"The Night Of" on HBO

Anybody else watch the premier? It's very good. A young Pakistani-American man takes his father's cab into NYC to attend a party. A young woman gets into his cab. Things go wonderfully before they go terribly wrong. It's intense and gritty. The performances are excellent. I believe the premier is being repeated this Sunday, 7/10. Check it out if you haven't yet.

 

Is that the one based on the Brit series called Criminal Justice? I think I 'vetted' it before, but it didn't grab me. Might check it out if you reckon it's worth it.

 

Unlike a lot of shows I've seen recently, this show kept my attention throughout the entire episode. I like it.

My only complaint is that it's a bit predictable, especially because of the way they build some scenarios up. But I think it's very interesting.

 

I had to look it up, but yes, it's based on the Brit series. I say give it a shot. The first episode is 80 minutes. If it doesn't grab you, let it go.

 

Read a few more reviews which seem pretty positive. From what I can gather, it's a slow paced, considered drama with space to breathe, which is in my wheelhouse. If it's anything like Bloodline, The Affair or Line Of Duty pacing wise and quality wise, then I'm sure I'll love it.

But that's got me thinking whether it's worth waiting for the whole series to be released and binge-watching. That would be my preference, but I may just cave!

 

1st episode was very good. I almost wish HBO hadn't put it up so early (about two weeks ago) as we don't get episode #2 until 7/17. I'm already itching to see more.

(edit)

Awww crap. I was for some reason under the impression this was a three part mini-series. I was looking forward to resolution in short order. Now I see there are already a full 8 episodes for this first season. And there could be more, of course. As much as I've enjoyed most of The Affair, I don't want to get involved in another series like that. I might just bail now and when its all done, maybe I'll watch it.

 

Well, I caved, I watched, I liked! It kept my attention all the way through with a prolonged sense of unease in the middle to end section. Very well done.

That was my initial thought (before seeing ep 1), but from what I saw, the narrative appears to be very linear and narrowly focused, which means you don't have to keep too many story elements in your head from week to week (at least that's the impression I get so far). I think this makes it easier to follow than other shows might be with lots of characters and competing/overlapping stroylines, etc.

 

I'm not hesitant to get into this series because I think The Affair is too complicated. Just that its been frustrating how long it has taken to have reveals occur in that series. There doesn't seem to be a need to spend time on flashbacks with this series, though they could with the victim. If this 8 episode run is completely self-contained like True Detective, then I'll be more interested.

The first episode is very well done and shows how a completely innocent person can panic and make a series of bad choices that makes them look guilty. I guess we don't really know that he's innocent, but I'm going on that assumption for now.

 

But while I'm thinking about the show. it seems likely that the killer got in through the door she unlocked to let the cat out. There was the guy walking with the other black guy who was staring down Naz but didn't say anything. He seems too obvious, but maybe the show isn't going to be about a twist.

I don't have allergies, but having been around people who were allergic to cats, I don't think simply having the cat leave the house makes any difference. Its not like the cat is emitting some waves of allergens, is it? The cat hair and dander is already all over the inside of the house if the cat lives there, so removing the cat wouldn't make much difference. Or would it?

 

No we don't know that he's innocent. The show narrative however is steering us to believe that, and rather unsubtly offering a likely culprit - the one of the two guys in the street that made the racial slurs. As these competing narratives are rather obvious at this early stage, I wonder if either will be true by the end.

 

It does seem very unlikely that Naz could have committed such a brutal murder. There would be blood all over him and his clothes as many times as she appeared to have been stabbed. I know they will find some blood on him from the game they played with the knife, but not very much.

 

There's no reason at all that the killer needs to be someone we saw or that Naz had any contact with that night. If the show were following the standard police procedural or mystery model, then it would need to be someone we are introduced to somewhat, but this may not be that kind of show. I hope its better than that.

 

I hope so too. But there is another possibility - that the killer is never actually discovered. Murders go unsolved, however in this case, there is overwhelming circumstantial evidence which is often enough to make a conviction (without actually knowing who committed the murder).

The more I think about it, the more I think it will go down this way. The obvious other person of interest will be brought in and questioned, but will be ruled out with not enough evidence. Then there will be some forensic finds at the scene that might implicate someone else, but again not conclusive. The lawyers might go back and forth on the details. There might be some questionable/biased police procedures indicating a miscarriage of justice, but Naz still gets convicted.

Ha, how's that for wild speculation!

 

Watched the first episode on HBO GO....wow...one word...

Richard Price!

 

Wow, that first episode was excellent! It's always so nice to see something with such deliberate, unhurried pacing. I was riveted from start to finish.

From what I understand from reading critiques by people who received advance copies of the whole series, it's not necessarily going to be a whodunnit. It will cover a lot of the same existential ground as The Wire. What happens when someone like this gets into the criminal justice system? It was pretty obvious to me that he didn't kill her. He was wearing the same clothes when he woke up in the kitchen. His clothes were clean and he was clean, aside from the blood on his hand from when he DID stab her in the hand, at her request. There is no way he could have cleaned up all that blood in his drugged out stupor. But given all the outward evidence, he's screwed! He hid the murder weapon, broke back in, ran away, etc. Every single move he made that night was incredibly stupid and naive. He looks 100% guilty, even though he probably is not. But he's a young brown, Muslim kid in the USA in 2016. He doesn't stand a chance.

 

HBO has a long history of NYC-centric shows. Being born and bred in da Bronx but currently retired in Fla. I always see the city as a 'character' in these shows and try to gauge the levels of authenticity as it influences my opinions of the show. 'Vinyl' was the last 'NY' show prior to 'The Night Of'. I felt Vinyl's depiction of NYC, while based on reality, bordered on caricature. TNO feels authentic, unexaggerated, and very real. Compared to Vinyl, TNO is refreshingly intelligent, I'm in!

 

I agree that it seems very unlikely he could have done it given how messy the scene was and how clean he was. Maybe the show will go into prosecutorial abuse where just because there is enough evidence to likely get a conviction. prosecutors charge and try to get a conviction even if they don't really believe the suspect is guilty. The defense of that (from their perspective) being it is their job to present the evidence and then leave it up to the jury. I don't agree with that, but I think our criminal justice system does this (or threatens prosecution to get people to plead no contest or guilty to lesser crimes) when they probably shouldn't be prosecuted at all.

Sorry, who put that soapbox under my feet?

 

I believe it will be a procedural or a mystery that will unravel based on some of the scenes: the man who was glaring at Naz, the fact that the other man who was spouting racial slurs claimed to have been alone. The show is dropping little clues here and there.

 

Right. That was Bodie from the Wire, BTW. All growns up. I also thought it was weird that he said he was alone. That other dude gave them the stink eye something fierce. But the question is, if Naz didn't kill her, how did the actual killer get into the apartment without breaking in? It seemed to have one of those auto-lock doors. It must have been someone she knew.

 

Almost certainly the killer got in through the door she opened to let the cat out. I went back and watched that specific scene a few minutes ago, and you clearly see that the door doesn't latch. She assumed it would swing closed on its own, but they clearly show it failing to latch and remaining slightly ajar. So anyone could come along and go right in through that gate.

 

i like the way you think. i do hope this is how it goes. but we all know what gets ratings...

 

I didn't notice that! Good eye.

 

Thanks for ruining the first episode, jerks !

I kid. All good; I intend to watch this after thinking it was a "pass" from the trailers.

 

That was my pre-assesement too, but it's well worth it. Thanks to Encuentro for bringing it up.

 

My pleasure!