'Say Nothing' mini series on FX

Trailer.

Excellent book, though the book was just a chronicle of The Troubles but how one sad, overwhelmed woman got herself on the wrong side of the IRA and how her killing reverberated through the lives of her children and her killers, who genuinely believed they were serving some Larger Cause. Not to say that they can't do it, but it's hard to portray in a televised series.

r2 Yeah, we'll see. I've only seen the first episode and it was excellent. Deeply personal and rooted in individual experience, definitely not just a chronicle.

Wow, I loved the book and didn't know a series was in the works. I can't imagine they'll do the book justice, but I'll watch it anyway.

I'll stick with Kerry Girls.

Cast list is so long, seemingly half of Irish talent pops up in this. Newcomers mostly, although some veterans like McElhinney and Donnelly as well.

This guy who played a British paratrooper caught my eye in the premiere. And of course there's a nice set of abs and tits to go with that pretty face. (He was only in it for ten seconds or so, don't expect him to feature going forward.)

This incident was a great injustice, but the problem with the Troubles is that the stories are so IRA-centric. The complicity of the Protestant paramilitaries with the Unionist political party, British military, British Intelligence, etc. is the big untold story.

Gerry Adams was an IRA informant.

This British review is one of the few middling ones, says it's too sympathetic to the IRA. American reviews are all glowing. Reminds me of when European critics climaxed over The Apprentice at Cannes, while the American ones mostly just groaned.

Anyway, as a continental €uro who enjoyed the first episode a lot and will obviously finish the whole thing – and not just because I have the hots for Anthony Boyle and Ryan McParland – I will keep in mind that this is just one side of a complex story.

r8 The very first episode ends with a disclaimer that he denies any involvement with the IRA. They obviously didn't want to get sued.

[quote] This British review is one of the few middling ones, says it's too sympathetic to the IRA.

Well, they would, wouldn't they?

R8: That's never been news and pales in comparison to the collusion of the Protestants, who were basically MAGA before there was MAGA.

The Cut got justifiably roasted for this.

r13 Yikes! This whole show is basically that super sad moment from the first season finale of Derry Girls.

[quote]This British review is one of the few middling ones, says it's too sympathetic to the IRA. American reviews are all glowing. Reminds me of when European critics climaxed over The Apprentice at Cannes, while the American ones mostly just groaned.

The IRA was quite happy to murder children - they bombed a town centre on a Saturday afternoon, the day before Mother's Day. They put bombs in metal bins so the shrapnel would cause maximum damage. A 3 year old boy was killed when he was out with his babysitter getting his mother a mother's day card. Another young boy died several days later.

It's amazing to think the IRA were still bombing children as recently as 1998 - children, pregnant women, tourists, all slaughtered.

^that's the great thing about the book - it shows how the Brits & the IRA kept upping the violence, with the IRA justifying any atrocity, even killing their own people. It wasn't until later that these people were broken, grappling with what they'd done, while Gerry Adams came out smelling like a rose and erasing his role. It's a sad, but fascinating story

[quote] while Gerry Adams came out smelling like a rose

Indeed. I've read a ton of books on the Troubles, always on the side of the Irish. But I grew so disgusted with the violence on both sides. I also view Gerry Adams as a piece of shit, a coward and a liar. His only motivation was to save his own skin and let his friends suffer and die for the cause.

[quote]The IRA was quite happy to murder children

So were the UVF.

Yep they did R18. And yet the UVF aren’t romanticised.

R2 A lot of the book was also about the Price sisters, who are more of a focus in this series.

Oh fuck. I don't have Hulu. But I love the book and it looks damn good.

Dolours said Gerry Adams was an IRA commander who gave the order for widowed-mother-of-10-children Jean McConville's death. He of course denies even being a member of the IRA. He is an absolute liar.

Yeah, he's the real loser of this series. The way every single episode features a disclaimer about him, I think people will be able to draw their own conclusions.

I have two episodes left to go. Couldn't watch more than two per day because I had such violent nightmares afterwards, I almost woke up screaming every night. I don't mind action and violence in my entertainment, but knowing this shit actually took place... it just hits different.

I'm glad Rory Kinnear's character didn't feature in more episode because he was just so vile. Laura Donnelly sneaks in towards the end and damn near steals the whole show, she's so good.

I think the series follows the book in being essentially about the Price sister and Brendan Hughes, with the murder of Jeanne McConville and the destruction of her family a token of the extremities of degeneracy that devotion to "the cause" led to. And then there's Gerry Adams, the guy who ordered murders while letting his people shoulder all the direct moral risks -- but also steered the IRA to a negotiated settlement, something that he reportedly began planning early on, while he was interned. So all the while that he was overseeing killings and letting his subordinates die, he was aiming at a settlement that was good for the province but made the whole "war" a pointless irrelevancy.

One of the most interesting sections of the book is the discussion of the Bobby Sands hunger strike; it really gives insight into how Sands likely wanted to be a martyr and in the Bigger Picture, just how pointless the hunger strikes were.

R25 Interesting this wasn’t mentioned in the series at all. It was a huge news story at the time.

Just finished it and what a gut punch of a finale. I need to lay off serious shows for a while, I'm too emotionally drained afterwards. Civil war and internecine conflicts in particular just get to me like nothing else.

What could possibly be said about Anthony Boyle that hasn't already been said. He's been on DL's radar since Manhunt, then goes on to casually steal Masters of the Air from underneath Austin Butler, and now this. He's a stah, baby!

[quote] Gerry Adams was an IRA informant.

Link>?

I thought the series was spellbinding! And scary when I think about all the guns among us.

I called my mom a feckin' tout the other day thanks to this series. And yes, I've been told many times I'm very impressionable, like a wee parrot.

Yer mam, R30?

I hae read accounts suggesting that Bobby Sands did not want to be a martyr and was hopeful there would be an agreement during the final days of his life. But what a tragedy. I took this picture a few years ago when we were in Belfast.

[Quote] This British review is one of the few middling ones, says it's too sympathetic to the IRA.

Even liberal Brits will always say a story about the IRA is too sympathetic unless the IRA is portrayed in an entirely negative light.

The book was great, i read anything that Redfern writes. If I remember correctly he gave context to both sides except for Gerry Adams, who came across sleazy but still with an important role in the peace accords.

A deal was offered to the hunger strikers' negotiating team (which included Gerry Adams), but they turned it down without consulting the strikers.

R35 So it's true. Fuck Gerry Adams. Poor Bobby.

[quote]I'll stick with Kerry Girls.

Oh, dear.

Adams was good at a lot of things he did, but he's a snake ultimately out for himself.

They are still trying to find where Joe was buried. They've found Kevin, Seamus, and others.

There is cautious optimism that they may finally find him.