How is TV treating you these days?

March Madness is always a fun distraction. April 1st is the Final Four games while April 3 is the NCAA Championship Game: all of em are on CBS. (I wonder how working from home during March Madness has impacted productivity and the ratings?)

On TV I just wrapped up The Fall. One of those creepy British police procedurals centered around gruesome murders. Kinda like Broadchurch with those Sherlock long episodes (hour and 20 minutes). (I said British to provide a easy shorthand but it’s really an Irish production filmed and set in Northern Ireland.) The Fall ran from 2013-2016. CBC Gem just picked it up; might still be on Netflix? Check.

Gillian Anderson is the face you’ll recognize; she plays Stella Gibson, a senior investigating officer who reviews investigations. Is this accurate? Her role is to assess the progress of a murder investigation that has remained active for longer than 28 days. I’ve never seen 28 Day Reviews in American police TV shows.

Anyways what her 28 Day Review reveals is that a couple of the recent murders could be linked: looks there is a serial killer operating in Belfast. Dum, Dum, Dum!

The third “series” was kinda eh, but the first two were dark and disturbing delights. We tend to view serial killers through the lens of psycho and victims. And yet the impact they have on a community, on families, the stress it puts on cops, the anxiety of women as the bodies pile up: means serial killers are more like a virus.

Yes COVID is a disease but it affected so much. That’s what serial killers do; they’re a virus. We pay a steep price for failing to address broken people in our society.

Our inability to properly and effectively care for the broken people who populate our society creates a widening ripple effect of trauma. A serial killer’s childhood or his busted life are butterfly wings. It’s the Butterfly Effect of hurt.

Anyways with The Fall wrapped up I’ve started The Night Agent. Yo!

I never read Matthew Quirk’s novel but The Night Agent about an FBI agent who gets a Federal Booty Call (U Up?) has been fast fun. Classic heart-pumping action and lots of Kiefer Sutherland can’t trust anybody this goes right to the top shadowy machinations.

The TV series follows the crooked journey of Peter Sutherland a young FBI agent who finds himself caught up in a conspiracy (of course he does!) that threatens to upend the entire nation (of course it does!).

As he navigates a web of lies and deception (oh yes!), Peter must use all of his skills and training to uncover (wait for it!) the truth before it’s too late! (There it is.) A spy thriller meets political drama should be enough to…keep you up at Night. U Up for The Night Agent?