Frankly, *now* is the time to write this post. Because I have just returned from my company event, which ended on a free bar. Yeah, right – I am under the influence of some legal substances, and that puts me in the right sentimental, romantic sort of mood to pop an enthusiastic post out. If you see any spelling and grammar mistakes, you know where they come from.
So, last night I willed myself to adjust to what seems to be the accepted reception of Berlin Station. It took a couple of re-watches, and in the end there was one little detail that really softened me up:
Daniel Miller likes the Beck’s experience. Guylty approves. (Screenshot)
How could I resist a man who is drinking the beer brewed in my home town? It may be a case of what Germans call “sich jemanden schön trinken” (I wonder whether Daniel knows the term), but hell, the trick works every time. (I speak from bitter experience. One of the reasons why I hardly ever drink alcohol anymore.)
In fairness, BS really didn’t make it easy, I think, and I am surprised that I haven’t heard any complaints about this so far. Honestly, there we have a show kicking off with the protagonist being killed shot within the first two minutes of the plot. Before you jump in to their defence – I *do* realise that it is a plot device. But I still think it is an anti-climax. It is a bit of a running gag among the fans of Richard Armitage, and yet it was something that put me into a seriously annoyed mood that may have evoked the resistance against liking Daniel Miller. After all, what point is there to get invested with a character, if I know he will kick the bucket at the end of the show? Doubt as a defence mechanism. It’s actually something I am quite familiar with in my RL… Maybe it is time to break this deplorable habit and give Daniel a chance.
Look back at the first trailer
Essentially, the show started in a most promising manner. Even though I never wrote about the first BS trailer we saw mid-May, a mere three weeks after shooting wrapped on BS, I filled several notebook pages with my enthusiastic response to the sneak preview of the show. I literally loved everything about the trailer – the look of its, the whole sum of its parts. I loved that RA was presented as the lead of the show, appearing in every second scene, acting the engine of the whole show. I loved his look, reminiscent of Lucas North in his pea coat, dark clothes, tight trousers – oh, and the scarf (classic German styling – ask my kids; they say that is how you identify German men 😂). The character definition in the trailer was superb – keeping Daniel a bit of mystery. Despite being the goody sent in to discover and expose the mole, there were hints of darkness and shade in his character. There was a nice bit of action in the trailer with Daniel’s rooftop antics, mystery and psychology in the shape of the phone call, some sexiness courtesy of Hector in classic sexy bar, as well as death or danger when Frost gets dunked in a fish tank.
The music provided a soundtrack reminiscent of the love parade, an industrial, thumping techno beat, fast, hard, unrelenting – like the city and the show. And wow – the cinematography! Unusual angles, especially the shots from above, provided some really interesting visual effects. Lots of out-of-focus shots, a very agile camera that moved with the action and was seldom stationary, evoking a very dynamic feel that matches the fast life of the metropolis. And with the camera cleverly following Daniel’s moves – when he gets up, the camera moves up – the viewer feels part of the action, is in the middle of it all. In conclusion – all the trappings of a show that is made by people who know their stuff and who are throwing money at the material, boosting the script with high production values, carefully chosen locations, convincing styling and classy casting.
And then episode 1 starts so promising with an all-round fantastic title sequence. This is one of the best intros I have seen in a long time – great visual impact with lots of colour, glimpses of Berlin’s most famous sights that are relatable even to people who have never been there. The characters are all established and shown, and there is a wonderful underlying graphic theme of contrasts and contradictions that you just about perceive without ever having the chance to dwell on it. Oh, and David Bowie providing the music. BIG winner!!!
You could say that my expectations were high. And *boom*, that death scene at the beginning of episode 1 really shot the expectations down. Ouch.
