a patina of self-destruction

[smilebackwards]

The Wine-Dark Sea by Patrick O'Brian. In which there are volcanoes, pirates, and Peruvian llamas that spit in Stephen's face. Still an insanely peaceful-feeling book. Immediately started the next one. I do have other books I want to read but I can't put these down.

Homicide: Life of the Street (seasons 1 - 3): This feels like The West Wing of cop shows. Great dialogue and ensemble cast. They do this editing thing where it flickers on the same angle a few times and I honestly thought it was bad editing cuts the first time but they do it a lot so it's obviously purposeful and kind of interesting. I'm sure I could find film commentary on it somewhere if I Google a bit. May finish the series eventually when I have Peacock again but right now I need to find something lighter and less depressing than all the detective stuff I've been watching.

Comments

[misbegotten]

This feels like The West Wing of cop shows.

Holy cow. Yup.

I have only seen a few eps because the last time we watched it (years ago) I believe the visual style bothered me. But the writing and cast were incredible and I'm going to give it another go at some point.

[smilebackwards]

It definitely has a distinct visual style! Kind of bleached out and the flicker cuts bothered me at first. But very good writing for sure, I particularly like Detective Munch.

[misbegotten]

Oh yes, Munch is my favorite!

[colls]

Someone else on DW has been talking about Homicide and it must be re-streaming somewhere. I should look it up and watch it properly.

It was filmed in a neighborhood I lived in - the (closed) police station was a few blocks from my house and fell into disrepair until a few years ago when a developer snatched it up. I moved away pre-pandemic, so not sure what state it's in now.
My house was in the background for a few episodes, but I don't remember which ones.
Anyway, I feel an affinity for the show based on that alone.

[smilebackwards]

I think I learned about it from posts by musesfool and I could never find the show even in DVD box set so when they re-launched it on Peacock and I still had a few days left from my Olympics subscription I was grabbed at the chance.

The location is super interesting! I love the brickwork police station and its linoleum and burnt coffee and chain-linked rooftop where people go to have hard conversations.