You are never Safe ...

 Hey Charlies ! I discovered this TV series Safe on Netflix and I really really loved it. Usually I don't watch thriller but this one... I was caught up in the suspense.

 

 

 

 

Safe is a British television drama series created by the author Harlan Coben and written by Danny Brocklehurst. In only eight episodes, we are trapped in a crime thriller in which plot twist and mystery are everywhere.

It takes place in a luxury gated community in Britain where everything seems normal and quiet, but after his teenage daughter goes missing, a widowed surgeon begins uncovering dark secrets of the people closest to him. He still grieve the loss of his wife but he doesn't lack strength and faith to search for his daughter.

After reading some articles about the series, the only thing critics remembered about Safe is “Michael C Hall’s odd and synthetic British accent” ( he is the father of the missing girl ). Indeed, they all noticed that it doesn't quite ring true because he is an American actor who speaks here with a British accent. However, it is certainly not the most interesting thing about Safe whatever they says.

 

Why should you watch Safe ?

5 things to convince you :

→ Suspense and plot twist ! They turns each episode in an immensely addictive mystery. Literally everyone is a suspect. Efficient suspense makes tension growing throughout each episode, clues and cliffhangers hold you all the way.

→ The opening credits music ! "Glitter & Gold" from Barns Courtney is the perfect accompaniment for the credits, the catchy rock song highlights how not all is as it seems in Safe. Both scary and lively ( like the series itself ) you must add it in your playlist !

→ Flash Back ! The all series is built on them, at the beginning of each episode, we are learning little by little what really happened that mysterious night where a party had degenerated. Each episode comes back earlier and earlier in the night. I love flash back because it makes me feel as I know something more than characters and as if I could resolve the crime on my own.

→ Women ! I find that women roles were quite important and each of them were very charismatic. They lead the story and their personality are realistic and complex. In addition, the two cops who take care of the case are actually two women. 

→ Comedy ! It could seem contradictory but despite the thriller atmosphere, British humor is still here. The best example is the comedy couple The Marshalls, ghastly and likable at the same time. I loved them because the fact they only do bad choices makes them hilarious.

 Voila

I hope it convinced you !

 

Gradiva

Gone Girl : A peek behind closed doors.

 

‘People judge. Fast’ But what is behind closed doors ?

On the morning of their fifth anniversary, Nick’s wife, the beautiful, intelligent, warm and compassionate Amy Dunne, disappears. People start to whisper. That she was afraid of him, that he might have killed her. Nick says he’s not guilty. Who is telling the truth?

                     

Well, hello Charlie. Did I grab your interest like this book grabbed mine?

Written by Gillian Flynn in 2012, Gone Girl is a thriller about a two married new yorkers who move to Mississippi, hoping to find a better life after both losing their jobs. Shortly after their wreckage, they start to lose faith in each other. Nick still wants to think that his wife is the perfect, never angry, nurturing woman he met, and Amy misses the husband she believes she used to have, the Nick who cared about her and loved her for who she was. And then Amy goes missing. Everything comes crashing down. Everybody thinks it’s Nick. But what really happened?

                                                                   

From the second you start the book, you know that the characters are REAL people, with emotions, doubts, fears and a heart. These feelings won’t leave you alone, because you understand these people, you can read them, you’re inside their minds. You are Nick Dunne. You are Amy Dunne. And from the beginning, you know that something is threatening them, that there is something wrong, toxic in the way they behave. You raise an eyebrow in front of your book when you read the difference between what they said and what they’re actually thinking, written in italic, it’s like they were taking the time to think through every single choice they have to make, often angrily, and then put the appearance the outside world expects.

Just like every other human, they fear people’s judgement. Nick tries to compensate for his “humanity” by trying to be perfect, in everything, and Amy puts on personas (as many as she needs to) to be in the likes of others, to be cool, to be what they want her to be in spite of everything she wants as a woman and as a person. She lets others control her appearance, her moods. She is a strong and brilliant woman yet uncapable to take control of her life by acting the way she wants to. She is faking Amazing Amy, the childish character her parents invented as a model to make her happy. Nick is also much more complicated than the good guy who is certain he did no wrong and fails to admit that he waits for other to rescue him. He struggles as he tries to confront what he has done to Amy, to himself, what they have done to each other and fight by himself instead of hiding in everyone’s shadow. He develops from a guy who resents most women and fears facing people’s feelings to someone who cares for more than his own interest and wants to do the right thing.

Amy is a saddening yet realistic example of a sheltered woman who was actually feeling trapped and lonely, driven crazy by society. She is resenting her husband for his incapacity to keep loving her when she stopped being what he wanted her to be : a Cool Girl. This book, through Amy’s character, is tearing apart a trope deserving woman who try to fit in a men’s world by acting like men want them to act. By acting like the “Cool Girl”, they choose not to be themselves despite how unique they are, and how much better they could be if they were playing “their own persona”, be who they are.

 I think this book is deeply feminist without neglecting its male characters : there is more depth to both men and women than just one negative and reducing trait that defines their whole being. Nick was a cheater, he’s trying to be a better man and understand others, Go is a sister who unconditionally loves her brother, but she’s also a strong woman who has lost her work, her parents, watched her brother almost go down, got back a job by herself, told her brother when he messed up and made ‘the best out of a terrible situation’ as Nick would say. Not a single character lacks development and each point of view depicts society in a different way, pushing us to ask ourselves how we want to live and where our choices will lead us.

 

This book is definitely a page-turner, good luck trying to put it down !

Thanks for reading my article ;)

N