[Closed] McMafia

It's Bawz.

I like it and I don't really like anything on telly.

Privately educated English softy decides to take on the Russian mafia and is then shocked to discover that they’re not happy about it, and start getting a bit murdery?

Every plot turn is flagged up about 3 miles in advance but it is strangely watchable, if only to tick off all the cliche’s

First episode was decent, the rest of it tedious and predictable.

James Norton is the problem.  The rest of it is great - but he just sucks the life out of any scene he's in.

BInners, what you're seeing is a soft public school boy who was vaguely aware of his family's Russian gangster roots....but never thought it would bother him....unfortunately events have conspired against him and his family and he's now faced with going into hiding or discovering his inner violence and taking on those who killed his uncle in front of him and exacting revenge....I like it, I want him to become properly unhinged in the last few episodes and wreak havoc amongst his enemies across Eastern Europe.

What worries me is that defence secretary Gavin Williamson has watched it and clearly thought it was a documentary 😉

It’s ok. We watch it as there is nothing else on a Sunday evening. As above the quality deteriorates each week.

Got bored after the second episode.

We like it but then we don't over think it...just tv with a glass of wine (See also Lucifer, Walking Dead, GoT, Orange is the New Black etc etc)

James Norton is the problem. The rest of it is great – but he just sucks the life out of any scene he’s in.

Sorry, it's not just him (though he is the worst)... whoever plays his father runs a close second for worst actor.

I wonder how much the travel budget was for this. I bet the cast and crew racked up some airmiles...

^ yeah fair enough, he is terrible also, but he's only in a few scenes each episode - compared to Mr Norton, the human sponge.

In fact, it would be easier to list who is good in it.  It's a short list:

it's so mind numbingly dull.  We watched a few episodes but it actually feels a relief to have decided to give up on it.

Much like the night manager it has very high production values but seems to lack any jeopardy.  It's a thriller with no thrills.

Sicario was on TV last week.  Looking forward to seeing that again - the first time I watched it I realised after 45minutes that I'd been clenching my jaw since the start.  The scene in the traffic jam to the border crossing was insane.

It’s easy to see why it’s taken Blue Planet’s slot in the schedule:

Edward Norton - wet sponge
His lady friend - wet sponge
Vadim - menacing shark with unexpectedly soft attitude towards their offspring

This week's episode had a bit more pace. Not sure why we need to follow the trafficked girl, perhaps she fits in with a bigger plot later?

Also I predict that woman bodyguard days are numbered.

Started off OK

Got stupid very quick

I mean - why bother with the whole white slavery? Why not just employ someone to go to parties and get pissed? I mean we get that he is evil and all that, but it jsut seams like a waste

AND let me tell you Tel Aviv is nowhere near as interesting as that. Nowhere.

And - why go to the bother of renting a flat, renting a baby, setting up some trap, leaving incriminating evidence all along the way, when you could have just walked up behind her an shot her in the head?

James Norton is soooo badly miscast. What a drip of a programme. And WHY MCMafia? There's no Scottish people! or burgers!

Uh!Uh! Just reminded me! New series of Gamorrah starts tomorrah!

Proper gangster telly.

For what it is,  it is enjoyable .We find it better to switch off before the "coming up next week" bit at the end of each episode.

The tropes and clichés are still there,  but it at least adds a bit of excitement in trying to predict them without having seen a summary of the whole plot of the next episode in advance .

I really like it.

One thing that I didn't follow was at the end of Episode 5 when Vadim came up to Alex Godman in Tel Aviv airport and they both seemed to have met before, but I can't ever remember them meeting anywhere or at any time up to that point.  Anyone enlighten me?  Maybe it was during one of my microsleeps that seem to afflict Sunday evenings

I feel like I should like it, but I don't.

Myopic,   Alex went to one of Vadim's parties after his uncle had been killed, to check if his family were safe and off the hit list IIRC

Godman went out to see Vadim in a earlier episode. Told him some porkies about not being a threat.

I watched the first episode but thought it was mince so didn’t pay much attention (more than myopic it seems!😂). My wife persisted so it was on in the background and I actually found myself drawn back in last week as it seemed to have improved. Watched this weeks and thought it was reasonable so will watch to the end now.

