Don’t Say Anything is Boldly Editing an Amazing Book

Photo Credit: via The Cut; Photo: Rob Youngson/FX

We get it: There are too many shows on television right now. The streaming site doesn’t work, and good stuff is easily lost in obscurity. But most of us can still find one noise-reducing signal. We call this “appointment viewing” – or the time you make in your busy schedule to watch the show you’ll want to release with your friends the next day while still on your mind. Check here every month to read author Michel Ghanem, aka @TV studentit is considered appropriate to dive into the depth of a group conversation.

We’ve covered a number of historical dramas on “Appointment Viewing,” including some Showtime favorites Fellow travelers and Emmy-winning FX Shogun. This month, a new one will debut to FX: Don’t Say Anythinga fascinating limited series based on a fictional novel that brings a slice of Irish history to our small screen.

Don’t Say Anything is a limited-edition historical series based on the 2018 novel of the same name by journalist Patrick Radden Keefe. The conflict between Irish Catholics and UK Protestants had been going on for centuries; by the late 1960s, violence had increased between Catholics and Protestants and thus began a period of turmoil known as the Troubles. The series spans four decades of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and its aftermath,​​​​covering the last half of the 20th century.

In the show, we mostly follow the lives of Dolours (played by the unflappable Lola Petticrew) and Marian Price (Hazel Doupe), two older sisters who join the Provisional Irish Republican Army (a designated terrorist organization in the UK). . We follow their lives as they take part in IRA operations in Belfast, carrying out covert operations, bombings, and everything else you’d expect in a violent freedom struggle. The sisters work closely with Brendan “The Dark” Hughes (Anthony Boyle) and Gerry Adams (Josh Finan), two IRA leaders who are being chased repeatedly by the British authorities trying to suppress the opposition (Rory Kinnear he plays yet another evil role as one of these British officers). Adams, who eventually ran for a political seat in the UK parliament, denies his involvement with the IRA to this day.

The secret activities of the IRA were finally revealed in the Belfast project, an oral history from the news that inspired Keefe to write his book, and is a crucial part of the show’s denouement. With Keefe’s help as executive producer, Don’t Say Anything is a stunning television debut for Joshua Zetumer as a leading man with impressive performances throughout.

Nine episodes of FX’s Don’t Say Anything will be released on Hulu on Thursday November 14. This is a pivot strategy since FX released the recent historical drama. Shogun every week. Don’t Say Anything it’s a one-person binge, and my advice would be to break it up into bite-sized chunks: Most episodes are about 42 minutes long and can easily be watched in pairs. However, you might want to watch the hard-hitting sixth episode, which cuts to Dolours and Marian at the most difficult time of their time with the IRA, themselves. It’s one of the best episodes of television I’ve seen this year. The final two and a half episodes see the old characters take on the characters from all over time as they each clash with their past after a peace is negotiated. Maxine Peake, who you may know from Black Mirror and People of different gendershe is a prominent figure here playing Dolours in the later years of his life.

There haven’t been many shows that look at this period of Irish history in such an unflinching way. Derry girlsNetflix’s charming comedy that ran for three seasons, followed a group of high school kids in the final season of Troubles, but the real conflict happens more on the sidelines of their upcoming shenanigans. Derry girls director Michael Lennox directs four episodes of Don’t Say Anythingbut he is dealing with a very different tone here; Don’t Say Anything it may have some occasional humor, but it’s clearly more serious in subject matter.

Do not worry, Don’t Say Anything it made me dizzy within the first 15 minutes. The first scene opens with members of the IRA knocking on the door of a modest widowed mother of ten before taking her in a casual manner. The traumatic opening scene prepares the viewer for the conflict to come – Trouble was more than Molotov cocktails and gunshots ringing in the night; they were also referring to the IRA’s attitude towards “touts,” Irish slang for “experts.” Seemingly a side plot in the early episodes, the mother in question (Jean McConville) becomes important in the later years of the war for each character as they consider actions. which they did after pledging eternal loyalty to the IRA.

For Dolours in particular, the cost of freedom and the cost of silence carry a heavy burden. It is a fascinating study about the protagonist who grew up getting tips on how to survive interrogation by his father and a crippled aunt who lost her hands and sight due to the cause, memories of Irish history under British colonial rule. As he said in the first episode, “The thing about Irish people: We’ve been arguing about the same thing for 800 years.” Obviously, there is more to Troubled than his experience, but through his lens, Don’t Say Anything it never feels too broad or confusing.

In the past year alone, there have been at least half a dozen episodes set during World War II on top of the many stories that have been told since then. I found it refreshing to have a history that was new to me – especially one that captures the spirit of the military resistance. We live in an age that reminds us of a new kind of McCarthyism in the West for those who talk about atrocities against Arabs in the Middle East, and Don’t Say Anything makes the viewer question which parts of history have been suppressed in favor of the colonial legacy: Problems were certainly not taught in my history classes growing up, and its stories were It’s incredibly talked about on Netflix. The crown. From incredible performances by lesser-known actors to sensational performances, Don’t Speak mix shows like Chernobyl and Band of Brothers within a group of major historical changes. It’s always a gift to have television to watch, especially when it’s this good.