Kin - RTE & AMC

everlast75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118102628#Comment_118102628

It's far more Irish than American. You know what I meant

rob316

When Tony Soprano was shot in season 1 he was buying a bottle of orange juice, like Vito Corleone buying a bag of oranges. That's paying homage to the Godfather, this was a shameless rip off that was sloppy and lazy like the rest of the writing.

knucklehead6

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118102603#Comment_118102603

Despite the show being sponsored by Skoda, a defiant Amanda continues to drive a Volvo

perhaps the best line in it

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118102903#Comment_118102903

Excellent review in fairness 😁

Ferris_Bueller

The show kept me watching every week but overall it was disappointing and I'd have to give it a 5/10. Plenty of issues with it but the most off-putting thing for me was simply that the Kinsella family and most actors involved did not seem in any way believable as Irish gangland figures.

So many scenes just felt completely false and unbelievable. The guy who plays Michael was the best actor in it but he could barely do a Dublin accent. It all felt very RTÉ circles middle/upper class with no sense of realism, then when it went for the real 'edgy' scenes it backfired completely as a result and felt so cheesy.

The story wasn't awful and I thought the whole thing looked well on screen but if you were to summarize what happened you'd wonder how they stretched 8 episodes out of it.

Pussyhands

Unreal lawn though! I'd be staring out at it every morning too 😍

Seathrun66

Viewing figures higher than we though when RTE Player added in, 623K on average for the first seven episodes. The finale probably higher. Seemingly doing well in the US also so a second season a near certainty. AMC happy to gamble on slow burners as they did with Breaking Bad and Mad Men. Their average viewing figures for their first seasons were only 1.23m and 0.9m respectively. AMC play the long game and they're probably looking at four or five seasons for Kin.

For me it was the best first season of any Irish series for a couple of decades. 8/10.

Some mediocre acting, they overdid the Aviva shots and some of it was repetitive but it had many pluses. It was well-paced, the cast, scrip and cinematography were excellent, the plotting and characters were believable. Anyone who thinks that criminals are all rough-hewn types hasn't spent any time with them. That may be the case for the street soldiers but the upper levels are a mixed lot. We have no issue accepting the white collar criminals from American, Italian or British TV yet expect all of our home stock to be Nidges or Hughies. They ain't.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118100511#Comment_118100511

Dublin too chaotic, shutting even a part of it down for filming just too difficult.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118099980#Comment_118099980

Doubtless he wasn't but used fake ID.

lertsnim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118102125#Comment_118102125

That would be strange as Virgin Media channels are allowed to have more advertising.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118100068#Comment_118100068

Mainly as detectives, nurses, school-kids and solicitors. From where I'm sitting that's not all that negative.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118103066#Comment_118103066

What exactly do you mean Virgin media allowed more advertising exactly,

I'm genuinely curious why you think RTE is in anyway restricted in the amount of advertising it broadcasts, I wasn't aware there was any restrictions, limitations or cap on the amount of paid advertising it can generate and subsequently broadcast.

I understand its public broadcasting remit, license fee income but this has nothing to do with the amount of income it can generate commercially , unless I'm mistaken.

Anyway perhaps off topic but this is what happens when people become pedantic

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118101026#Comment_118101026

Kem told Amanda.

lertsnim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118103153#Comment_118103153

Here you go.

Non RTÉ channels are allowed 20% of their time for advertising

https://www.bai.ie/en/bai-proposes-increase-in-daily-and-hourly-advertising-limits-on-irish-independent-commercial-television/

RTÉ's limits are decided by the government and are limited to 15%

https://web.archive.org/web/20090205061223/http://www.bci.ie/documents/88act.pdf

I don't think you are being pedantic. You shouldn't be so down on yourself.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118103318#Comment_118103318

I genuinely did not know this , nor did I think a tongue and cheek thread, comment would bring out the Anal instinct in some, but of course how silly of me.

Good Evening 👍

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118103038#Comment_118103038

The plotting was believable? It was close to Line of Duty levels of ridiculous IMO.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118103474#Comment_118103474

Example?

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118103474#Comment_118103474

And your opinion completely correct albeit ridiculous a little generous in discribing the plot 😏

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118103485#Comment_118103485

There’s a lot of examples given in the past three pages…

main ones-

eamonn ambushes Amanda but let’s her go. I guess he may not want a kidnap on his hands.

The constant inconsistencies about leaving the compound, sometimes needing a police escort but sometimes not. Made no sense.

michael being in Spain with a gun in an airport car park, where do you even start?

eric’s witness needing to be killed, completely out of nowhere when there is shitloads of other evidence and where the fcuk was this witness while Eric was walking around for weeks after the shooting. Maybe there is no witness and there’s something else going on there.

the amount of “plots” that were totally pointless or unresolved at the end of series one. The majority of scenes in series one are totally unresolved by the end of it.

there are loads more. Previous posts will discuss them.

antfin

I wouldn't call these unbelievable plots. There are a few very silly moments in the show but these examples are easily explainable.

"eamonn ambushes Amanda but let’s her go. I guess he may not want a kidnap on his hands."

- He had leverage over her to attempt to get his drugs back so you won't kill a person that you were coercing but maybe maybe beat the son or something to let them know he was serious.

"The constant inconsistencies about leaving the compound, sometimes needing a police escort but sometimes not. Made no sense."

- That depends on whether you're going to do something clandestine or illegal.

"michael being in Spain with a gun in an airport car park, where do you even start?"