But as we say in German “steter Tropfen höhlt den Stein”. I put in the time and re-watched. And I grudgingly admit that Armitage is quite yummy as Daniel Miller. He does the spy thing so well – he can probably act that in his sleep. The slow turn of his head, the surreptitious glances, the casual walk with the squared shoulders – masterful spy characterisation. Some other mannerisms turned up and felt like old friends – Lucas’ hand-across-the-mouth gesture to signify momentary insecurity, the fluttering eyelashes when things get too close to the bone. The sexy upper-lip kiss from NS, and of course the gloves pulled off with the teeth. *rrrrroarrrrrr* hello, Guyyyyy! 😍 I am still looking out for Porter’s little dip of the head… maybe in episode 3??? Pretty please!!! Sometimes I am even wondering whether those bits are thrown in there for our special entertainment. Who else thought of poor Francis Dolarhyde when they zoomed out of this shot:
Swansong within the first 2 minutes. Not on! Berlin Station by Epix (Screenshot)
So, with about four glasses of wine under my belt, suddenly Daniel is rather an attractive agent. Ok, I admit that his German accent hasn’t gotten any better despite my wine consumption. If anything, the wine has made it a bit harder to discern the words “Eisern Union”. OTOH, the wine makes it much easier to look over the rest of the accent and suitably suspend the disbelief and take Daniel as the native speaker of German that he is. I admit – maybe I am being a little bit too facetious here – this is just a bloody entertainment show, not a documentary or anything that is up for an Academy Award. Frankly, whether the accent is authentic or not, does not really matter in the greater scheme of things. I have heard it from several non-German speaking fellow fans, that they find Daniel sounds believably German. The German in me cringes, but I take their point – there is enough *ch ch ch* and *rrrrr rrrr rrrr* in his pronunciation of German lines, that convincingly makes him out as a German. Apparently Germans are not the target group of this thriller, anyway, so our input is not needed.
So what is it about Daniel? I will admit here, that I am not yet 100% in love with him. Strangely – because I totally fell for him in the trailer. But in the show, we get a closer look at his MO, and not all of what he does is entirely comprehensible. His way of making himself known to the deputy chief was positively sneaky. And his covert operation in Berlin – a week before he is supposedly starting on his job in Berlin Station – is more sneaky business. There he is, following unsuspecting German girls around, making secret phone calls, staking out journalists, turning on his charm to seduce said unsuspecting German girl, and last but not least, prancing around in his tighty briefs in his grey and impersonal rented accommodation. And yet, it is the scene with Claudia Gärtner in the bar where Daniel finally redeemed himself. Or maybe not Daniel but Armitage. I fully understood that Daniel was playing a role in order to get into Claudia’s pants (and secrets), and yet that was the scene where I thought Armitage really excelled. – Because so far, Daniel has been rather wooden, rather artificial, and rather mysterious. He is the darkest horse in all of this – his motivations remain in the dark. Why is he doing all of this? Career advancement? Is he simply the saviour of the Western world? A baddie? In much deeper than we realise? Or is the tragic childhood a driver of the plot, with a lovely mum who serves Wiener Würstchen and Schwarzwälder KirSchtorte to her darling boy and even takes him to the park to play football, yet tragically also is the innocent victim of an assassination due to her not-so-innocent affair with a German secret service bloke.
Yes, predictably, the sentimentality totally works on me. Poor Daniel – not only traumatised by witnessing his mother’s death in a car bomb, but also carrying guilt with him because the 8-year-old Daniel in Miller’s head still thinks he has sent his mother to her death because he did not ask her to stay home when she asked him. What must that do to a child/man? Losing a parent is bad enough, but feeling responsible because he didn’t stop her from going out, is even worse. So yes, that plot device – although admittedly cheap and easy – has really softened me up.
A spy with a rather large profile… Richard Armitage as Daniel Miller in Berlin Station (Screenshot)
And maybe, maybe all my reservations when it comes to other things that bug me about BS – the misrepresentation of Berlin, the pastiche characters, the predictability of the plot devices – may actually be the opposite of what they seem. I have a sneaky suspicion that things are presented quite deliberately the way they are, to get me on the wrong track. Hector de Jean – the debauched, jaded agent, possibly the mole with clear connections with Thomas Shaw, may actually turn out a good guy. Valerie Edwards – is not probably not just the momma of the Station who is looking out for her fellow agents, but is definitely more two-faced than she lets on. Station Chief Frost is definitely as chilling as his name suggests, and probably worse. And for all his cursing, Robert Kirsch may turn out to have some redeeming features. These roles have already been created as two-dimensional characters. The German counterparts not so much. And yet it is the German characters whom I am finding most believable so far. Whether that is because I share the same nationality (and therefore can claim a spiritual or cultural kinship with their psyche) or whether feisty journalist Ingrid, for instance, is simply the obvious identification figure in this piece so far, remains to be seen. I certainly will say that I had no trouble identifying with lovely but tragic Claudia at all – not least because she was lucky enough to be chatted up by Daniel Miller. However, dishy Daniel will have to prove that he is more than a pretty face with a hot bod.
