Armadillo is not completely well put together, but it's confident, original, and sort of blissful.
The hook, foundation and spine of the series is all the same thing -- the protagonist, Lorimer Black. He's played by James Frain, and, for all the Frain fans out there, Armadillo is the centre of Fraindom on earth.
Lorimer Black is a loss adjuster. He investigates insurance claims, which is boring. But the way in which he thrives at his job is not boring: he tailors himself for every client, adjusting his persona, clothes, hair and accent. This puts him in a bit of an identity crisis, which stems from his big secret: he's actually a Transnistrian gypsy who's changed his Moldovan name to fit in.
We have three endless hours with Lorimer Black, and that's OK. He's handsome and sleepy and we want to take care of him (in many ways). The problem is, he feels far too good for the world of the story. He's an everyman but he knows his Shakespeare, he's stylishly rich but deeply generous, he's very successful but touchingly humble, he's the only one in the world who doesn't smoke, he puts his phone in a holder when he's driving, he has a unique taste in music, and he claims to have a "violent temper" but the only time this is shown is when he's defending the honour of a passing woman. In fact, he's astoundingly patient even when he's trying to get some sleep after being mugged and his friend wakes him up at 2AM by prodding his wound and prattling about how much money he made that day.
Lorimer Black is a diamond of a character, but James Frain makes him realistic with a powerful talent that puts all others to shame.
Out of sheer gratitude for Frain's participation, Armadillo should dote on him...
... but the beautiful thing is, it DOES dote on him.
You know when you love James Frain (yes you do) and you're watching something with him in it and you go "for God's sake, I don't care about whoever the hell that is or whatever the hell they have to say -- get out the way so I can see James Frain". In Armadillo you get as far as "for G --" before the camera obligingly cuts to our suave but wolfish object of affection.
"Why are we looking at the back of some -- OH THERE HE IS". "Who cares about this crowd of random p -- OH THERE HE IS". "We're watching the other end of the phone call, this is b -- OH THERE HE IS". "This is just an establishing shot, where -- OH THERE HE IS". "W -- OH THERE HE IS".
The camera itself is a James Frain fan, and it's not the only one. Literally half a dozen times an episode Lorimer Black is admired, often physically; even the blurb on the back of the VHS box croons that he's handsome.
And despite all this, the only woman he wants is a bragging, chain smoking, bafflingly ignorant adulterer whose name sounds like an expensive yogurt. Here's a statement for the fic writers: Lorimer Black is unshippable.
His relationship with the yogurt, played by Catherine McCormack, is completely unsatisfying. I think the writer is a bit of a prude, and the character of the yogurt is inexplicably indifferent towards Lorimer. When, in Frain's trademark sultry drawl, Lorimer admits "you do know I'm passionately in love with you", the yogurt's reaction is "good night, whatever your name is". Even at the very end, when they semi end up together, she coolly adds that she doesn't know how long it will last. Yeah, THAT'S the grand finale.
Lorimer Black doesn't belong in the grimy little world of beans and chips and over-acting. He belongs on the BBC, certainly, but not in Armadillo. He should have replaced Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, or Mickey Bricks in Hustle. Somewhere to have his character nurtured for a dozen episodes or more, and where he can be enjoyed in full HD, in a world where there's proper lighting and sharp, crisp plots and real tie-ups. They should have spent some real money on this character.
As for Armadillo independent of Lorimer Black, I stand by my judgement that it's a confident and blissful show; it's funny, too, in a tone reminiscent of Jimmy McGovern, and has some moments so original that I've never seen the like. The plot was confusing because it was a lot of exposition and the script was floppy. Everything they needed for their tale of corruption was there, but it wasn't really let out. For instance, at one point a character explains insurance by saying - "life will always come up with a nasty surprise". That should've been the tagline.
Simply put, Armadillo is not a strong enough context for its own protagonist. But without Armadillo, we wouldn't have James Frain's Lorimer Black. Hence, 10 out of 10.
