A group of podcasters sets out to investigate the mysterious disappearance of three strangers in an idyllic Irish town. But when they start to pull the strings, they find a story much bigger... Read allA group of podcasters sets out to investigate the mysterious disappearance of three strangers in an idyllic Irish town. But when they start to pull the strings, they find a story much bigger and stranger than they expected.A group of podcasters sets out to investigate the mysterious disappearance of three strangers in an idyllic Irish town. But when they start to pull the strings, they find a story much bigger and stranger than they expected.
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For the majority of its 7 episode runtime, really except the last two episodes the show is really well done. Gilbert's unnaturally chipper attitude and Emmy's seeming ditziness paired with Dove and the towns somber attitude works really well.
It's atmospheric and feels somber but moves with a quick pace and the humor that is there is really well done and the trio follow a whole lot of leads and find out more information and secrets with every passing episode.
The settings and scenarios all seem real and the actors do a great job in bringing their characters to life, especially the guy who plays Seamus.
But the last two episodes needed to be three. There's a wildly rushed ending to an Emmy plotline, major information introduced too late to work as well as it should, conflicting/muddled information with regards to one of the father son duo's and Gilbert acts like a twit well past when he's proven himself not to be.
That said, the climax is what the show wanted to build to and it is well done, tying basically everything up neatly and doing a lot to salvage its two sloppiest episodes in an effective way.
Good show, worth a watch, given another episode or two it could've been great.
It's atmospheric and feels somber but moves with a quick pace and the humor that is there is really well done and the trio follow a whole lot of leads and find out more information and secrets with every passing episode.
The settings and scenarios all seem real and the actors do a great job in bringing their characters to life, especially the guy who plays Seamus.
But the last two episodes needed to be three. There's a wildly rushed ending to an Emmy plotline, major information introduced too late to work as well as it should, conflicting/muddled information with regards to one of the father son duo's and Gilbert acts like a twit well past when he's proven himself not to be.
That said, the climax is what the show wanted to build to and it is well done, tying basically everything up neatly and doing a lot to salvage its two sloppiest episodes in an effective way.
Good show, worth a watch, given another episode or two it could've been great.
Bodkin focuses on a trio of clashing personalities who are investigating disappearances in rural Ireland for a podcast. The early episodes are engrossing and dryly funny, particularly in the contrast between reality and the stereotypical American perception of Ireland as an idyllic ancestral utopia. As the series progresses the tone becomes darker and the narrative fragments. It gets progressively less funny but it remains engrossing. And then there's the seventh and final episode, an unsatisfying disappointment that wraps everything up with a goofy setpiece, fails to provide closure on the fate of the most interesting character, and steals its denoument directly from B. J. Novak's Vengeance.
Bodkin is good but not great. I wanted to love it but I only like it. I don't know if it was too American rather than being authentically Irish, or it's just the twists the story takes that end up kind of you know whatever.
From what I understand the writer is an Englishman he's not even Irish. And if you know anything about these two countries, that is not a small difference religiously, philosophically, or politically. It would be like a Japanese person writing an affectionate tale about Korea.
I most strongly preferred the Dove character, and I did appreciate that they didn't make Gilbert out to be some kind of victim or "nice guy" but instead were very direct about the self-centered way he exploited other people. I honestly could have done without Emmy. A poor little rich girl with no spine? Blech who cares.
From what I understand the writer is an Englishman he's not even Irish. And if you know anything about these two countries, that is not a small difference religiously, philosophically, or politically. It would be like a Japanese person writing an affectionate tale about Korea.
I most strongly preferred the Dove character, and I did appreciate that they didn't make Gilbert out to be some kind of victim or "nice guy" but instead were very direct about the self-centered way he exploited other people. I honestly could have done without Emmy. A poor little rich girl with no spine? Blech who cares.
I thoroughly enjoyed Bodkin and highly recommend it to mystery fans who like small town mysteries with quirky characters.
This was so much fun...it starts with an American podcaster named Gilbert Power, who is played endearingly by the funny Will Forte. He had success in his first podcast season solving a cold case. The key to his success was really the fact that he opened up emotionally and shared what he and his dying wife were going through. Since the first season his podcast has struggled, but he is on a trip sponsored by a British newspaper to look into a missing person's case in the small Irish town of Bodkin. To accompany him on this trip is a Pollyanna-like young assistant named Emmy (Robyn Cara) and a dour investigative journalist named Dove Maloney (Siobhán Cullen). Dove wants to be anywhere but playing sidekick to a fake journalist like the podcaster Gilbert.
The beauty of this small town mystery is all the quirky characters...like their driver Seán, who thinks he is an Albanian orphan adopted by his single mom and as such listens to Albanian rap music, Seamus who may or may not be a smuggler, Teddy who sings like an angel and is an amazing blacksmith...but has suffered a brain trauma, Maeve and Frank who live like hippies...or their own version of it "Peace, Love, and Pay your xxx debts.", a nun named Mother Bernadette who is running a nunnery that is more like a spa/yoga retreat, then there is the local boy Fintan who made big with his server farm etc and now is back home wanting to reinstate the town's Samhain...then there is the thespian undertaker...the list just goes on and on.
The town hasn't celebrated Samhain since three locals went missing twenty years prior on that night. This is the mystery that our gang of three is looking into. The podcasting element was entertaining, especially since they poke fun of it and it's popularity. The mystery was actually decent and I loved the twists and turns. The one character I found difficult to watch was Dove, her ends justifies the mean's attitude was really tiring and frankly watching her be downright cruel to people was not entertaining. The reverse was true about Seamus and his kind treatment of Gilbert especially over his troubles with his wife...which was surprisingly tender and heartfelt.