Auf Deutsch nennt man das “Dackelfalten”. Ich lasse das mal unübersetzt… Daniel Miller, Berlin Station, Epix (Screenshot)
Even though the plot does not necessarily add up for me yet – I felt there were numerous holes and mistakes in the plot so far – I admit that Epix and Steinhauer are probably a bit more clever than I initially thought. And in the light of that, it may have been an ingenious idea to start the show with the death (?) of its protagonist – the mystery is there, and the longer I think about it, the more I want to find out how this all ends. I look forward to finding out more about Daniel’s past – his mysterious present – and his future, beyond that gunshot wound on Potsdamer Platz. And message to Epix: There is no way you can let Daniel die! We already want a season 2. Get on it, people!
Entirely gratuitous neck and nose porn. Just because I am pissed. (I will regret this tomorrow, I know…)
Guylty Pleasure 
Finally! I’m going to reread this, but my first reaction is: I didn’t conclude that he died at the beginning of the first episode, only that he had been shot. But what do you mean by pastiches of Berlin?
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That is certainly what they imply, though, isn’t it? It’s open to our individual interpretation whether he dies or lives.
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Maybe this is only my learned behavior after reading Steinhauer novels, but the first role for the ones I have read is “nothing is as it seems.” But I didn’t see conclusive evidence of his death, only the implication that he could have died.
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Exactly what I said up there.
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Well, I haven’t read any of his books, and the plot so far doesn’t really entice me to do so tbh. It’s all so predictable. But I have just been sent a Steinhauer novel in the post, so I will bring that on my trip next week and see if it holds my attention. It’s called All the old knives.
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Sorry: misrepresentation of Berlin?
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I do not think they represent Berlin at all. It is – like you called it in your first comment – a complete pastiche, a stereotype of the Berlin that people have who have never visited the place. Laughable.
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OK, I’ve read this twice. I don’t think you and I saw the same material, somehow! 🙂
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Maybe we just have to agree to disagree?
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I’m staying out of it from here on in 🙂
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You are def sloshed! 😂will read all again hopefully tomorrow and Wed
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Don’t bother. I may take the thing down again when I look at it once I am sober 😂
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I would be VERY surprised if he were dead. They just want to suck us in. Killing off the star that has brought them the huge base of their audience wouldn’t be too smart on their part. They are well aware of his fan base, they have been playing to us for months. It also seems he was hoping to go back when he tweeted a letter with a pic of himself with some of the crew a couple of months ago. He had said “maybe we will get the chance to do that again next year”.
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I doubt all that, but whatever. From where I am standing, I don’t see this show going down well with the critics.
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Pah, wer glaubt den wirklich, dass er am Anfang stirbt? Das ist ja sowas von durchsichtig. Haben wir denn nicht alle schon jaaaahrelange Filmerfahrung? Nene….
Ich kannte übrigens mal eine Claudia Gärtner 😀
Und die Dackelfalten sind übersetzbar wundervoll 😍
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Selbstüberzeugung ist eine schöne Sache! Dann mal zu. Ich würde sagen, das Überleben der Hauptperson hängt davon ab, ob die Serie verlängert wird. Daumen gedrückt!
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Sonnie, wir sprechen uns dann….. 😆
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Alles klar! Ich entwerfe schon mal die entsprechende Negativkampagne 😈
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*ommmm*
Wir brauchen dringend Urlaub…..
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Die Konstellation ist jetzt allerdings tödlich. Auf endlose Armitage-Diskussionen habe ich derzeit null Bock!
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Ich empfehle diskrete Separation unter Zuhilfenahme deutscher Ausweichthemen 🙄
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Prima! Guter Plan!
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Das Kind war heute im Trinity College und ist angemessen beeindruckt 😀
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Ich habe eben auf der Busfahrt vom Flughafen nach dt. Schulgruppen Ausschau gehalten. Trinity ist immer schön. Übrigens ist es hier mild warm. Für mich allerdings ein Temperatursturz von 31 Grad in London heute mittag – auf 15 Grad 😢
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Das sprichwörtliche Wechselbad.
