Bosch

I know, I know: The blog is about Hinterland.

My wife watched the first two seasons of Bosch (an Amazon original) a year or so back. I only half watched it, half at my computer in the adjacent room. So when the third season of Bosch came out I had no particular interest in watching it. After some time, though, I gave it a try.

It fascinated me. There was no drifting back to the next room to play with my computer.

Couple days after I finished season three, it came into my head again. Why does everybody think he's a bad cop? I wondered. It's because he doesn't care what people think. The character caught my interest. So I sat down and watched all three seasons. Now I love the show.

I also love the way it's written, the way it's put together. Like this: Season One starts and ends with rain. I thought that was interesting. What it means, the symbolism, I don't know.

And this: Something happens late in the last episode of season one. Not Harry, but the other guy gets what he deserves. That same something comes up in the last episode of season two. And this time not the other guy, but Harry gets what he's looking for.

And this: In season one Harry's daughter visits him in L.A. He buys her a braided string bracelet like the one he wears. It never comes up again in the first three seasons, but Harry's bracelet appears many times in brief camera shots. If not for that one scene where the daughter gets her bracelet, I would have completely missed all of those camera shots. I can't guess the significance of Harry's bracelet, but maybe we find out in season four.

S1E1: The first 80 seconds

A jogger. The camera pans slowly, showing a desolate landscape. No narration. We notice the jogger is approaching a house trailer.

Now our view is from inside the trailer. Breathing hard, the jogger sits down hard on his front step. The whole trailer shakes. I still laugh at that, every time I see it.

After a moment's rest, the jogger gets himself a drink of water. The phone rings. Looking for the phone, he turns a complete 360. Not the most organized guy. I laugh, every time I see it.

He answers the phone: "Mathias". It is the only word spoken before the opening credits.

//

An introduction to the desolation of Wales, two good laughs, and the main character is identified. Not a lot of idle chatter.

Lloyd Ellis: "Nobody takes any notice of me, do they"

Just not enough attention to detail among viewers.

Hinterland is rich with detail of the interpersonal relations among Mathias, Rhys, Owens, and Ellis. But you have to watch. Put your phone down and watch. Much of the richness is non-verbal.

And (in my opinion) so very funny.

Educational TV

After watching season 2 episode 1 (mother and son burned in a house fire) half a dozen times, I noticed the word "Cwmglas" displayed like a company name. A few more times watching, and I heard DC Elis say the word. Hm.

I watched it yesterday and again today, and finally got what I think is the pronunciation of that word: "coom glas". The "w" is pronounced more or less like a double-u (surprise!) or like the double-o in "moon".

I have such trouble because the letter "w" is a vowel in Welsh (or so I read, back when I started watching Hinterland). But for me it's not a vowel. So if I can think of it as an "oo" sound, that will help.

// so "w" sounds like "oo" ...

So just now I googled hinterland blogs and down at the bottom of the list I found a link to alex harries sister and I said ooh, ooh and off I went. Ended up at Husband and wife nominated for Welsh Baftas. That's Mali Harries (DI Rhys) and Matthew Gravelle (Wyn Bratton from S1E3). And then there was a mention of the movie named Cwcw, a Welsh-language movie.

Cwcw, I said to myself... coo-coo.

Went to Google Translate:

Wow!

A glitch? or did DCI Mathias let DI Rhys drive his car

Season 2, Episode 5, starting about 1:11:20 into the episode:

Lloyd: "Sir."

Enter Mathias.

Lloyd: "We know Aaron called Ffion from the kiosk the night he was killed, here at 18:53. Ffion said she tried to call the number back a few minutes later.

Mathias: "But the number was engaged."

Lloyd: "Because Aaron made a second call at 18:56 -- to the boatyard."

Mathias and Rhys look at each other.

Next scene: Street scene. The beautiful Mathias Volvo is on the move. Mathias and Rhys are on their way to the hospital.

Next scene: Inside the car. Rhys is driving.

Three results

Best accent

From WalesOnline: The Welsh accent is officially lush (and that's according to genuine academic research).

I don't know what "lush" means in that context. But I do know that when I started watching Hinterland, the Welsh accent drew me in.