The hook, foundation and spine of the series is all the same thing -- the protagonist, Lorimer Black. He's played by James Frain, and, for all the Frain fans out there, Armadillo is the centre of Fraindom on earth.
Lorimer Black is a loss adjuster. He investigates insurance claims, which is boring. But the way in which he thrives at his job is not boring: he tailors himself for every client, adjusting his persona, clothes, hair and accent. This puts him in a bit of an identity crisis, which stems from his big secret: he's actually a Transnistrian gypsy who's changed his Moldovan name to fit in.
We have three endless hours with Lorimer Black, and that's OK. He's handsome and sleepy and we want to take care of him (in many ways). The problem is, he feels far too good for the world of the story. He's an everyman but he knows his Shakespeare, he's stylishly rich but deeply generous, he's very successful but touchingly humble, he's the only one in the world who doesn't smoke, he puts his phone in a holder when he's driving, he has a unique taste in music, and he claims to have a "violent temper" but the only time this is shown is when he's defending the honour of a passing woman. In fact, he's astoundingly patient even when he's trying to get some sleep after being mugged and his friend wakes him up at 2AM by prodding his wound and prattling about how much money he made that day.
Lorimer Black is a diamond of a character, but James Frain makes him realistic with a powerful talent that puts all others to shame.
Out of sheer gratitude for Frain's participation, Armadillo should dote on him...
... but the beautiful thing is, it DOES dote on him.
You know when you love James Frain (yes you do) and you're watching something with him in it and you go "for God's sake, I don't care about whoever the hell that is or whatever the hell they have to say -- get out the way so I can see James Frain". In Armadillo you get as far as "for G --" before the camera obligingly cuts to our suave but wolfish object of affection.
"Why are we looking at the back of some -- OH THERE HE IS". "Who cares about this crowd of random p -- OH THERE HE IS". "We're watching the other end of the phone call, this is b -- OH THERE HE IS". "This is just an establishing shot, where -- OH THERE HE IS". "W -- OH THERE HE IS".
The camera itself is a James Frain fan, and it's not the only one. Literally half a dozen times an episode Lorimer Black is admired, often physically; even the blurb on the back of the VHS box croons that he's handsome.
And despite all this, the only woman he wants is a bragging, chain smoking, bafflingly ignorant adulterer whose name sounds like an expensive yogurt. Here's a statement for the fic writers: Lorimer Black is unshippable.
His relationship with the yogurt, played by Catherine McCormack, is completely unsatisfying. I think the writer is a bit of a prude, and the character of the yogurt is inexplicably indifferent towards Lorimer. When, in Frain's trademark sultry drawl, Lorimer admits "you do know I'm passionately in love with you", the yogurt's reaction is "good night, whatever your name is". Even at the very end, when they semi end up together, she coolly adds that she doesn't know how long it will last. Yeah, THAT'S the grand finale.
Lorimer Black doesn't belong in the grimy little world of beans and chips and over-acting. He belongs on the BBC, certainly, but not in Armadillo. He should have replaced Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, or Mickey Bricks in Hustle. Somewhere to have his character nurtured for a dozen episodes or more, and where he can be enjoyed in full HD, in a world where there's proper lighting and sharp, crisp plots and real tie-ups. They should have spent some real money on this character.
As for Armadillo independent of Lorimer Black, I stand by my judgement that it's a confident and blissful show; it's funny, too, in a tone reminiscent of Jimmy McGovern, and has some moments so original that I've never seen the like. The plot was confusing because it was a lot of exposition and the script was floppy. Everything they needed for their tale of corruption was there, but it wasn't really let out. For instance, at one point a character explains insurance by saying - "life will always come up with a nasty surprise". That should've been the tagline.
Simply put, Armadillo is not a strong enough context for its own protagonist. But without Armadillo, we wouldn't have James Frain's Lorimer Black. Hence, 10 out of 10.