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Ich hätte gerne die 15 Grad. Bei uns ist es sommerlich heiß und nach meiner üblen Zahn-OP wäre mir kühles Wetter eindeutig lieber. Sie hier elendiglich mit Kühlakku und tippe einhändig. Jede Zerstreuung ist willkommen. “seufz” 😦
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“Sitze” sollte das heißen. Das Denkvermögen ist schon noch eingeschränkt.
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Armes Ding….
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Hm, das ist ein guter Punkt, mit dem hitze-bedingt eingeschränkten Denkvermögen. In London war es ja ziemlich heiß 🤔Könnte sein, dass die Synapsen da nicht so richtig bei mir gefeuert haben. Ist dann jetzt doch noch mal der richtige Zeitpunkt gekommen, um BS zum fünften Mal anzugucken – bei moderaten Temperaturen, die dem Denken förderlich sind?
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You’re a saint.. 5x?
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I know. It’s mad. But yeah, I had a few lonely evenings and early mornings in London…
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In manche Sachen kann man sich ja tatsächlich reingucken… Andererseits funkt es halt manchmal einfach nicht. “Hannibal” hab ich mit trotz eurer Begeisterung, trotz vieler Beschreibungen und Ausschnitte (RA mit fast nix an) nicht angeschaut.
Vielleicht kennst du Berlin einfach zu gut und die in der Serie gezeigte Sichtweise liegt dir nicht? Oder das Bild eines zu Boden geschossenen und blutenden RA hat dich einfach zu sehr frustriert. Schon wieder… stirbt er in Schönheit 😦
Aber ich bin zuversichtlich. Er stirbt nicht – Punkt
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Ha! Das wäre ja noch eine Alternative! Einfach den Mist nicht weitergucken – dann muss ich nicht weiter daran knabbern, dass ich offenbar die falsche Meinung habe, und zweitens verärgere ich auch niemanden mehr, dass ich kritisch bin. Guter Plan. Nun könnte es ja doch noch von Vorteil sein, hier in Europa von Epix isoliert zu sein!
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Deine Meinung ist keineswegs “falsch” und du verärgerst hier auch niemanden damit. Jedenfalls ist bei mir bisher nicht der Eindruck entstanden. Aber du weißt ja, ich denke heute nur mit 75 % meiner sonst üblichen Möglichkeiten. Versuche noch möglichst lang zu kühlen, damit morgen nicht mein halbes Gesicht eingeschwollen ist. 😉
Nein, im Ernst, das ist ja das Gute hier, dass man offen über die eigenen Eindrücke sprechen kann und nicht nur langweiliges Einerlei herrscht. Wir sind schließlich keine kreischenden Teenager mehr (meistens).
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Im Leben stirbt der nicht – das ist ganz klar eine falsche Fährte. Jahrelange Film- und Bucherfahrung. Ich bin da mit Merry völlig einer Meinung.
Zumal sie uns das einfach nicht antun können, nicht mit Richard Armitage. Da verfestigt sich sonst so langsam ein Trauma und traumatisierte Zuschauer sind für weitere Projekte nicht mehr zu gewinnen.
RAs Deutsch klingt in deutschen Ohren natürlich nicht als wäre Daniel ein Muttersprachler (diesen Anspruch hatten die Macher wohl auch nicht), aber es klingt in meinen Ohren einfach zu goldig. Ich genieße das aus völlig irrationalen Gründen. Man könnte auch argumentieren, dass er erst acht Jahre alt war als seine Mutter starb und dass er danach vielleicht aus Deutschland wegzog und mit niemandem mehr so richtig Deutsch sprach. Dann klingt das nach Jahren wirklich nicht mehr akzentfrei und Grammatik und Wortschatz werden wackelig.
Die Vorhersehbarkeit und die Oberflächlichkeiten werden vielleicht / hoffentlich zu Anfang der Geschichte gezeigt, damit sie dann im Verlauf zerlegt werden können. Wenn nicht, dann sollte Daniel wenigstens noch das ein oder andere Mal duschen… 😉
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Ich glaube ja eher, dass Epic jetzt die Fans von Richard Armitage eher egal sind.
