let crime and dystopian drama fans watch proper stuff and not watered down rubbish.

Its a crime drama alright but on the seedier side of sex trafficking and not really the same content as Love Hate at all, the only connection being both have brothels in the programme, nether is it dystopian its about present day Dublin. I'm interested to see what the finale brings, I've got a feeling they will have to release Wayne on some technicality.

You'd wonder how it obviously got a second season before it aired..and who the jaysus called it a new standard of Irish drama or whatever..really, it's like someone decided to do a crossover between roots and the keystone cops and set it some modern day feminist dystopian Dublin..and then said, put one of those ginger Gleeson lads in it..

Atlantic Dawn

Are they showing what should have been the first episode now, lol, confusing as fook.

Andrew00

This is s*ite

It's so bad..

mr_edge_to_you

Don Wycherley’s accent is shocking - makes the whole thing look amateurish.

ednwireland

mr_edge_to_you wrote: »

Don Wycherley’s accent is shocking - makes the whole thing look amateurish.

male garda are all culchies only women are street wise and sassy

mr_edge_to_you

ednwireland wrote: »

male garda are all culchies only women are street wise and sassy

It’s a shocking culchie accent though.

You would kind of wonder about who encouraged the cast to pursue their acting careers..

Andrew00

Is that it? Jesus, that was absolutely awful.

castletownman

I can get over the poor accents and the shoddiness of some of the "home" acting as I thought the explanation of Esme's death was very well done, and actually emotional.

The poor girl.

Although I don't know how the lead detective would have such a lightbulb moment by Marvellous writing with her left hand for literally the length of the time it took to sign a form. Must have some attention for the finer details.

mr_edge_to_you

That was poor enough. I have to confess if they go for a series 2 pitching the Guards against Gar, I’d definitely be up for it.

Atlantic Dawn

The Gardaí had dashcam footage in the second/third episode showing a man in the passenger side door area of the Passat and they got the reg from that, this never happened in this episode, not a single car passed while he was getting her out of the car, I'm confused, was there a 2nd Passat with another man?

Icsics

What a disgraceful ending, won't be watching another series of that.

Atlantic Dawn

Episode 3, at 3 mins there's a different Passat with man scene, not what was shown tonight as no vehicle passed him tonight...
https://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/taken-down-30006504/10965665/

prunudo

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Episode 3, at 3 mins there's a different Passat with man scene, not what was shown tonight as no vehicle passed him tonight...
https://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/taken-down-30006504/10965665/

Thats some pretty poor continuity if it was supposed to be the same car.

spurshero

Very disappointing end show . If that’s meant to leave ya excited for next series it’s in big trouble

Atlantic Dawn

They didn't even show an ad after the credits for the DVD release Friday week, do they think it bombed?

RabbleRouser2k

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

They didn't even show an ad after the credits for the DVD release Friday week, do they think it bombed?

I think so-plus there's been a recent shift away from dvd boxsets (by the likes of RTE, and others such as the Simpsons). They're more inclined to do digital boxsets similar to Netflix.So no more physical boxsets, but I saw they're advertising the 'boxset' on the RTE player- as in no physical copies.


Decided to watch the last episode. I've missed it since episode 3. And it continued to disappoint. (Did the lead miscarry? Was there something about the loss of a baby? Seemed the male actor was more upset than she was... terrible acting).

There was some good scenes-the death of the girl sequence for one was well shot.

Why couldn't the rest of the show be like that-the supporting cast were often the best thing about the show-the main cast were awful. (And Don Wycherley popped up to play the most stereotypical 'c'ntree' Garda chief ever. He was terrible in it. Hard to believe the crap material he's gotten since Batchelor's Walk).

I checked twitter-the majority of the praise for the show came from people who worked on the show. Others were making comments like 'Was there an ending edited out of that show?' and others noting how slow it was. The last episode could have been a one off mini-film. Not a series. It didn't need a series.

But they did something soooo stupid--they planned for another series. It's arrogance to assume you'll get another series based on the first one.
And just to highlight how little faith RTE had in the series, they were already advertising another mini-series, Resistance, when not allowing the finale to supposedly 'sink-in'.
(And it will also star the lesser Gleeson in that one-so that was confusing).

It's a damn shame-the 'non-Irish' characters were completely let down by the supposed protagonists.

BoroMan32

Christ that was turgid.

The big 'twist' is your woman signing the form with her left hand, and then we just get a giant big flashback of what actually happened. No drama, no suspense, nothing.

Pure and utter ****e.

Watchable but not great and you'd not be bothered if the second series doesn't materialise.

Laneyh

The Late Late Show wrote: »

Taken Down is the direct opposite of Love/Hate. This is mainly because it is written for the most part by someone else, because it is in line with RTE's new sanitised agenda for drama and features no iconic character like Nidge or Fran.

Love/Hate pushed the boundaries and went where other dramas were and sadly now are again afraid to. As said before, I do not watch or enjoy the likes of Dancing With The Stars or Daniel and Majella's B&B Roadtrip but do enjoy gritty crime and dystopian dramas. Why then are RTE making crime dramas for the first audience and not for the second? All those who do not enjoy 'torture porn' or whatever they like to call it should stick with Daniel and Majella and the Dancing thing and let crime and dystopian drama fans watch proper stuff and not watered down rubbish.

I found the first series of Love/Hate was quite hammy in parts with John Boy and Hughie. Only really got into it from series 2
Nidge and Fran were absolutely stand out characters

Laneyh

Laneyh wrote: »

I found the first series of Love/Hate was quite hammy in parts with John Boy and Hughie. ...........

Indeed, first series wasn't at all as good as the rest.
John Boy as a dapper dan type drug gang leader wasn't overly credible.

donkeykong5

Is this thread going to be "TAKEN DOWN "now?

jay0109

I don't think many will be surprised to see that the Irish Times liked it

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/taken-down-killer-is-revealed-in-the-series-where-everyone-has-blood-on-their-hands-1.3726195

Good TV drama takes us to places we ordinarily never see. The best kind makes it feel vividly real....
....Jo Spain and Stuart Carolan’s show, with its eye-opening depictions of the stultifying conditions within Direct Provision, often seemed just as attentive.....
....Taken Down may have used dramatic licence, but it knew whereof it spoke....
...Its keener impact actually came in quieter moments, like director David Caffrey’s melancholy shots of Dublin at dawn, the sun rising over stalled cranes and idle scenes. That inertia bolstered a creeping feeling, one brought about by leering opportunists and inhumane systems, that here was a murder drama in which the lives of the most vulnerable barely mattered.

I wouldn't be a fan of RTE either, but "leering opportunists" is probably a bit harsh..

The Late Late Show

Decided to watch the last 3 episodes to keep up to date with this. Episodes 4 and 5 were absolutely awful just like episodes 2 and 3. Episode 6 was way better but the ending was an anti-climax. Episode 6 felt more like Love/Hate and was clearly written by Stuart but it felt more like an early season episode than a climax.