Unforgotten: Full series
May 13, 2019 1:08 PM - Season 1 (Full Season) - Subscribe
When the remains of a murdered 17-year-old who went missing in 1976 are discovered buried beneath a house, detectives DCI Cassie Stuart and DI Sunny Khan attempt to solve the case. The investigation brings up decades-old secrets for those involved.
I watched and enjoyed season 1 and thought it was really solid. Season 2 seemed solid but I ended up stalling out partway through for various reasons. At some point, I'll pick it back up.
posted by rmd1023 at 9:58 AM on May 14, 2019
posted by rmd1023 at 9:58 AM on May 14, 2019
This is so good. I just finished season 3. The last episode made me think they were ending it, but Wikipedia says a fourth season has been announced.
I'm beginning to have seen a lot with Nicola Walker, and it's all been good. At this point I'll watch anything she's in.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 1:56 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
I'm beginning to have seen a lot with Nicola Walker, and it's all been good. At this point I'll watch anything she's in.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 1:56 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
I've really liked her in everything I've seen her in - this, Collateral, Scott & Bailey, possibly other things.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:35 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by rmd1023 at 7:35 PM on May 17, 2019 [1 favorite]
I've watched season 1 and am part way through season 2, and am really enjoying it so far -- so much so that I watched the first five episodes in a single sitting -- even though the denouement of season 1 seemed a bit of an eyeroller.
I like the slightly different approach of this one (which I find to be something quite different from every other crime procedural I've ever seen), how it follows both the police and the people involved in/impacted by the crime, and then pulls all the threads together. I also like the team's nerdy glee over every forensic clue finding stunt they manage to pull off.
posted by orange swan at 1:42 PM on May 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
I like the slightly different approach of this one (which I find to be something quite different from every other crime procedural I've ever seen), how it follows both the police and the people involved in/impacted by the crime, and then pulls all the threads together. I also like the team's nerdy glee over every forensic clue finding stunt they manage to pull off.
posted by orange swan at 1:42 PM on May 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
I generally like this series and Shetland as alternatives to the self-destructive detective noir which has been kind of a thing lately. I found Series 1 a little bit frustrating because they introduced a whole bunch of characters and didn't quite tie them together. I thought Series 2 was superlative in terms of centering on abuse survivors, all of whom were coping or not coping with revived trauma in different ways. Series 3 was a bit of a letdown due to the theme of white guy wangst and rather marginal treatment of the singular LGBTQ character. (Not terrible, just a missed opportunity.)
With a few hiccups I find the Stuart/Khan relationship a lot healthier and less annoying than other shows based on the DCI/DI/DS dynamic. Most other shows try to build an odd-couple dynamic into that frame.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 9:02 AM on May 23, 2019 [1 favorite]
With a few hiccups I find the Stuart/Khan relationship a lot healthier and less annoying than other shows based on the DCI/DI/DS dynamic. Most other shows try to build an odd-couple dynamic into that frame.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 9:02 AM on May 23, 2019 [1 favorite]
A thing I particularly liked is how different the solution was in each season. In the first, the killer wasn't any of the suspects; in the second, the killer was one (kind of) of the suspects, but not in the way you'd expect, and the third, when I was convinced it wasn't going to be one of the original guys, it turned out it was. Usually shows like this follow a pretty predictable pattern, and this one really didn't.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 2:08 PM on May 23, 2019
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 2:08 PM on May 23, 2019
Just finished watching the third season last night, and thought it quite a watchable, suspenseful, and well-acted show.
