‘Bodkin’ Review – Will Forte’s Netflix Mystery Series Sticks the Landing

The big picture

• Will Forte shows a new dimension in his performance on Netflix
  Bodkin
  .
• The picturesque setting of Bodkin, Ireland adds to the appeal of the series.
• Bodkin
  delves into the impact of podcasts on storytelling and the breakdown of its characters.

In 2018, former president barack obama i Michelle Obamafounded Higher Ground Productions. Their multi-year deal was intended to bring scripted and unscripted movies and series to Netflix to give a more diverse voice to entertainment. His first foray was the 2019 documentary American factory, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature the following year. They have produced several films and series over the past five years, but this year marks their first scripted series Bodkin.

Created by Jez Scharfthe stars of the seven-episode series Will Forte like Gilbert, an American podcaster who goes to Bodkin, Ireland, to try solve the mystery of three people who disappeared during a Samhain festival decades earlier. He is joined by his research assistant, Emmy (Robyn Caryn), and an Irish investigative reporter, Dove (Siobhan Cullen). Although comedy is Forte's specialty, Bodkin, despite having some dark and comedic moments, it is something more serious and sinister. Entering, the Saturday night live Veteran may be the name you know, but when it's all over, it won't be the one you remember the most.

What is 'Bodkin' about?

Movies and series about podcasters trying to solve a mystery are all the rage right now, and perhaps no one is doing it better than Hulu. Only kills in the building. At first sight, Bodkinstarring three different characters, with one of the protagonists being a popular comic actor, could lead to dismissals as a clone, but this show is not an imitation. Although it's labeled as a comedy, aside from a few moments of dark humor, it's as serious as a series like this can get. The comedy it has isn't forced, but an uncomfortable symptom of Bodkin's residents due to the suppression of the mystery surrounding them.

Bodkin focuses on Dove (Cullen), an investigative journalist from Ireland, who left the country because of the controversy and moved to England. There, he encountered even more trouble. Unable to solve a case in Bodkin, Ireland, about the disappearance of three young men during the Samhain festival decades earlier, his boss informs Dove that brings in an American podcaster to help her. Enter Will Forte's Gilbert, who is the exact opposite of Dove. She's a serious person, with such a hard expression and bad attitude that we know there's got to be a story, who hates that a low-key podcast host is sent to help her out. Gilbert, on the other hand, is the cheerful American excited about the opportunity to meet people and tell a new story for his show. For him, this is an adventure, and he's joined by his investigative assistant, an aspiring podcaster named Emmy (Caryn).

Bodkin is a beautiful seaside town, a small place with old buildings, narrow streets and rolling green hills, just as you would imagine a village in Ireland to be. It's the ideal contrasting backdrop, a place of beauty and tranquility, for a plot that centers on missing youth and hidden secrets. As one character tells our heroes, Ireland has never had a serial killer before. Now, though, something bad has happened to Bodkin, and it's up to a trio who don't like each other to find out, exposing the city's hidden past while his own trauma is exposed in the process.

Will Forte breaks with his traditional comedic approach in 'Bodkin'

Will Forte is known for playing oddball characters, be it beyond his years SNLthe underrated FOX series The last man on Earthor like last year's foul mouthed dog hater lost. There has often been a certain seriousness beneath these over-the-top personas (it's terrifying lostin reality), and in Bodkin, Forte tones down his high-energy comedic approach to play Gilbert, who is both an extrovert who loves meeting people and hearing their stories while also being full of inner turmoil.

Gilbert uses his charm and his genuinely fascinated personality to win the trust of the people of Bodkin. Many are excited to learn that he is a podcaster. They immediately smile, let their guard down, and open up to him in a way they wouldn't if he were a cop or a traditional reporter like Dove. Bodkin uses their reactions, even from people in such a small town so far away, to show just how deep the new podcast obsession runs. This desire to delve into someone else's life and learn all their secrets is fascinating, no matter where you're from. It's not fascinating, though, if you're the one with a secret that needs to be kept that way. Gilbert doesn't know what to do when he encounters townspeople who don't want to talk to him at all, treating him like a cancer that has invaded his solitude and simple life. Here, Bodkin is saying even more about the podcast wave and how it can dig too deepand implies real trauma behind the narrative.

Also, Gilbert has his own trauma. He may look happy and excited, but he's such a people pleaser that he drinks himself silly to fit in and gets stuck in some life-threatening gambling debt. His obsession with podcasting has also damaged his own life, with his actions alienating his wife in ways that cannot be fixed. Most of this is handled well, but there is one scene, the only brief time we meet Gilbert's wife when she comes to visit, that is so clichéd that you've seen it a hundred times before and you know exactly where it's going . Is one of Bodkinfew weaknessesas it falls into too many tropes of the genre.

Siobhán Cullen, Robyn Cara and David Wilmot are the real protagonists of “Bodkin”

Will Forte shows his acting range as Gilbert, but he's not the most memorable star Bodkin. That distinction goes to Dove. Siobhán Cullen exits another TV series, The DroughtBut Bodkin could make her an international star. Dove is a bit of a cliché at first, that grumpy, serious character who hates everyone and just wants to solve the case herself. One scene even has her take out a little boy who has the nerve to compliment her sunglasses, which she often wears. As the episodes progress, we learn more about her own story, and it's even more tragic than Gilbert's. While she hides her pain by ignoring him, Dove lives it full-time, wracked with guilt over how one of her stories led to someone's death. Maybe it's a bit one-note at first, though how Bodkin peel off the layers, it becomes fascinating. Whenever Dove moves forward with the missing persons case, it opens up a little bit, letting others and the viewer see more of the real person inside.

Gilbert's partner Emmy's assistant it doesn't have much to do at first apart from staying in his boss's shadow. She is new to this, living the fantasy without knowing what to do. He soon proves that he can hold his own with anyone and even wanting to be both like Gilbert and dreaming of being like Coloma one day, is a bit of both. Bodkin It shows us someone young at the start of their journey who could end up like Gilbert or Dove if they're not careful.

There are two main flaws Bodkin, starting with the fact that we never know much about the people who disappeared. It makes it harder for us to care about their story being resolved when we have no attachment to it. We also have a sparse relationship with Gilbert, Dove, and Emmy as a group for most of the series. They have little chemistry together, which may have been helpful, but in recent episodes, they start to click more as they find common ground, rather than focusing on the disdain that can become repetitive.

One character, however, helps solve both of these problems. A bearded man living in the village named Seamus (David Wilmot) becomes a focal point Bodkin when there are too many characters interviewed. It's more mysterious than the main mystery itself, a man who is always angry and ready to hurt someone (he holds a staple gun to one's chest), but who also has some respect for Gilbert and his group. Seamus can be friend or foe, but you'll have to wait until the end to find out which.

Bodkin not as good as a similar series though it only gets better as each episode unfolds. It starts out with too many tropes and characters that don't always click, but in the end, it finds its way and hooks the landing with an ending that's both scary and sweet. Bodkin is a series about telling stories that don't want to be told, not just anyone's, but Gilbert's, Dove's, and Emmy's.

Bodkin is available to stream on Netflix.

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