Century Falls: Episode 6

 "Before disaster came, when things were perfect still."

This script is beautiful; consider the quote above with its perfect iambs. And this is a beautiful finale, satisgying thematically as much as in terms of plot, with every character getting perfect focus and development.

I've been ambivalent about Century Falls. It's been fun getting the Doctor Who Easter Eggs- characters called Ashe and Josiah, a mysterious Watcher, the whole vibe. And I'm aware there's a lot more subtext here- about hope, about indivoiduality vs comformity on several layers- that I've been slow to realise. But it has, at times, been hard going.

That is not at all the case for this perfect final episode. Even Julia gets redemption and closure, and only Josiah unambiguously dies. It took a while to get here but this finale makes me glad that, like Tess, I kept the faith.

Century Falls: Episode 5

 "I've never tied anyone up before..."

I have, thus far, defended RTD's script for Century Falls while allowing criticism to fall upon the production. After all, the dialogue is rich and the characters convincing. And yet... this fifth episode is just running around to no good purpose.

Worse, the revelation of who Julia is falls flat. I expected more than some nebulous sense of her being some kind of gestalt entity for the whole village. There's some nice character stuff wiyth Carey and Ben, and the two Harkness sistors, and the cliffhanger is exciting, but tnis penultimate episiode has very little substance.

This is, perhaps, a fifth episode thing. RTD is, as we know, a bloody good writer, though rather young here. And Dark Season was a pair of linked three parters.

Hopefully the finale will impress.

Century Falls: Episode 4

 "Being alone is the easiest escape there is."

This episode is the turning point, full of revelations. Tess and her mother are reconciled, both with each other and with the truth: Elizabeth was adopted, but was born in Century Falls. We also hear a fuller account of what happened in 1953, and who Century is... although we get only hints of who Century is.

We learn who it is that Richard Naismith has been keping prisoner, though; his own father, Dr Josiah Naismith. We Doctor Who fans find all this very Ghost Light, no doubt very deliberate from RTD. There are lots of nice little character touches, too- Julia's manipulation of Ben, and her interesting longing for oblivion. Who is she?

And yet... somehow the brilliance of the poetic, beautiful script is not conveyed well by the visuals and, perhaps, the acting. Nevertheless, this is getting interesting.

Century Falls: Episode 3

 "I'm aware only that three spinster women have nothing better to do than gossip."

This is, it has to be said, a slow episode, but I don't think the failt is that of RTD's script, which feels very classic kids' TV stuff and, I noticed today, has twin sisters named "Harkness", a link between Agatha and Captain Jack.

Of course, the big character thing is that Tess's mother wants to keep her away from the Harkness sisters, bitter at what Esme said and understandably so. But the way she speaks to her poor daughter for believing the story is horrifying.

We see a little more, though not much, of what happened at the temple in 1953, and a gold masked woman called "Century". It's a nice drip, drip, drip for the third episode of six.

And then the big revelation... Julia, the "maid", is really in charge. I didn't see that coming, but it makes sense in hindsight. Is she Century? I'm dsure there's much to come.

And yet, despite the script, I think the direction and the cast aren't quite selling this as well as they could.

Century Falls: Episode 2

 "All the past of Century Falls- and it's coming back."

The plot thickens. So Richard has powers too, as do many in the village; Ben is merely particularly powerful.Then there's the "Gathering", where those villagers with a "birthright"do this psychic seance type thing. Oh, and no pregnancy in the village has been carried successfully to term for forty years, which is not good news for Tess' mum.

However, good though the script is, and good though much of the adult cast are, this suffers a bit from an abundance of child actors, all three of which are adequate but little more. There's an intriguing and effective atmosphere, though, in spite of this clearly not being an expensive programme to make. 

The village's attitude towards outsiders is clearer now, with Tess and her mum in a rather worrying position. Richard is all the more sinister. And what is this creepy, gold-masked figure? This is a very different series to Dark Season, and the characters, while well written, are less charismatic; there's no one to compare with Marcie.

Still, I'm enjoying this.

Century Falls: Episode 1

 "If you were born outside Century Falls, you're always an outsider!"

Yes indeed, this is a local village for local people.

I've been wishing to watch this early kids' drama by Russell T. Davies for years. It's very different from Dark Season, but feels very much in the lineage of a certain type of childrens' telefantasy. We have the Falls themselves, a mysterios temple that burned down forty years ago despite being made of stone- are these suspicious villagers pagan? Have Tess and her pregnant mother stumbled into The Wicker Man?

The characterisation, and the dialogue, are brilliantly RTD. Tess and her mum seem very real in comparison to the otherworldly villagers and those strange kids, Carey and the disturbingly odd Ben, a complex figure, with bullying tendencies and hidden depths, seemingly feared even my hos despairing father.

So many secrets and subplots are developing already, yet it's all very easy to follow. This is all rather intriguing.