The comedy was great and we found ourselves laughing out loud...the mystery however is what really kept us involved till the very end. I loved seeing everything come together. I was able to solve parts of the mystery before they were revealed, but it didn't hamper my enjoyment.
This was so much fun...it starts with an American podcaster named Gilbert Power, who is played endearingly by the funny Will Forte. He had success in his first podcast season solving a cold case. The key to his success was really the fact that he opened up emotionally and shared what he and his dying wife were going through. Since the first season his podcast has struggled, but he is on a trip sponsored by a British newspaper to look into a missing person's case in the small Irish town of Bodkin. To accompany him on this trip is a Pollyanna-like young assistant named Emmy (Robyn Cara) and a dour investigative journalist named Dove Maloney (Siobhán Cullen). Dove wants to be anywhere but playing sidekick to a fake journalist like the podcaster Gilbert.
The beauty of this small town mystery is all the quirky characters...like their driver Seán, who thinks he is an Albanian orphan adopted by his single mom and as such listens to Albanian rap music, Seamus who may or may not be a smuggler, Teddy who sings like an angel and is an amazing blacksmith...but has suffered a brain trauma, Maeve and Frank who live like hippies...or their own version of it "Peace, Love, and Pay your xxx debts.", a nun named Mother Bernadette who is running a nunnery that is more like a spa/yoga retreat, then there is the local boy Fintan who made big with his server farm etc and now is back home wanting to reinstate the town's Samhain...then there is the thespian undertaker...the list just goes on and on.
The town hasn't celebrated Samhain since three locals went missing twenty years prior on that night. This is the mystery that our gang of three is looking into. The podcasting element was entertaining, especially since they poke fun of it and it's popularity. The mystery was actually decent and I loved the twists and turns. The one character I found difficult to watch was Dove, her ends justifies the mean's attitude was really tiring and frankly watching her be downright cruel to people was not entertaining. The reverse was true about Seamus and his kind treatment of Gilbert especially over his troubles with his wife...which was surprisingly tender and heartfelt.
The comedy was great and we found ourselves laughing out loud...the mystery however is what really kept us involved till the very end. I loved seeing everything come together. I was able to solve parts of the mystery before they were revealed, but it didn't hamper my enjoyment.
The pluses? The cast, including the dozens of extras that add layers of believability to the odd little Irish town.
The story, a cold case about a long ago trio of missing persons, combines with a creaky Pod-cast Scooby Do adventure, and it meanders a lot. This makes the early episodes a bit slow. The action picks up in the later episodes starting with #5. However, the narrative begins to jump around a lot, flashbacks from other characters perspectives, and hops from one character to another too often.
The eventual resolution of the multiple threads is both a bit of a letdown, and a whirlpool of wrong assumptions getting vetted one by one.
The comedy isn't as non-stop as some reviews and the trailer suggests. It's dark and filled with the personal demons of the heroes complicating their efforts. The personal renaissance each person goes through is satisfying, if a little too neatly accomplished. There are some sly funny moments though, filled with irony and a lack of self awareness.
The three protagonists are conflicted individuals, performed very well by a surprising cast. Siobhan Cullen's Dove is an unrepentant b!+@# who has big problems brewing back home in London. Robyn Cara, who has made a career of playing ditzy characters, at first seems to be playing true to form, but her character Emmy reveals more depth and complexity as each episode unspools. Will Forte is an acquired taste, and his character, Gilbert, is a doofus who's made big mistakes that are nipping at his heels. He continually gets in his own way trying to be nice. Fortunately he becomes less of a tool as the season nears its conclusion.
David Wilmot turns in a great performance as Seamus Gallagher, the mysterious townsman with a scary past, who is trying to embrace a "normal" life.
I recommend it, it isn't high art but there are some laughs and good performances..
The story, a cold case about a long ago trio of missing persons, combines with a creaky Pod-cast Scooby Do adventure, and it meanders a lot. This makes the early episodes a bit slow. The action picks up in the later episodes starting with #5. However, the narrative begins to jump around a lot, flashbacks from other characters perspectives, and hops from one character to another too often.
The eventual resolution of the multiple threads is both a bit of a letdown, and a whirlpool of wrong assumptions getting vetted one by one.
The comedy isn't as non-stop as some reviews and the trailer suggests. It's dark and filled with the personal demons of the heroes complicating their efforts. The personal renaissance each person goes through is satisfying, if a little too neatly accomplished. There are some sly funny moments though, filled with irony and a lack of self awareness.
The three protagonists are conflicted individuals, performed very well by a surprising cast. Siobhan Cullen's Dove is an unrepentant b!+@# who has big problems brewing back home in London. Robyn Cara, who has made a career of playing ditzy characters, at first seems to be playing true to form, but her character Emmy reveals more depth and complexity as each episode unspools. Will Forte is an acquired taste, and his character, Gilbert, is a doofus who's made big mistakes that are nipping at his heels. He continually gets in his own way trying to be nice. Fortunately he becomes less of a tool as the season nears its conclusion.
David Wilmot turns in a great performance as Seamus Gallagher, the mysterious townsman with a scary past, who is trying to embrace a "normal" life.
I recommend it, it isn't high art but there are some laughs and good performances..
Did you know
- TriviaMrs. O'Shea's house is also seen in Bad Sisters as the Garvey sisters family home that Eva lives in
- GoofsUndercover Interpol officers wouldn't reveal their identity to members of the public. They wouldn't carry guns in Ireland, and they wouldn't concern themselves with unrelated cases (such as an extradition). An extradition arrest would be conducted by the Gardai.
- How many seasons does Bodkin have?Powered by Alexa
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- Runtime45 minutes
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- 16:9 HD
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