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Foyle's War - Tow Jockey Five Second Review Foyle's War - Tow Jockey Five Second Review

Foyle's War - Tow Jockey Five Second Review

There are few car chases. There are no gun fights where hundreds of rounds are fired but nobody is hurt. There isn't a different femme fetale crossing the screen every week attempting to lure our hero off the path of virtue. In short, this is a British show where the pacing is a bit slower than you might be used to. The stories told in this series take their time and build slowly. It's a show to be watched with a cup of tea not a can of Red Bull. Each season, which is only 4 episodes long but each the length of a feature film, we follow the life of Detective Chief Superintendent Foyle as he solves crimes in the south of England during World War 2.  He is joined by Sergeant Milner, a man wounded in Norway, and his driver Samantha "Sam" Stewart. The stories are well written and even have you guessing as to who the true culprit is which is almost unheard of in today's police dramas.  What I find especially great in this show, outside of the top notch acting, is the way in which the war is presented from the perspective of the home front. It isn't infantry assaults and artillery barrages. It's more subtle in the way it twists the morality of those not on the front lines. I also like that things that are largely forgotten by most people, in America anyway, are given the type of importance civilians at the time actually gave them. Who in America remembers the botched British invasion of Norway? Who remembers that a German invasion of England was viewed as almost a certainty as was the eventual defeat of Britain? This show makes me glad of Netflix which fills it's roster with programs you might not have ever heard of otherwise and in this case it's a great one.

Netflix status: Currently Streaming

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Comments (6)
  • avatarubarose

    I've been enjoying this. It is more of a traditional murder mystery show than a cop drama. Everyone has motive and opportunity, and the fun is figuring out who did it. Seeing the war from the English home front is fascinating.

  • avatarpanzerattack

    If you liked Foyle's War you might want to check out Monsignor Renard. It's a British mini series set in occupied France and it's basically about how the locals of a small village cope with being part of a country under occupation. It's got the same slow paced, Sunday evening feel of Foyle's War but it's a good drama.

  • avatarThirstyMan

    Yes, this is excellent.

    Another British show I have been watching recently is Luther, which is OK. It stars the guy from The Wire (who is actually British) who played Stringer Bell. A traditional cop show set in London with some twists. Netflix are streaming this.

  • avatarJMcL63

    Foyle's War is almost my definition of a guilty pleasure (and I have precious few of those: if it's a pleasure, why feel guilty about it?). Everything Repoman says about is true, and all those things made me ignore the show for a long time. Then I ended up watching it with my mum one night when I was visiting the parental home. Of course, the classic murder mystery format soon had this crime afficionado gripped. I've watched a few more episodes since then, and I have to admit that I enjoy it despite the fact that it still pushes buttons which irk me. Is that a guilty pleasure, or just ambivalent? I don't know for sure. ;)

  • avatarrepoman

    Nah, a guilty pleasure would be something that is crap, that you know is crap, and yet still enjoy it. Foyle's War may not be all things to all people but it ain't crap.

  • avatarJMcL63

    You're right of course repoman: whatever else you might want to say about Foyle's War, crap it ain't.

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