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HBO Max continues stealth drops of some of the best drama mini-series on television. Last year highlights included “The Head” and “ Station Eleven ,” and they start 2022 strongly with the fantastic “The Tourist,” a twisty tale that plays like an Aussie version of “ Fargo .” With sharp dialogue, clever plotting, and career-best work from Jamie Dornan and Danielle Macdonald , this is a great little thriller, a show that constantly keeps you guessing and entertained in equal measure.

The “ Belfast ” and “ Fifty Shades of Grey ” star plays an unnamed man (at least for a while) who is driving through the very remote Australian outback. He stops at a station to use the bathroom, banters with the guy behind the counter, and hits the road again. Looking in the rearview mirror, he sees a truck gaining on him with remarkable speed. The Man twists off the road to avoid it and the trucker follows, revealing through a POV from his cab that this is very intentional—he’s trying to kill this tourist. They race through the desert until The Man’s car crashes. He wakes up in a hospital with no memory of who he is or how he got there.

Enter a small-town officer named Helen Chambers (Macdonald), engaged to an awful man named Ethan ( Greg Larsen ) and thrust into a mystery about who this handsome Irishman is in a hospital bed. When The Man finds a note with a time and a location in his pocket, he heads to a small town called Burnt Ridge, where he meets a woman named Luci ( Shalom Brune-Franklin ) who might know about his past, ends up crossing paths with a sociopath ( Ólafur Darri Ólafsson ) who clearly wants him dead, and gets a phone call from a man who’s been buried underground. And then things get even weirder.

Created by the people behind the excellent “ The Missing ” (which aired stateside on Starz), the writing on “The Tourist” is a metronomic back and forth between reveals and how those reveals propel the narrative in a new direction. Pushing their way through all the chaos are Dornan and Macdonald, both phenomenal. Dornan finds a quirky, unsettled way to play a man who doesn’t know who he is without resorting to the cliché of the lost soul. If anything, he leans into more of a blank slate interpretation of amnesia, playing a guy who’s more open to what comes next because he can’t remember what came before. And Macdonald is charming and so incredibly likable that she becomes the heart of a show that can be cold at times.

Echoes of “ Memento ” and “Fargo” aside, “The Tourist” also has its own quirky personality. Some of those quirks get a bit extreme in late-season episodes in ways I can’t spoil, but the show is never boring. It’s a reminder that the Dornan who was so great in “ The Fall ” is still out there, and I hope it leads him to more bizarre, challenging roles like this one. There’s an argument to be made that there’s an even-better 100-minute movie in this six-episode mini-series, but that’s not the world we’re in right now. A story like this has a better chance to be told in the TV system than the mid-budget film one, and the writers don’t drag their feet or spin their wheels like so many streaming thrillers. They’re constantly moving our hero forward, keeping us uncertain about his past and even his moral center.

Some will argue that “The Tourist” gets too convoluted and I’ll admit that I enjoyed the playful uncertainty of the first half of the season more than the intensity of the second half. Although the show does get deeper in how it unpacks lies we tell ourselves and those we listen to from other people. It turns out that everyone on "The Tourist" has a secret or two, and almost all of them could use a car accident to reset the hole they've dug for themselves. 

I'm not sure how intentional it is but the show never stopped reminding me of some of my favorite early Coen films—the noir danger of “ Blood Simple ,” the open roads of “ Raising Arizona ” (and a bearded hunter who seems unkillable), Macdonald’s very Marge Gunderson character—and yet these nods to greats are embedded in a breakneck plot that never slows down enough to distract from its own inspired storytelling. Take the trip.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Film credits.

The Tourist (2022)

360 minutes

Jamie Dornan as The Man

Danielle Macdonald as Helen Chambers

Shalom Brune-Franklin as Luci

Damon Herriman as D.I. Lachlan Rogers

Alex Dimitriades as Kostas

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Billy

Greg Larsen as Ethan Krum

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The scenery and the stars are undeniably beautiful, but they can't make up for The Tourist 's slow, muddled plot, or the lack of chemistry between Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.

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The Tourist: the ending of Jamie Dornan's BBC drama explained

Warning, spoilers ahead for all six episodes of the tourist.