Über den grauenhaften Akzent komme ich irgendwie nicht weg, betrunken oder nüchtern. Da hat der Sprachcoach aber gepennt. Laut eigener Aussage war Daniel 12, als er aus Berlin weggezogen ist. Das ist dann allerding durchaus früh genug, um als Akzent verloren zu gehen, wenn der Junge danach keine Gelegenheit mehr hatte, Deutsch zu sprechen. Insofern passt’s dann vielleicht doch. Ist ja auch wie gesagt egal – wir sind ja nicht die Zielgruppe des Ganzen.
Beim Duschen kann ich dir nur beipflichten! Vor allem wenn Daniel dabei die Schnauze hält 😂
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“Man könnte auch argumentieren, dass er erst acht Jahre alt war als seine Mutter starb und dass er danach vielleicht aus Deutschland wegzog und mit niemandem mehr so richtig Deutsch sprach.” – That is what happened with me. I only lived in Germany for 6 years, but was older than Daniel (from 10-16 and I went to German schools) and my German has very definitely deteriorated since I left. I think when you leave as a younger child and never speak it again, the deterioration may be even bigger. You’ll always understand the language, but actually speaking it or writing it is a whole different thing. It’s one of the reasons I am grateful for the German RA blogs and fans I’ve found, I have really been able to freshen up my German! It still is far from what it used to be but it is better. Anyway, that’s me. Just wanted to say that I rationalise Daniel’s level of German the way Elanor mentions. Some things he said I found difficult to understand. That bit about the Stadium I was hardly able to understand at all, I was thankful for the English subtitles! But other German bits were better, I thought. 🙂
Duschender Daniel – ja, damit könnte ich sehr gut leben.
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Hmmm, I’m sorry a lot of this annoyed you so! My reaction was far more positive and that makes it all the more interesting to see how you saw this whole thing so differently.
About the shooting: yes, I was taken aback too but it wouldn’t be the first time our hero would die on screen. He’s good at that. 😉 Then again, he could just be heavily wounded, because I think this isn’t the end of the story. He gave the secretary that USB-drive and I’m sure he’ll meddle with that, once he gets better. So, while I don’t know this of course, I have real hope that him being shot is not fatal.
As for the agent characterization: I think no agent is what they seem to be at the beginning and I think there is a murky line dividing who and what is right from who and what is wrong. I like that, just like in real life, it’s not always clear what’s right or wrong, there are just different viewpoints and different decisions that go with that. That does make it hard, because it’s difficult to know who the real hero is and who to ultimately root for.
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Hm. I am surprised everyone is concentrating so much on the criticism I voiced? After all, I thought I had made it clear that I understand that what I perceive as negatives, has been thrown in by the makers to put me on the wrong track? And that I look forward to finding out how the story goes on.
Yes, no one is who they seem to be. I guess, that is to be expected in a spy drama. My point is probably, that due to that, I am not yet fully convinced that I like Daniel. His motivations are unclear – and personally, I *do* wish it was made clearer that he is the hero of the piece. At this point in the story, I actually like Hector more than Daniel. That character is truly compelling (maybe I am a little pissed off that RA is not playing *that* character? I think he would be soooo good at that!).
I’m keeping an open mind.
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Oh, I definitely get that you don’t hate this, that it’s just not what you expected. And after the gushing everywhere it’s really nice to see a critical voice as well! Diversity makes the world go round. 🙂
For me, Hector seems more dubious than Daniel, although he does seem to have some strong positive feelings and I really don’t know what to make of him yet. I think the biggest down side for me is that I’m not quite sure who to root for, but then again, I like that as well – for now. I do want to root for someone eventually and I am hoping it will be Daniel, even though he may be flawed. The man took in a cat, that speaks hugely in his favour for me. 😉
I count myself as someone who really likes this but hasn’t quite stepped over to loving it yet. I guess I will only be able to tell by the end. I do know that it hooks me enough to make me really want to see more, just like you mentioned. We want to see more and for those not in the US, I hope we get to!
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I suppose that is it – I am unhappy because I expected something else, based on the fabulous trailer and the truly fantastic title sequence.
