成人快手

Every week, the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.

This week, Siobhan Synott and Scott Bryan join Naga Munchetty to review ‘Reunion’ - a groundbreaking drama, centred on the deaf community and incorporating British Sign Language.

‘Reunion’ follows Daniel Brennan (played by Matthew Gurney), a deaf man, on his release from prison for a murder more than a decade ago. Why did Daniel kill his friend Ray? And what is this mission he’s set himself now that he's out on licence, risking being recalled to prison?

What do the Must Watch reviewers make of it?

Naga: “Scott, is it a Must Watch?”

Scott: “It is for me. I found this fascinating and really well done. It starts with Daniel, who is in prison, being met up by somebody who is essentially sitting in as the probation officer, asking questions, and having a bit of an interplay. And then we learn at that moment that he's not able to hear any of that interview.”

Scott: “I think what is interesting is that you are having sequences when if there are two deaf actors communicating with each other, there is no dialogue being said and there are also actors such as Anne-Marie Duff and Lara Peake who had to learn sign language and they are speaking whilst also doing BSL too.

“But I think the reason why this works so well is that this isn't a box-ticking exercise, to make themselves think that they have done something for inclusion to make themselves feel good. They have kept it at the heart of such an interesting thriller.

“It's all about this person Daniel, 10 years in prison. And you learn that for six years within prison, he's had no communication with the outside world. No one's been interpreting anything for him. So, he's not been able to read the documents. He doesn't know when he's going to be let out because he dropped out of school very early on.

“We're trying to learn what his motivations are after leaving prison. He's doing things that are erratic. He's not in touch with the police officers. He could get thrown back in.

“And I think that's central conceit whilst also tapping into his own lived experience with being deaf, I thought was rather interesting. I thought it was really well done.”

Naga: “Yeah, I actually didn't have any doubts about it being a box-ticking exercise. I didn't have any concerns about that. Because Rose Ayling-Ellis, obviously, she's an actor, but it's since her time on Strictly that has really raised the profile of issues surrounding opportunities for people who are living with disabilities.

“I also think Anne-Marie Duff is excellent. I just think she's excellent.”

Scott: “Yes, really good.”

Naga: “It was Bad Sisters I thought she was absolutely amazing in.”

Naga: “Siobhan, your thoughts? Must Watch for you?”

Siobhan: “It's a mixed watch for me. Look, I think it's great that it offers deaf characters who are good, bad, and in between. It offers different perspectives, showing you the interaction of hearing and hearing-impaired communities and the ability - and inability - to navigate between them.

“And I think what's striking about it is how visual the storytelling is, because it's not about relying on sound, it's about using your eyes. Also, there's a nice moment in the first episode with Daniel who is driving his car with the stereo on full blast.”

Scott: “Oh, that's so good.”

Naga: “It's very powerful.”

Siobhan: “Yeah, because when we hear the music as it sounds to Daniel, it's not the music, but the beat that he's grooving to.”

Naga: “And also that ‘I don't care. I don't give two hoots about anyone’.”

Scott: “And the second episode, he refers to it as like having a second heartbeat, just hearing that bass coming through the music.”

Siobhan: “Reunion is created by a deaf writer, William Meagher. Most of the cast and many of the members of the crew are also deaf or use British Sign Language. That's interesting.

“I thought that it gave us a lot of insights that felt very fresh, especially if you're not familiar with this world.

“However, I have questions about some of the characterisation. Some of it does feel a bit underdeveloped and cliched.

“There’s a sequence where Anne-Marie Duff’s daughter furiously accuses her mother of withholding secrets from her. This is a very familiar, slightly tired dramatic device of nought-to-sixty outrage, designed to shift her character out the house and go stomping off to a forbidden party. The same angry daughter scenario is repeated, except with Matthew Gurney’s hearing daughter - Lara Peake’s Carly - accusing him of keeping secrets from her. So that’s the same scenario repeated twice in one episode, and it feels like a point being hammered home.

“I get it that this drama is making a point about communication - or the lack of it - between a parent and their child. But this is bluntly dramatised. The point that it's being made here is that Matthew and Anne-Marie are very different - one hearing, one deaf, one widowed, one jailed as a murderer - yet both with similar communication problems. But my gosh, it feels very contrived, very on the nose, and the execution didn’t feel especially skilful.”

Scott: “I disagree. I felt that it was really skilfully done. I also think the cinematography on it was absolutely... “

Siobhan: “Horses, courses. I would also say…”

Naga: “I like a difference of opinion by the way.”

Siobhan: “Other issues that come up: a licenced probation officer who arrives without an interpreter for Daniel and then loses him in the system when he’s on release.

“She hesitates about recalling him when he goes missing - and as her boss says, “he's a murderer and he's gone missing, recall him”.

"It’s not a hard decision, so dramatically I think a more compelling reason for her to be reluctant is needed to justify a slow response to a missing murderer! I found myself distracted by these implausibilities.

“Eddie Marsan plays the new boyfriend of Anne-Marie Duff. Apparently he's been a copper for 30 years and yet he doesn't know that her husband's been murdered. I mean, what sort of cop chat goes on in Sheffield?”

Naga: “Well, he is a cop that's left, hasn't he?”

Siobhan: “Except at another point he says he’ll talk to his cop pals for more information. So clearly he does still chat to the boys down the cop shop. And yet none of them says “your girlfriend’s husband was murdered on our turf”?

Siobhan: “I feel there's some clumsy storytelling, and that bothers me. Of course, this is the first of its kind, and I commend Reunion because it paves the way to more storytelling from communities that haven't always had much screen time.

“I hoped the interior life of Daniel might go places beyond angry finger tapping, but I'm not sure the well-worn plot tropes and thin characters make this a Must Watch for me.”

Scott: “Ooh, I disagree.”

Naga: “Well, yeah, so for Scott, it is a Must Watch. For Siobhan, it is not, it's a mixed watch. I think that was the phrase you used.”

All four episodes of Reunion are available to watch on 成人快手 iPlayer now.

But before all that, why not contact Scott and Hayley with the shows you’ve been loving, loathing or both on mustwatch@bbc.co.uk.

This week, the team reviewed MobLand and Your Friends & Neighbours.

Must Watch is released as a podcast every Monday evening on 成人快手 Sounds.