Jamie Dornan's The Tourist has been met with a hugely positive reception from viewers and critics alike, and has finally come to its shocking conclusion on BBC.  We have explained the ending of the twisty thriller here, but warning! Major spoilers are ahead from this point for those who still need to catch up!

MORE:  The Tourist: viewers divided over shock ending

The series expertly managed to answer our (and Elliott's) questions about who he really is and why he was crashed into by a compulsive liar in a cowboy hat. Having previously worked as an accountant for a disturbed crime lord, Kostas, he fell in love with Kostas' girlfriend Luci and ran away with her, taking Kostas' treasured bag containing the first one million dollars he ever earned.

WATCH: Have you been watching the series?

Kosta then tracked them to Australia, sending his henchmen to deal with them. However, being friends with Elliott, one of them gives him a heads up that Kosta knows where they are. The cowboy-hat wearing American then buries Kosta underground as insurance as he goes to hunt down Elliott and Victoria, eventually leading to Elliott's car crash and subsequent amnesia.

We finally found out why Kostas wanted to kill Elliott 

In the final episode, after gently holding a restaurant hostage while providing evidence that they were innocent of committing any murders, Elliott is free to continue with his life. There are some questions, like why he ever agreed to work for Kosta, but generally he realises that he has never killed anyone and wasn't a terrible person. Until the final piece of the puzzle, a woman he vaguely remembers named Lena Pascal, comes to visit him.

Elliott discovers that he was a ruthless gangster

During her visit, she reveals that she was one of his drug mules, and he would make her practice smiling and waving. She revealed that the two women who were carrying drugs alongside her both died on the flight after the bags leaked in their stomachs, and after she left the flight, Elliott ordered the drugs to be cut out of her, leaving her with an horrendous injury. She then leaves, telling Elliott that his punishment is having to live with what he has done.

MORE:  The Tourist viewers aren't happy with this detail in show

MORE:  The Tourist: viewers think they have already worked out the plot twist

After being unable to hand himself in for the crime and losing his only friend, Helen, who is disgusted to hear about the sort of person he was before his injury, Elliott takes a drug overdose. Meanwhile, Helen has had time to think about who he is and is advised by a friend to accept him for who he is now. As Elliott lies dying, she messages him an emoji of a burrito, which was previously said to be Elliott's 'happy place'. Receiving the message, Elliott smiles.

Helen sends him a message of a burrito

The ending is deliberately vague, as it doesn't reveal whether Elliott survives the suicide attempt or not after receiving Helen's message – and it appears that viewers had mixed feelings over the ambiguous conclusion. Taking to Twitter, one person wrote: "Good grief, that ending of #bbc's #TheTourist. It's going to haunt me in a good way for a long time, a mark of a great show in my books. #JamieDornan mesmerises. And #DanielleMacdonald is a revelation."

Another person added: "Omg they can’t leave the ending of #TheTourist like that nooooooooooooo……watched six episodes," while a third person tweeted: " What an ending to a brilliant series! I’m left stunned, slightly weepy and smiling!"

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Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for The Tourist .

Jamie Dornan opens up about the shocking ending of The Tourist . Created by Harry and Jack Williams, The Tourist centers on The Man (played by Dornan) who wakes up in a hospital with zero memory of who he is and how he got there. Spending the first of six episodes in a state of utter uncertainty, Dornan’s protagonist is helped along by Helen Chamber (Danielle Macdonald) , and the traffic cop helps The Man uncover the details behind the horrific car crash that led to his amnesia.

By the finale of the Australian-set series, it’s revealed that The Man is a drug smuggler named Elliot. Confronted by Lena Pascal (Victoria Haralabidou), a woman Elliot consistently has visions of, it becomes clear that Elliot’s actions in smuggling heroin inside people’s bodies led to the painful death of two women. It also led to Lena’s disfigurement, all of which she details in a searing monologue that makes plain how awful Elliot was before the crash and why someone would want him dead. This leads Elliot to the same conclusion, too, as he attempts to take his own life.

