1) For the story. Wikipedia says : “The series is set in Northern Ireland and follows a PSNI investigation into a string of recent murders. When the PSNI are unable to close the case after 28 days, Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson, of the Metropolitan Police, is called in to review the case. Under her new leadership, the local detectives must track down and stop the serial killer, Paul Spector, who is attacking young professional women in the city of Belfast.”
It’s not about who the killer is but how : how people are working together as a team to find him, how the killer lives like a normal human being in his lovely family, how personal relationships can affect the professionnal world. It is a police investigation but you do not feel you are watching an episode of CSI or NCIS and for that, thank you.
2) Because the world in The Fall is not black and white. There is no such a thing as a Manichaean world. Good people in one side and bad people in another side is an archaic and old fashion way of thinking and if you are tired of it, The Fall is for you. Bad and good, evil and purity, immorality and morality are often a question of judgement. The team behind the british series tries with success to break these rules.
3) For the casting. I mean, no wrong at all. It works ridiculously well. From the charismatic leader Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson, perfect) to the serial killer Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan, intriguing and obscure), from Paul’s wife to Stellas collegues: it is all good all good I tell ya’!
4) Because it is a feminist series. If you did not know what to think about the “feminist aspect” in the famous series Games of Thrones (yes? no? maybe?), The Fall makes it pretty clear. First of all, Stella Gibson is a modern, classy accomplished woman, not afraid by her desires. Second of all, dialogues sound sometimes almost like feminist’s pamphlet. Ok, the serial killer is once again a frustrating and disturbing man with a difficult childhood killing accomplished and beautiful young women but I like to think it just add to the feminist part, by etablishing a link between these women and Stella’s position, playing her role in a man’s world full of weakness and testosterone. Not easy. The diversity and complexity of the female characters is also highly enjoyable.
5) For the dialogues. It is not a very talkative series but dialogues are just brilliant. Every speech, every words tell us something about his character, about the story, about reality. Non-sense is not the Fall.
6) It is beautiful. This series is a piece of art, I mean literaly. Images and music are like poetry. The cameras sometimes capture a moment of grace and that is when you totally forget you are watching a police drama. Parallels between two scenes are smart and not empty, parallels between the two main characters (the detectiv Gibson and the serial killer Spector) are “risqués” and we all like risks, specially in art.
The Fall is also a series of emotions, about human feelings, morality, immorality, women and men, violence and of course sex. A series about life shall we say. A second season is on her way. Lucky us.
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