Single-Handed

/refers to all 4 seasons/

In my country, there are not too many series-films available, but it is always nice to have some change from time to time. As I am fond of UK and Scandinavian crime series, I did not expect something "out of the way" - and so it was. Poor climate with harsh, yet oddly beautiful landscape, relations among people used to live in underpopulated areas and work hard for daily living, small community vices and virtues - all this is properly depicted in Single-Handed as well. True, there are several protracted scenes, the cases are often subordinated to personal issues, and some supporting/infrequent cast (particularly Stephen Rea in The Lost Boys) overshadows the main one (although e.g. Owen McDonnell seems appropriate for the role).

Thus, the series in question is no Luther or What Remains, for example, but brings realistic moments in front of TV and decent familiarisation with life and people in distant Ireland.

The image of the irish is always of a fun-loving, hospitable, humorous gregarious and musical culture set in a stunningly gorgeous place. Once you learn about its actual history l, though, you marvel at how they manage to laugh at and celebrate anything. Single-Handed is a stark view of how intensely Ireland's past informs its present. The scenery is breathtaking- and the reality of it is even more astounding. I drove through this landscape between Galway and Donegal, from where both sides of my family come- the Irish bits.

This show does focus on the darker aspects though, there are few light moments and Jack Driscoll is relentlessly dour and righteous (does Owen McDonnell ever get a role where he's allowed to smile? I see comedies in his credits, but I've only seen him solitary, conflicted and rather joyless) but one can see why he is like that- his father was a monster, who terrorized the town in an affable, sociopathic way. His mother's a perfect example of an abused woman who was given just enough freedom to think that she wasn't. The oppressive weight of brutal Irish history weights Jack down and he is constantly trying- and succeeding- to Do The Right Thing, always needing to prove that he is not his father. The failure of so many to understand why he does what he does makes him crazy. He judges himself more harshly than anyone else, even his Mother - atypical of Irish women with one son, she does not dote on her son, mostly because he refuses to support her delusional view of his awful father.

The stories are mostly very credible, realistic portrayals of the bad choices, sheer stupidity and casual cruelty that cause most small town problems. The intrusions of Big City Crimes seem organic and are viewed by Jack as no more important to the people he protects than the day to day ones that define his job.

He is the epitome of the Celtic Warrior Hero - flawed, but unbowed and determined to protect and avenge (if possible) the vulnerable and even rectify the wrongs of the past. No wonder he never laughs.

I recommend this series for its thought provoking themes, its excellent writing and cast and its breathtaking beauty.

The Irish, like the Danes, live in a small country which has produced its fair share of theatre, film, and TV drama. This excellent RTE police series is no 'Celtic Twilight' story, but is instead a disturbing exploration of the under-surface of modern Irish society as it extends even to such a remote place as County Galway, beside the Atlantic Ocean. The hero of the series, superbly and quietly played by Owen McDonnell (who was born in Galway and has its soil in his bones), is a young sergeant in the Irish police, who are known as 'the Garda' (a Gaelic name). This review is of the entire 12 episodes produced so far, comprising Seasons One and Two. It is not known if there will be any more, but I hope so. It is a very absorbing series which goes at a gentle pace, revealing intrigues and crimes slowly, rather than at the breathless pace of a Hollywood film which has to squeeze everything into 90 minutes. McDonnell's father had been a senior Garda figure, and in Season One, McDonnell comes face to face with the fact that he had been dishonest and criminal in his job, as most of his colleagues had also been. McDonnell is a thoroughly honourable man struggling to keep his honest nose above sea level in this wholly corrupt place. The series is shot entirely on location and the scenery is remarkable for its bleak beauty, a nearly treeless landscape running down to a shattered sea and endless shimmering water dusted by drifting clouds, with spectacular sunsets. The area is extremely isolated and under-populated. The locals are deeply inbred and introverted, clannish, secretive, suspicious, brutal, and, well, Irish, which means they can also be charming and amusing while they are scheming against you. The wickedest character in the series is a perfect serpent, retired Garda Inspector Dennis Costello, played with sinuous menace and cunning by Sean McGinley. He runs the local pub called Mallons, a den of iniquity, scheming, and plotting. Everyone in the area seems consumed by greed, lust, perversity, or unnatural passions of one kind or another, and none of them are honest apart from stalwart Owen McDonnell, whose character is called Jack Driscoll. If anyone ever wondered how so many murders could possibly be committed in the small town of Oxford in order to justify the INSPECTOR MORSE series, try County Galway for limitless decadence. How can such a desolate place be seething with such much corruption, brutality, and quiet crime? The series is clearly meant to be a reflection upon contemporary Ireland, a country where all the politicians are said to be corrupt, where all the businessmen are said to be corrupt (and I have met some of those!), and where incest, rape, murder, brutality of every kind imaginable, and of course the sexual perversities and crimes of the Catholic clergy, are rampant. It is also a country where greed ran amok and resulted in the economic collapse from which Ireland is still struggling, with doubtful success, to make some kind of recovery. There are some powerful performances by supporting players in this series, especially the sinister and knowing mother of McDonnell, played by Ruth McCabe, who conveys as much by her eyes as many actors do when they scream. She refuses to condemn the immorality of her late husband and thinks her son is a fool for being such a 'good guy', which certainly is a new angle on the cozy mum theme, for she will sit down and have a nice cup of tea while justifying dishonesty and immorality. McDonnell's bewilderment and exasperation at the hypocrisy and dishonesty he finds on all sides never breaks him, but he looks sadder and sadder, and says a great deal when he does not speak, rather like those silent Danes in THE KILLING Part One (see my review). If the Irish can produce a series like this, they have not lost their touch. Let's have more.

This is a wonderful show with fantastic scenery. It reminds me of my trip to Ireland many years ago. The characters seem to be REAL PEOPLE and the scripting is really true to life. They are certainly not artificial as are the American actors that we have to put up with. The story lines are true to life. Even the bad characters are very well acted. I wish American TV would take a lesson from this program when they are making our shows. I believe that the Garda is depicted in a realistic fashion. Perhaps that is why I like it since my Grandfather was a Detective with the same kind of attributes I will watch it many times and I hope that you do also.

I watched most of Series One and Two before a self-driving week in Ireland with my husband which included two nights in Galway and a day on the Connemara Loop. That was 2 months back and I've just concluded a second viewing, including the final episode I'd not seen fully the first time round. I have to admit my primary motive was to revisit the landscape and do some place-spotting but the quality of the drama kept distracting me from my touristic infatuation with the Republic of Ireland generally and Connemara, specifically. At times villains of the stories can be a bit over the top, but for the most part I thoroughly enjoy the writing, the acting and of course, the setting. If this series wasn't so hard to get hold of here in Canada I'd be recommending it to people I know.

I enjoyed seeing Charlie Murphy, again, who did a fine job in the mini series Rebellion about the Easter Rising that laid the groundwork for the foundation of the Irish Republic. She's a good actress who adds substance and credibility to the final story, A Cold Heaven, in her mixed-up adolescent role. One of the most interesting parts of the series overall is the father-son struggle that lingers even once Jack Driscoll's father is out of the picture, literally. His ghost is a brooding presence over all of Connemara, in this drama, and sparks lots of tension between Jack's second-generation policeman character and his mother. Police corruption or wrongdoing is an issue that makes this ten-year-old series seem fresh and topical.