Hector is definitely characterised as a more dubious character than Daniel. Although I find that a little bit lame (because he is too obviously portrayed as the villain of the piece), he seems to be a much more rounded character than Daniel, the supposed hero of the piece. We get several different facets of Hector – he’s an agent, he hangs out in seedy bars, he definitely knows something about the Shaw leaks because he’s in league with the German guy, he runs his own agent (Faycal) – yet he also shows concern and feelings for Faycal, is genuinely worried for his fate, and very much disapproves of the German guy killing Claudia. By comparison, Daniel seems to be much more one-dimensional – I have not really discerned any emotions on him (apart from the trauma over the assassinated mother). Where is the remorse that he put Claudia in danger by getting close to her? Why is he so psychologically unwise in his dealings with Ingrid? Daniel will have to drink a good few more bottles of Beck’s to get me to love him 😉
Having said all that – if anything hooks me into this, it is how up-to-the-minute relevant and topical the premise of the show is. The whistleblower theme is actually a great idea.
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Had to watch it on my phone. Kindle on life support. I thought this series and RA along with it was renewable for a second season if it’s numbers are good. So I wasn’t alarmed at the shooting at the beginning. As for realism, couldn’t say about Berlin. But, Panama, not realistic at all. No dramatic coastline. Mostly flat as a pancake.
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Oh no, watching this on your phone? Far too small a screen for all the Armitage in glorious HD size 😉 But well, you can look forward to watching this on a larger device when you come home. (Or possibly before that, hint hint 😀 )
Keeping my fingers crossed that the fans are right and this show will prove a hit.
Re. Panama – interesting! I wonder, actually, whether we will get to see more of Panama. So far we have only seen Daniel Miller in Panama. But when they were filming on Gran Canaria, Michelle Forbes was also there. That must mean that her character also had a scene there. Unless Forbes pulled a freebie 😉
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I could not watch more than 20 minutes of it. The intro was fab! But after that it went downhill. Completely disjointed. And yes, I thought of Dolarhyde in that shooting/death scene. If you don’t look at the screen while he’s talking, you’d think it was Dolarhyde. Although his accent is slightly better than it was in Hannibal, it’s still not good.
Hector is great. If I had nothing better to do with my time & decided to watch this series, I would watch it for Hector. Rhys Ifans american accent is spot on.
I thought this would be a good series because it was helmed by Bradford Winters. He worked on Oz which was one of the best tv series I have ever seen.
I love the spy genre, but this is a total miss for me.
Hope you are well. Your last tweet was worrying..
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I am absolutely not an expert on American accents despite having studied in the US for a while (but a long time ago), so I can’t really say how good RA’s American accent is. Rhys Ifans *to me* sounds really believably American, though.
I had never heard of Bradford Winters before – or any of the other makers behind BS.
So far I am not really madly intrigued by the show. I am hanging on to the hope that what appears confusing and clichéd to me, is actually a ruse to completely put me off track.
Re. tweet – my Twitter is completely fucked up. My pics have been vanishing, and I wonder whether I have been hacked. I am staying away from my GP account for the moment, and only using my real name Twitter.
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Hmmm, yeah, I’m kinda with you in general on this Guylty. The initial shooting scene thew me but I didn’t think it was certain death for Daniel, I actually think he might live. I keep thinking about what his assailant said “Where is it Daniel” I just don’t know if Dan is a good or bad boy. I found the scene in Panama interesting where he was alone in the jungle digging up that box of (what I assume were the Shaw) USBs. Did he bury them there? Why there? When? Could he be Shaw?
I suppose to do the job he does means being a closed book, no genuine emotion shown on the surface, never giving anything away but I found it hard to engage with the character. I was thinking he had few redeeming qualities until I saw him with his family which took him out of the spy environment for a short while and most of all with the cat of all things. That he instantly engaged with the cat and took it home changed my opinion of him to some degree. (Wasn’t there a RA and cats website out there at one point? They must be in raptures over the cat scenes, no more photoshop for a change :o) Ha!) I found Hector’s character quite intriguing, he had some depth but none of them are very nice people and I really don’t like Michelle Forbes although her acting is good.
So, I like the show and want to see the rest. I kind of like Daniel but he’s not my favorite RA character ….yet.