It’s brain out stuff, nothing more and Norton is better as a baddie like in happy valley. It’s better than the night manager though, that was woefull.

[i]Uh!Uh! Just reminded me! New series of Gamorrah starts tomorrah![/i]

I did not know that. I love you DezB, some decent telly at last.

why go to the bother of renting a flat, renting a baby, setting up some trap, leaving incriminating evidence all along the way, when you could have just walked up behind her an shot her in the head?

It's television, they spin it out for entertainment, it is not real life!!

FWIW I find it quite enjoyable for an evenings viewing........

<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 12px;">Sicario was on TV last week.  Looking forward to seeing that again – the first time I watched it I realised after 45minutes that I’d been clenching my jaw since the start.  The scene in the traffic jam to the border crossing was insane.</span>

I've watched Sicario twice now and beyond the good bit with the border crossing to get the guy from Mexican prison, I have no idea why what happens happens....

<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 12px;">Sicario was on TV last week.  Looking forward to seeing that again – the first time I watched it I realised after 45minutes that I’d been clenching my jaw since the start.  The scene in the traffic jam to the border crossing was insane.</span>

I've watched Sicario twice now and beyond the good bit with the border crossing to get the guy from Mexican prison, I have no idea why what happens happens....

a<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 12px;">nd WHY MCMafia? There’s no Scottish people! or burgers!

that's explained in the 1st episode... have you actually watched it?

… have you actually watched it?

Sort of. I was a bit bored until the fella's throat got slit. Then I got bored again.

<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 12px; background-color: #eeeeee;"> </span>I love you DezB, some decent telly at last.

Indeed! I shall do a general PSA thread tomorrow and get some more love (hopefully)

I'll be watching it to the end now I've started, but yeah, it's not great. The only characters I actually care about are the Russian trafficked girl and the driver, Vadim can shoot, poison or concrete welly his way through the rest of the arseholes at will.

Uh!Uh! Just reminded me! New series of Gamorrah starts tomorrah!

Excellent! I just checked the Now TV box to see if that had stared only the other night. I'll get Britannia finished and then get stuck in.

WHY MCMafia? There’s no Scottish people! or burgers! - that’s explained in the 1st episode… have you actually watched it?

You'll have to explain it to me too - passed me by.

Me too.

that’s explained in the 1st episode… have you actually watched it?

I watched the first episode but still failed to connect to the name.

When they were driving to the uncles house after he'd been killed my mind was still going "no way was that drive long enough to get to Scotland from London.  when does the action get scottish,  Why has no-one got an accent"

Apparently the mafia are like Mackie D's - they're everywhere and everyone smells of stale fat.  or something.

Oh, it appears I owe robgclarkson an apology, 'cos that was incredibly obvious. 🙄

Er - what just happened - my reply disappeared and now we're up to 24 pages!

Thanks canny1 and chestrockwell for the reminder about the party.  I have a hazy recollection of it now you mention it 🙂

I quite like Alex, and I want to see Vadim get what he deserves, but in true series style the makers will milk it with them both bloodied but still standing at the end of this series, ready to pick up the gloves again in the next one, should they decide to go that route.

It's called McMafia as Chechen vagabonds were impressed with McDonalds franchise model. They decided to take the franchise model and mirror it with their business model. The miscreants demanded that all their satellite organisations replicated the exact same method of operating as their operation in Chechnya and Russia, including the extreme violence. It was a very successful business model for McDonalds and the Chechens.

Watchable but frustrating. The baddies look as threatening as a kid on a knitting pattern brochure.

Going to be a bit peeved if they don't have some sort of conclusion at the end.
The last TV drama series we watched, obviously forgettable as MrsDT's and I can't remember what it was, left us high and dry with no answers. Just so they can eek another 12 week series out of the cast and writers.

Episode 1 was too slow for me.

<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 16px;">Much like the night manager it has very high production values but seems to lack any jeopardy.  It’s a thriller with no thrills.

Sums it up perfectly.

