Say Nothing: Full Series
December 15, 2024 10:40 PM - Season 1 (Full Season) - Subscribe

Spanning four tumultuous decades during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. Based on the book of the same name by Patrick Radden Keefe.
posted by Cash4Lead (7 comments total)
 
Considering watching it! How is it? Any disturbing content?
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 5:29 AM on December 16, 2024 [1 favorite]


Quite a bit, actually. Episode 6 in particular, which concerns the Price sisters's hunger strike, is really upsetting.
posted by Cash4Lead at 9:16 AM on December 16, 2024 [2 favorites]


This was phenomenal, maybe the best thing I watched all year. I'd recommend it to anyone who misses The Americans (and from a "disturbing content" standpoint, about equal or slightly less than).
posted by windbox at 10:49 AM on December 16, 2024


Episode 6 is the only one that had me fast forwarding through scenes, and I am REALLY uncomfortable watching depictions of torture on screen. I'm honestly shocked they were still doing forced feedings in the 1970s, but I probably shouldn't be.

SPOILER ALERT BELOW:

I was pretty surprised that they ended the series depicting Marian being the one to shoot Jane McConville. Nothing about how they depict the stories being recorded suggests that's what happened (they have Mackers explicitly telling Marian there's nothing on tape about it), and I don't know what documentary evidence there is to back it up.

The real Marian Price is suing Disney+ for depicting it that way.

The series does a good job playing on the audience's tendencies to turn the main characters of a show into the protagonists, and having you constantly questioning whether that's right. Framing the whole series around McConville's disappearance and its consequences for her kids really keeps us grounded in the reality that these weren't good people even while you find yourself nodding along with their belief that they're at war with the British.

I also really liked the ambiguity with which Gerry Adams is depicted. I came to hate him right along with the Price sisters and Brendan Hughes, until the end when I couldn't help but agree that everyone needed to move forward (while also understanding why the others couldn't).

Also after bingeing the series over two nights, my inner monologue now has a Belfast accent, which I don't hate, ngl.
posted by dry white toast at 10:49 AM on December 16, 2024 [1 favorite]


I'm honestly shocked they were still doing forced feedings in the 1970s

Brace yourself.
posted by praemunire at 11:32 AM on December 16, 2024 [1 favorite]


Super high quality show, can recommend highly. As said previously, 6th episode is extremely difficult to watch.

Before watching, I watched this excellent historical explainer about The Troubles. As an American largely distant from this, it really helped with context.
posted by mcstayinskool at 6:12 PM on December 21, 2024 [1 favorite]


I was in the middle of reading the book when this came out, so I waited till now to catch up to the show. I hadn’t even known they were filming it.

It felt a little…well, there’s obviously no way they could do such a huge book justice, but it skipped so much and I couldn’t figure out why they didn’t choose to have maybe 13 episodes or something so we could have had more about Brendan Hughes, for instance. His entire imprisonment with Adams was elided and his hunger strike, as well as Bobby Sands, was absent.

But it’s still pretty good, just lacking a lot of information that I think could make so much of each individual’s story much richer. And they made Mackers seem like he didn’t know a lot of stuff he knew, as though he hadn’t been in the IRA, and there was a little “as you know, Bob” at the beginning with him and Dolours that annoyed me, though I recognize why they did it.

I assume the choice to show Marian as Jean’s killer was from the book’s author making that link at the end of the book. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the suit.

I usually try not to compare book to film treatment and am generally successful, but I think the book is just so damn good and comprehensive that it’s difficult here and the series felt a little lacking. Still good though.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 9:27 PM on January 9 [2 favorites]


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