They’re my first impressions, have I got anything wrong?..probably, but I’ve only seen the episodes once. xx
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The Panama scene I do not understand at all. Whose box is it? His? Or someone else’s? What is he taking from it? And why are there funny buzzing noises in the jungle that Daniel listens to?
Daniel *must* be a good boy. I just can’t believe he is a bad egg. Even if he should be deeper in the Shaw thing than we know, he is doing it for the best reasons…
It’s funny how one sometimes cannot see beyond one’s prejudice anymore. The examples you list – the cat, the cousin/nephew – *are* actually indicators that Daniel has a heart. For some reason I had completely forgotten that because I was so angry about the smooth and duplicitous operator.
Yeah, at this stage, all of the (main) characters are presented in such a way that they are not particularly likeable. Even the hero journalist put me off a little bit.
I want to see the rest of the show, too. But I am not even at the point where I can say that I “like” Berlin Station. It’s sort of fifty-fifty for me.
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I agree: bummer to see him shot in the first scene. WTF??? But I refuse to believe he’s dead. I predict he lost enough blood to pass out but not die. He’ll be revived in an ambulance on his way to an excellent German hospital where they will stitch up his lovely torso and have him twisting it fetchingly again in no time. Yeah for RA on screen in nearly every scene! Yeah for gratuitous shower/nude scenes! More, more, please!
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Well, yes, I suppose he will survive. Cos I would’ve thought the world-class German agents 😉 would’ve been able to take him out completely, had they wanted to. They just wanted that USB stick. And create opportunity for the viewers to see RA in a hospital gown.
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Did you see that someone spotted a scar on Daniel’s back when he was looking out of the window in the after-shower scene? If that’s significant, it would make the scene less gratuitous. But I can’t work out how it fits in, as we’re supposedly still in the Two months later… bit, and he’d not yet got shot.
I’m afraid he had me when he rescued the puddy-tat.
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Interesting. I had a look. (The hardship.) It took me a while to spot anything that looks like a scar, but I think I spotted it. (That mole kept putting me off 😂) You know, it may fit in. It probably did not have anything to do with Panama, because that is only 2 months prior. But who knows what happened before that? There is actually a piece of information in the press kit which might enlighten us here (but I don’t want to say anything lest I should spoil things for you).
What’s puddy-tat? Cat? That left me stone-cold. I am a dog person. (Don’t tell my cat that I said that… 😉 )
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Yes, the moles indeed…
Sorry to be cryptic, it’s ‘pussy-cat’. From an old Looney Tunes cartoon.
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Yikes! So sorry about that, didn’t realize it would come up that way — please do delete!
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Hey, no worries – I actually like it when the comment feed gets illustrated! I am leaving that in!
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Ah, hehe, I see. Have to keep that in mind.
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War eine schöne Überraschung, letzte Nacht hierher zu klicken und die Schmuddelseite 😛 über deine sündigen Geheimnisse wieder frei zugänglich zu finden.
Schön, dass du dich doch noch geäußert hast. 🙂
Fürs Protokoll: Ich denke auch nicht, dass Daniel am Ende die Radieschen von unten betrachtet.
Naja, abwarten und Bier trinken …
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hohoho, Schmuddelseite? Also sowas!!! Naja, ich gebe zu, das gehört wohl eher in den Bereich “Schmutz und Schund”… Ich glaube, ich muss das Konzept der Seite doch noch mal überdenken 😀
For the record: Ich glaube ja auch nicht, dass Daniel abkratzt. Aber ich hätte es netter gefunden, wenn es nur eine zerschossene Kniescheibe gewesen wäre als eine Fleischwunde im unteren Oberleib.
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Es geht doch um deine guylty pleasures, oder nicht? Muss also folglich ‘ne Schmuddelseite sein.
Ich würde ja bevorzugen, dass er zur Abwechslung mal gar keine Bleivergiftung bekommt. Der kann doch auch knuffig mehr als gut …
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Falscher Film, Igelita! Im Agentengenre geht sowas gaaaa nicht!
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Auch wieder wahr.