My 2p... it's typical BBC drama, sadly. Promises much and costs more

Hard Sun is worse, worse even than the Night Manager

The first episode was good, so watched the second, and third. Now I'm invested, even if they are getting worse. I feel like if I don't finish them, its time spent in vain. I at least need to know what happens! It had better have a conclusion..

I feel like if I don’t finish them, its time spent in vain.

i went on holiday for a week.  have no desire to see any more - i don't care what happens to any of them

Was reminded that there are two seasons of League of Gentlemen and Inside No 9 on Netflix so rewatching all of those at the moment.  Qualityl

Hard Sun is worse, worse even than the Night Manager

Its absolutely awful! Laughably bad! We never even made it through the first episode! Its like someone at the BBC had seen Utopia and said "I know! Lets do a really, really crap, ridiculously dumbed down version of that!!!"

I read the book when it first came out - its very good actually.  It's non-fiction, about the rise of the new world order of organised crime.

This is kind-of a dramatisation of the book - how the money moves around, the Russian kleptocracy  etc.

Certainly worth a read

^ couldn't agree more re: hard sun.  McMafia, although not great, is certainly better than that.

Although Silent Witness is still the benchmark for absolute claptrap

Silent Witness is still the benchmark for absolute claptrap

Have you never watched game shows or blind date ?????  There is far worse than Silent Witness believe me

They made Hard Sun look worth watching with the previews! Glad I wasn't the only one who fell for it.

Have you never watched game shows or blind date ?????  There is far worse than Silent Witness believe me

Pretty sure he meant in the drama genre. I mean you could sink pretty low if you include all categories of TV programme. Bottom of the heap: Naked Attraction. 😆

No, but game shows/blind date aren't masquerading as anything besides light entertainment.

Silent witness pretends to be a serious, high-quality police procedural - in reality, its a pound-shop CSI, written by people who have never read any crime fiction, other than to blatantly plagiarise it.  There was one last season (maybe before) that was just "strangers on a train", and I've lost count of the number of times that I've been trying to figure out who dun it, only to have a new character introduced in the last 20 mins.... turns-out, it was them.  Utter garbage.

Is blind date still running?

Edit:  Hey Duggee is the highlight of the BBC programming at the moment

Is it the Silent Witness episode next week where they all bugger off abroad, abandoning any forensic service in London to go and meddle in foreign police investigations?

I hope they all get thrown in a skanky jail with no hope of parole this season.

Is blind date still running?

Channel 5, with Lily Savage instead of Cilla. Still awesome.*

*not watched it

As soon as I thought Semiyon Kleiman (David Strathnairn) sounded like Sergei the Meerkat I was out!

<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 16px;">Edit:  Hey Duggee is the highlight of the BBC programming at the moment</span>

True...

<p style="margin: 1rem 0px !important; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: 1.2em; font-weight: normal; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">As soon as I thought Semiyon Kleiman (David Strathnairn) sounded like Sergei the Meerkat I was out!</p>
I thought  he was Eddie Jordan.

<p style="margin: 1rem 0px !important; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: 1.2em; font-weight: normal; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">As soon as I thought Semiyon Kleiman (David Strathnairn) sounded like Sergei the Meerkat I was out!</p>
I thought  he was Eddie Jordan.

<span style="color: #444444;">Not sure why we need to follow the trafficked girl</span>

That's all I was following, TBH

Not sure why we need to follow the trafficked girl

Because it added in another 3 locations to go on holiday to for the BBC film crew 🙂

Bit of an odd ending. Setup nicely for series 2 though.

The last 2 were really good. Very tense. The lead actor though, can't even remember his name, he's so non! When he was running for his life - I bet the director untucked his shirt after the first take because otherwise he would've just looked like he was jogging for a bus. So expressionless. Definitely can wait for the next series.

yeah, I would have liked to have seen Alex have a bit of a rumble with Vadim - bit of a wrestle on the carpet then brain him with an iron bar. Then Alex gets on a fishing boat and sails off to Ankara to open a Turkish Bath / casino / crypto-currency laundering shop.

Thankful for no stupid ending though (despite having stupid ending written all over it), just an ascendancy to top-dog in his 'new economic world', walking over his Mexican mate in the process and heeding Vadim's call that he needs to isolate himself.

walking over his Mexican mate

Was he ever his mate?