-He left a day or two in advance and he was told when leaving that everything would be ready for him when he arrived, presumably referring to the gun and information about the pick up time for Eamonn. His major mistake (probably setting up S2) was killing the son of the supplier who he may have expected to just be one of Eamonns drivers that was supposed to collect him until the drug smugglers intervened and collected Eamonn.

"eric’s witness needing to be killed, completely out of nowhere when there is shitloads of other evidence and where the fcuk was this witness while Eric was walking around for weeks after the shooting. Maybe there is no witness and there’s something else going on there."

- We can easily explain the stupidity of this plot as we already know that Eric isn't the sharpest tool in the box based on his previous plan for revenge when his ego was bruised and his subsequent awful attempt to cover it up by trading his car at the family car dealership. I somewhat thing Amanda is behind the arrest because she downloaded the GPS data from his car so potentially he has convinced himself that getting rid of her will magically solve his problems.

Most of the unresolved plots would presumably be dealt with in S2. The preferred method of making shows these days seems to be to not wrap up everything on a series end to keep people wondering about and engaged for another season.

thehairygrape

Eight episodes was six episodes too long. Very little happened for most of the time. Pointless looking out of windows etc. There is a really good series in there somewhere. I’d give it 6/10 because the good bits were really good. Ciaran Hinds is a class actor. Thought Aiden Gillan was wasted on a character that did virtually nothing. Rest of the cast were ok given what they had to work with.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118103699#Comment_118103699

You don’t think that an airport car park in the modern age of terrorism is likely to be crawling with cctv and a camera at the entrance ticket kiosk that Michael would have had to take to track the targets? The fact he is in Spain while fresh out of prison and could source a gun is not explained.

I don’t know what you’re talking about with Eric being stupid explaining the witness angle. The cops had a witness so why didn’t they arrest him immediately? What I hope is happening there is that there is no witness and eric is trying to get someone else killed by saying they are a witness . Who I don’t know.

most of the unresolved plots will be resolved in S2? I don’t think we’ll be hearing from eamonns wife and her illness ever again as eamonn is dead so totally pointless.

antfin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118103741#Comment_118103741

The witness angle was mentioned previously but referenced as a "their word against mine" scenario until they corroborated the witness with the CCTV and navigation from his car.

On Michael, I can't address that due to my lack of knowledge on those topis. I'm not familiar enough with coverage of CCTV in car parks in Spanish airports or whether the director had him entering with or without disguise to address that. Nor am I familiar with the restrictions on EU travel for a person being released from prison, nor do I know whether in the story he was released on licence or served his entire term.

Overall, the plot and story was the more engaging part. The acting was very poor in my opinion, the music was jarring and the cinematography and editing was poor.

Galwayguy35

Mass was nearly the most exciting bit of the finale, I really thought they would pullout all the stops and have a cracker of a last episode but it just didn't happen.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118103571#Comment_118103571

Eamon ambushes Amanda - you've answered your own question. Why would he want the police attention over a kidnap? And of the woman whose son whose death he is responsible for. Instead she's an asset inside the family who can help retrieve his €50m drug cache.

Police escort was never needed by the family. The guards were there to protect them in the houses, not elsewhere. The only instance of using an escort was Michael taking the guards to the pharmacy after discovering the €500k price on his head and after surviving a murder attempt. Smart on his part, no?

They knew via Kem that Eamon was heading to Spain. No hope of getting him in Dublin so Spain easier. No real trouble travelling with a fake passport and getting a gun via contacts or the dark web. Once Eamon left the car park he'd again be untouchable, either housed with his own people or his suppliers. Thus that was the only option.

Eric wasn't looking for the witness previously as he didn't believe he'd be arrested. That information was only disclosed on arrest. The guards don't give that info away early for the precise reason of risk to the witness. Eric gets rid of him/her and then all other evidence is circumstantial. As far as I know they don't have a gun or prints or any footage of the attack. He wouldn't be convicted.

There's a rationale for all the steps the various members of the Kinsellas and Eamonn's crew have made. Hence the strong critical acclaim and viewing figures. It's here to stay.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118103741#Comment_118103741

The scenes with Eamon's ex were not unresolved plots but a fleshing out of his character and displaying his human side as they had done with the Kinsellas. TV series in 2021 don't follow a linear route unless they're bog standard police procedurals. Much of what you see in Kin and other series are characterisation points of events that may have a consequence in season 2, 3 or 4. They're all following The Wire and The Sopranos on that.

Effects

Strong critical acclaim? From who, RTE themselves?

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118104152#Comment_118104152

500k on their heads yet they trust Kem to be loyal when they already know he isn’t. They send one kinsella on his own. Kem decides not to double cross the kinsellas forsaking a 6 figure sum and his own personal safety.

totally uncreditable.

the Spanish hit is just not plausible. Airports are crawling with cameras and police. And the logistics don’t add up.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118104203#Comment_118104203

100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118104218#Comment_118104218

Amanda saved Kem's life. He's weighed up his options and taken his chances with her. A wise move in retrospect.

The only possible place to get Eamon relatively vulnerable and Amanda knew it. I've been in a couple of Spanish airport car parks. In fact airport car parks all over the planet. I've never seen a single cop in any of them. Had Michael used a disguise entering and leaving the building? Has he disabled any CCTV? Getting to Spain on a false passport would be extremely easy and a hit that took 15-20 seconds wouldn't have a police response for several minutes by which time the assassin is long gone. Michael is not an amateur.