Übrigens habe ich noch ein Fetzchen mögliche Selbstironie entdeckt: Der Held rettet *immer* die Katze. (Okay, okay, meistens aus einem brennenden Haus, aber das kann ja noch kommen …)
Aber vielleicht mästet er sie auch nur für eine Grillparty. Und wenn dann die Bude in Flammen aufgeht, rettet er den Braten.
Hey, wieso schreibe ich eigentlich keine Drehbücher?!
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Wobei es aber nun auch solche felinophilen “Helden” wie Dr. No gab…
Dennoch, ich finde die Idee mit dem Drehbuchschreiben gut. Mach mal 😀
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Nee, nee, nee, nee, nee! Es geht ums Retten der Katze.
Oder halt des Bratens, falls die Mieze zu laut miaut oder sonstige Umstände – Hunger z.B. – die Verwertung notwenig machen. *fg*
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Also, wenn er schon stirbt, soll er doch bitte wieder vom Dach segeln, damit wenigstens eine gewisse Kontinuität vorherrscht 😉
Ich finde Hector übrigens bis jetzt auch spannender als Daniel, wobei der mich damit beeindruckt hat, wie krass er seine Emotionen an- und ausschalten kann. Allerdings habe ich bei Rhys Ifans immer das kleine ‘Problem’, daß ich unterschwellig darauf warte ihn in der Gammelunterhose vor der Haustür posieren zu sehen, aber das liegt allein an mir albernem Huhn
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I had intended to comment at the time, but then you had the hiccup, but I’m here now, late to the party, so hope you don’t mind.
I enjoyed BS in a fun way to pass an hour. And there was a cat – I like cats, so that’s always a plus, but not necessarily the main seller of a series. What I couldn’t really decide was whether I was going to make an effort to find it if it doesn’t broadcast in the UK, so I think I’ve concluded I wasn’t as grabbed by it as others have been. The only reason for watching would be RA (not a bad reason of itself). And I think two episodes aren’t enough to decide my thoughts about Daniel.
I’ve never been to Berlin and was keen to see what it looked like – it’s one of the places I want to visit (I have a long list), but so far haven’t seen enough to entice me.
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It’s never too late to comment – and the post only really went up late on Monday, so you are not really that late 🙂
Glad to hear that I’m not the only one who wasn’t immediately taken with the show. The cat didn’t quite do it for me – so much so, that I didn’t even register the scene as showing Daniel’s humanity. It took me several re-watches and another fan to point this out to me…
I completely agree – the two episodes have not been enough for me to suss Daniel out, or to conclude that I like that character. Which is exactly why it somehow irritates me that the reaction to him within the fandom is mostly positive. I’ve just seen that a new trailer has come out, which throws more (confusing) info our way. I think we can conclude now that Daniel is definitely not the clear-cut hero of the piece… The trailer certainly fulfils its purpose, though, making me feel ever-more intrigued.
Berlin – definitely a city worth-while visiting. I think the title sequence presents Berlin most attractively, a vibrant, diverse city. The show itself has so far not quite convinced me in its representation of Berlin. I find it stereotypical and slightly 1990s – dirty, graffiti, sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, run-down, scars of the cold war etc. Berlin is all that – but has in recent years also really become quite glitzy in its most prominent parts. The modern, bombastic architecture in the “Regierungsviertel” (where all the government departments are) is part of that. But maybe I am simply overhasty and we will get to see those parts of Berlin as Daniel delves deeper into the web of intrigue between Berlin Station and the German administration…
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Add the incredible, re-constituted museums on the island in the Spree (Nefertiti! Pergamon!), splendid Nazi architecture turned Cold War symbol Tempelhof Airport, street after street of intact 19th c. apartment blocks, formal 18th c. park (Tiergarten) side by side with the stunning modern re-creation of Potsdamer Platz as an urban center. So much wonderful stuff. It’s a fabulous city, world-class for so long, now again world-accessible.
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True – not that much seen of those places, either, although the historic buildings pop up in the trailer (Berliner Dom, Brandenburg Gate, Siegessäule) and Potsdamer Platz is where the very first scene plays out.
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I think the berlin station were so busy making RA look good that they forgot to give him a personality :(.
He is the blandest of the lot.
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LOL – that’s a very pointed way of saying it. Yep, RA looks very good. And I agree, that at this stage, I find Miller less well characterised than most other characters.
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