Holy crap did I want that (third season) blogger to take it in the teeth for the bullshit she was posting. My blood pressure rose every single time she was on screen. How is it that someone who has spent 50,000 pounds getting a journalism degree has no fucking clue as to how responsible journalism works or that slander and inciting violence are not protected by free speech laws? She seemed like an very immature, naive, and stupid 17-year-old journalist wannabe high schooler rather than a 27-year-old trained journalist. I was left thinking the real reason she couldn't get a job in journalism (tight as I know that industry to be) was because she wasn't at all mentally capable of being a good journalist.
posted by orange swan at 11:19 AM on May 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Holy crap did I want that (third season) blogger to take it in the teeth for the bullshit she was posting. My blood pressure rose every single time she was on screen. How is it that someone who has spent 50,000 pounds getting a journalism degree has no fucking clue as to how responsible journalism works or that slander and inciting violence are not protected by free speech laws? She seemed like an very immature, naive, and stupid 17-year-old journalist wannabe high schooler rather than a 27-year-old trained journalist. I was left thinking the real reason she couldn't get a job in journalism (tight as I know that industry to be) was because she wasn't at all mentally capable of being a good journalist.
posted by orange swan at 11:19 AM on May 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Just finished season 2 and I'm really liking it. I had just finished watching Endeavour, which is probably the best British procedural I've ever seen (I was pretty surprised it hadn't been posted here), so Unforgotten was a bit of a let down at first because Endeavour is amazing. Unforgotten's slowly grown on me. I really like how they introduce a trillion characters in the first episode of each season because I really like trying to figure out how everyone's related. I also like how they're slowly rolling out Cassie and Sunny's personal lives because doing that always adds to the interest factor of the leads.
posted by the webmistress at 9:37 PM on January 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by the webmistress at 9:37 PM on January 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
Season 4 is available on PBS so I'm watching that now. Only a few episodes in but it's interesting so far.
posted by fiercekitten at 7:26 PM on December 7, 2021
posted by fiercekitten at 7:26 PM on December 7, 2021
Just finished season 5 on the PBS streaming app.
I honestly like the format and how we’re introduced to all of these characters before we have any idea how they relate to one another or to the crime. Season 2, I think, was the most satisfying for me, because of how elegantly it peeled back the mystery and revealed new information over six episodes. Other seasons have been clumsier about how they resolve each storyline; the denouement of season 5’s red herring suspect, without revealing too much, is just fucking bizarre.
The last couple of seasons have bugged me because of their fixation on portraying these cold-case investigators as obsessive workaholics who care too deeply about these crimes. I’m not saying it’s more realistic to suggest that all the main characters go home at 5pm and see a therapist every week, but neither am I saying it’s less realistic. Cassie, in particular, had this thing where she injected unnecessary tension and stress into every interaction in her personal life, and I get tired of “prestige television” being translated as “people are dysfunctional and hurt each other.”
A show is allowed to kill off a character whenever it wants, but the more it gets played for melodrama, the more cynical I’m going to get about the whole thing. If the actor has died and you’re using the fiction to work through that loss, then do whatever you want. But if the actor just wants to do different work, and it’s just grief you invented for logistical reasons, then that’s something I’ll have at the front of my mind whenever a tearful family member is delivering a soliloquy to a comatose protagonist. Don’t push it.
posted by savetheclocktower at 1:07 AM on November 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
I honestly like the format and how we’re introduced to all of these characters before we have any idea how they relate to one another or to the crime. Season 2, I think, was the most satisfying for me, because of how elegantly it peeled back the mystery and revealed new information over six episodes. Other seasons have been clumsier about how they resolve each storyline; the denouement of season 5’s red herring suspect, without revealing too much, is just fucking bizarre.
The last couple of seasons have bugged me because of their fixation on portraying these cold-case investigators as obsessive workaholics who care too deeply about these crimes. I’m not saying it’s more realistic to suggest that all the main characters go home at 5pm and see a therapist every week, but neither am I saying it’s less realistic. Cassie, in particular, had this thing where she injected unnecessary tension and stress into every interaction in her personal life, and I get tired of “prestige television” being translated as “people are dysfunctional and hurt each other.”
A show is allowed to kill off a character whenever it wants, but the more it gets played for melodrama, the more cynical I’m going to get about the whole thing. If the actor has died and you’re using the fiction to work through that loss, then do whatever you want. But if the actor just wants to do different work, and it’s just grief you invented for logistical reasons, then that’s something I’ll have at the front of my mind whenever a tearful family member is delivering a soliloquy to a comatose protagonist. Don’t push it.
posted by savetheclocktower at 1:07 AM on November 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by BibiRose at 4:10 PM on May 13, 2019