Related: HBO Max: Every Movie & TV Show Coming In March 2022

Speaking with EW to promote The Tourist , which is currently streaming on HBO Max , Dornan opened up about how difficult it was to film that reveal. The actor admits that it broke him, detailing how uncomfortable and uneasy it made him feel. Dornan’s quote is included below.

“It was crazy, that. So much of this character and this performance for me is, like any performance, you’re trying to stay present, but never more so than when everything is information that you’ve never heard before, particularly if it’s awful information, like that scene. I felt very raw in that moment, I felt very exposed, and vulnerable and kind of awful and terrible about myself. She was doing such beautiful work in front of me and it was having the impact that I felt that it should have. Sometimes you get yourself in a place where you feel so broken that you can’t actually stop crying. [Laughs] I felt a bit like that that day in a good way, I guess. I felt very exposed, very vulnerable. You know, it’s hard stuff to hear, the hardest stuff to hear, so a lot of that luckily was on the page for me in terms of the writing. But, yeah, not an easy day, that.”

Dornan, who goes on to mention that there have been conversations about a possible second season, previously spoke about how The Tourist was his most difficult role because he didn’t know anything about The Man. To go from there, only to learn of the banal evil of this protagonist had to have been as much a punch in the gut for Dornan as it was for the audience. For most of the HBO Max drama, Elliot is positioned as a good guy. Gruff, sure, and certainly flawed, but ultimately the hero of the story alongside Helen. It’s a difficult last-minute switch that Dornan sells perfectly.

Still, even though the reveal leads the audience down a dark path, it ends with hope. It’s heavily implied that Elliot survives his suicide attempt and begins a relationship with Helen. Perhaps, it suggests, in the long-run, that the memory loss provides Elliot with a chance to be a new person. It also opens the door for The Tourist season 2. And maybe, given that many viewers and critics enjoyed the lighter and more experimental aspects of the series, a second outing won’t have quite as bleak a twist.

More: Jamie Dornan Interview: The Tourist

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What Happens To Kosta And Luci?

Elliot, while in a psychoactive state, after having sipped Kosta’s acid-laced water, leads him and Rogers to Nala Stonemen, possibly because Elliot figures that he must’ve stashed Kosta’s money somewhere around this place since he took pictures of this place. Going through the highs and lows of his psychedelic journey, Elliot explores his memories for clues about his past self, finding the whereabouts of the bag as well. In the meantime, Luci shows up, revealing to Kosta that his beloved brother, Dimitri, who died when he was a kid, is actually alive and lives a reformed life in an ashram in India. Luci had crossed paths with Dimitri at the ashram, years before meeting Kosta, who in passing, mentioned his brother, planting the seed for her plan to con him.

 As a way to cope with his loss, Kosta, who also battles schizophrenia, found solace in visualizing his deceased brother as a form of coping mechanism. Seeking guidance from this imaginary figure had become a source of comfort for Kosta. As a last resort to plead for Kosta to spare Elliot’s life, she arranges a video call between the brothers but fails to make any changes to Kosta’s ways, resulting in an aimless shooting between Rogers and Kosta after the commotion knocks out the light, as a result of which Kosta and Luci get caught in the crossfire.

What Finally Happens To Elliot And Helen?

Following the unexpected death of Kosta Panigiris, using Kosta’s phone, Rogers, using Kosta’s phone, successfully tracks his wife’s location and rescues her from the clutches of Kosta’s henchmen. Following a complaint lodged by Helen, Rogers finds himself under interrogation regarding Officer Lammon’s death. However, taking an unexpected twist, he shifts all the blame onto Helen, accusing Elliot as her collaborator. Displaying quick-wittedness on her part, Helen outmaneuvers Rogers. With assistance from Freddie, a fellow police officer, she leverages her experience as a traffic cop to secure a photo captured by a speed camera. This compelling image places Rogers with Elliot at the time when he was en route to Meet Kosta. Armed with this concrete evidence against the Detective’s claim, Helen establishes their innocence. 

