A new thread for HBO's adaptation of My Brilliant Friend

To avoid clogging the books thread with TV chat and prevent viewers from inadvertently spoilering the show.

This drops on UK TV today and I don't think I've anticipated a show this much in years. Talk amongst yourselves.

Its on Sky Atlantic so I will see this when it comes out on DVD.

Meantime I linked to this piece on the thread about the book.

Personally I don't see any point in boycotting a TV channel you don't like, but you could always t0rrent it (like I'll be doing) if you really want to stick it to them.

Re spoilers, I get the point about keeping discussion off the books thread but I hope this thread doesn't become a spoiler-free zone with respect to the series itself. Any and all discussion should be fair game once an episode has been aired. If you don't want spoilers don't read the thread until you've caught up

This attempt to shoehorn this adaptation in some sort of continuum with Italian neo-realist cinema feels a bit off to me. In the end its a list of Italian films and er, Ken Loach (who probably looked to those films but the scripts were never as good), whose inclusion ends up purely to give the Brit readership a name they are familiar with.

Good 1st episode, great girl actors, good scary neighborhood kids nightmare mood.

Yeah the books thread is full of allusions to things that happen later in the story that would totally ruin it for anyone watching for the first time, eg the Lina alien abduction storyline - please keep all that off this thread.

Anything that happens in the TV show is fair game on this thread after it airs.

2nd ep even better, LUDOVICA NASTI rocks. I'm happy we've still got the best part of a season yet to come with main actors named MARGHERITA MAZZUCCO and GAIA GIRACE

The child actors in this are fantastic, especially the girl playing Lenu. It's possible that readers of the books just know more about Lenu's interior thought processes but she's really nailed the facial expressions, the mixture of jealousy and admiration and frustration and adventure and embarrassment whenever she interacts with Lina.

Happily they're taking their time with the storytelling, I was worried the whole thing would be rushed but every scene gets the time and space it needs to land. The set really conveys the feeling of isolation but also everyone living on top of one another. Although it's all cleaner and less cluttered than I'd imagined.

The scene with Lina being thrown out of the window was all the more surprising and powerful because I'd forgotten all about it.

As far as I can tell the only real change they've made to the story is that the Solaras have been introduced earlier on, somewhat wisely.

Well the teenage leads are unbelievable, and holy shit the show just gets the tone so right all the way, every time.

I don't know if folks here are just principally sceptical of this adaptation or why this thread isn't filled with hype, but I'm kind of close to tears every episode.

I guess I should check this out huh. Is the plan to map 1 season:1 volume?

Looking forward to getting into this during the cold winter months, glad to hear it's good.

I still haven't read these books (my wife read 1 and is halfway through 2) but I did watch the adaptation and it was the best thing on TV all year, easily. The leads (both as children and as teenagers) are incredible.

Is this show being discussed somewhere else that I've missed? We just finished it and with some minor bumps in the road (mostly personal) it was incredibly well done. I've not read any of the books.

Why did all the men in this show age 40 years while the women aged like 5?

Yeah, my wife and I have been having repeated baffled conversations about just how much time is supposed to have passed. Other than that, all I can really say is that this is basically Love & Rockets in 70s Italy, and there hasn't been nearly enough Lila yet this season.

Nino and Franco look like they can be Elena's father(s).

The casting of Lila is amazing, based on how little we've seen her. She really does look like a grown up version of the previous actor. Something about the facial bone structure.