When you really like a series, sometimes you leave objectiveness aside and overlook the problems it might have and just sit and enjoy it. The Fall is not a show where I could use the word enjoy. However it often happens, that after the episode ends, I find myself speechless, thinking about what I have just watched. How are words enough to describe or write about this cinematic treasure, and how it darkness and plot makes you sit at the edge of your couch or chair.
"The Hell Within Him" might be the best episode of the series so far. From the beginning when we find Stella in the bathtub, shiny red nails and a manly hand giving her a massage, only to turn out to be Spector. As he tries to drown her, the camera pans out to her waking up in one of those enormous hotel beds, and another man comforts her and tells her it's time to get up, this man stays in the shadows, while the light rests on Stella. We don't know who he is, but it's a dream within a dream, and when she wakes up for real, she's alone, in that substitution of a bed she has in her office.
Since the first episode the montage is one of the main elements this shows manages at its best, and this episode showcases a parallel montage through the whole hour. In one hand we see Stella's pursuit of the investigation and in the other what happens to Paul. It sound obvious, but because of how the edition is made it's really interesting to watch. As Stella's team seems to find leads, Spector's Lawyers find the smallest of things to build up a defense.
At the same time the news of Sally Ann's suicide intent hits the news after a couple recorded themselves rescuing her and the kids. This scene might be everything Stella's fans were waiting for, and if Anderson doesn't win or at least is nominated for an award because of this episode she's being robbed. The show knows were its resources lay and they take advantage of it, as it's shown here when the camera zooms in Gibson's watery eyes while watching the news, blinking and trying to put her mask back on, her words are venom towards Jim and the heads of the police department's choices. Instead of being a support system for Sally Ann, they chose to threaten her and drag her through court. Her soft voice and pauses lets us see she feels guilty, and while she immediately goes to the hospital and gets into action, Jim turns into alcohol to sooth his wounds.
The hell within that is referred in the title, is about Spector, and this duality of not letting the viewer know if he's faking or really suffering from amnesia. But as the lawyers show him the recording he made of Rose and himself, he has a panic attack, and later when he gets whisked away to the mental health institution, he seems docile and scared of himself. And even when the episode ends, and we see his eyes darken and the door closes on him, letting the viewer spy through that curtain, there's still the shadow of the doubt of what he really knows. Almost as Spector suffers from double personality or something of that kind.
This parallelism of Stella's pursuing the truth and going forward, even when he even inflicts pain in her life (by having to share her journal because of the lawyers' request) and this innocent act he's pulling, reflects the evolution of the characters' we got to see in Season 3, and through subtext and quiet moments, insight into their minds and lives.
This Thursday BBC airs Episode 5, and on Friday the Series Finale (for the time being) and the only thing I'm really hoping for is closure for the victims and for Stella too. (Even if I'm not ready to say goodbye to this show)
"The Hell Within Him" might be the best episode of the series so far. From the beginning when we find Stella in the bathtub, shiny red nails and a manly hand giving her a massage, only to turn out to be Spector. As he tries to drown her, the camera pans out to her waking up in one of those enormous hotel beds, and another man comforts her and tells her it's time to get up, this man stays in the shadows, while the light rests on Stella. We don't know who he is, but it's a dream within a dream, and when she wakes up for real, she's alone, in that substitution of a bed she has in her office.
Since the first episode the montage is one of the main elements this shows manages at its best, and this episode showcases a parallel montage through the whole hour. In one hand we see Stella's pursuit of the investigation and in the other what happens to Paul. It sound obvious, but because of how the edition is made it's really interesting to watch. As Stella's team seems to find leads, Spector's Lawyers find the smallest of things to build up a defense.
At the same time the news of Sally Ann's suicide intent hits the news after a couple recorded themselves rescuing her and the kids. This scene might be everything Stella's fans were waiting for, and if Anderson doesn't win or at least is nominated for an award because of this episode she's being robbed. The show knows were its resources lay and they take advantage of it, as it's shown here when the camera zooms in Gibson's watery eyes while watching the news, blinking and trying to put her mask back on, her words are venom towards Jim and the heads of the police department's choices. Instead of being a support system for Sally Ann, they chose to threaten her and drag her through court. Her soft voice and pauses lets us see she feels guilty, and while she immediately goes to the hospital and gets into action, Jim turns into alcohol to sooth his wounds.
The hell within that is referred in the title, is about Spector, and this duality of not letting the viewer know if he's faking or really suffering from amnesia. But as the lawyers show him the recording he made of Rose and himself, he has a panic attack, and later when he gets whisked away to the mental health institution, he seems docile and scared of himself. And even when the episode ends, and we see his eyes darken and the door closes on him, letting the viewer spy through that curtain, there's still the shadow of the doubt of what he really knows. Almost as Spector suffers from double personality or something of that kind.
This parallelism of Stella's pursuing the truth and going forward, even when he even inflicts pain in her life (by having to share her journal because of the lawyers' request) and this innocent act he's pulling, reflects the evolution of the characters' we got to see in Season 3, and through subtext and quiet moments, insight into their minds and lives.
This Thursday BBC airs Episode 5, and on Friday the Series Finale (for the time being) and the only thing I'm really hoping for is closure for the victims and for Stella too. (Even if I'm not ready to say goodbye to this show)