While in prison awaiting bail, Elliot is finally visited by Lena Pascal, the subject of recurring dreams, whom he believes holds vital information about his past self. Lena, however, sheds light on the brutalities of the man he once was. Elliot was culpable for exploiting Lena and two other women in smuggling heroin to Australia. They were coerced into carrying bags of heroin inside their guts, resulting in the deaths of the other women when the bags ruptured inside them. Upon her arrival, the man Elliot paid to receive Lena, callously cut her open with a dirty knife, leaving lasting impacts on her health. This traumatic incident continues to haunt Lena. 

Disgusted with himself, he confesses everything to the police, yet Lena refrains from supporting his claims, wanting him to suffer from the guilt of his actions. Helen also abandons him upon hearing the truth, finding it utterly inexcusable even for a reformed man. However, a conversation with her friend, Freddie brings more clarity to her feelings for him. Drowning in remorse in a hotel room, he swallows a handful of sleeping pills in a desperate attempt to end his life when he receives a burrito emoji from Helen, evoking a personal moment from earlier when a clueless Elliot found the only thing his new self loved—burritos. 

What To Expect In Season 2? 

By now it’s evident that Elliot Stanley has a pretty complex and troubled past— formerly an account to an international drug lord, he has stolen a million dollars and has been entangled in drug trafficking. He might’ve forgotten his past, but the world clearly hasn’t as the repercussions of his past still linger, and the shadows of the underworld cast long-lasting ones. The introduction of new adversaries seems inevitable. If imprisoned, Lachlan Rogers may become a potential threat as he encounters individuals familiar with Elliot’s reputation. 

As for Elliot and Helen, season 2 might delve deeper into their dynamics. Their relationship, forged amidst secrets still concealed, might see new challenges. As Helen comes face to face with the aftermath of her association with the Tourist, legal troubles might surround her, which she must navigate through as well. On the flip side, she might receive a promotion, which would add another layer to her character but also make things more complex for her. However, this show has proven its reputation for unexpected twists and turns. Just when the characters seem poised with some stability, unforeseen circumstances might shake their narrative again.

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'The Tourist': US release date, cast, plot, trailer, and all you need to know about the twisty thriller

Jamie Dornan heads the cast of epic drama 'The Tourist'.

The Tourist has brought mystery and intrigue to BBC1 and now the drama is heading to HBO Max for US viewers. 

Created and penned by award-winning brothers Harry and Jack Williams, whose previous credits include Liar , The Missing and Baptiste , the series sees Jamie Dornan as a mysterious character known as "The Man," who faces huge danger as he searches for his identity in the Australian outback.

Here’s everything we know about The Tourist ...

'The Tourist' release date

The Tourist arrives on HBO Max in the US on Thursday, March 3. 

The thriller first aired on BBC1 in the UK on Saturday, Jan. 1 2022 (New Year's Day) and now all episodes are available on streaming service BBCiPlayer. 

What is the plot of 'The Tourist'?

The twist-laden, action-packed, darkly comic drama follows The Man, a Brit, who has ended up Down Under and finds himself being chased by a massive truck, which is attempting to drive him off the road. 

After a breathtaking pursuit, The Man wakes up some time later in hospital but has no idea of his name or identity. But as people from his past return to haunt him, he faces a race against time to get to the truth about who he once was and who he is now before he is discovered by those who want to silence him forever...

“ The Tourist has some of the most exciting scripts I’ve ever read,” says Jamie Dornan , best known for The Fall and Fifty Shades of Grey film. 'I wanted The Man to come across as likeable because then the things you hear about him are more shocking as the shadiness of his past catches up with him…”

“We're hugely excited about this show. It's tonally breaking new ground for us, and having Jamie Dornan on board is the icing on the Australian cake,” add the Williams brothers.

Who does Danielle Macdonald play in 'The Tourist'?

The drama also stars Danielle Macdonald ( Unbelievable, Dumplin’, Patti Cake$ ) as rookie probationary constable Helen Chambers.

“Helen is a fascinating and intriguing character, I fell in love with her on page one,” says Macdonald. “I ended up reading all the episodes in one sitting because I couldn’t put them down! I’m so excited to get to be a part of this incredible project and I can’t wait to start filming alongside the amazing cast and production team.”

Who does Shalom Brune-Franklin play in 'The Tourist'?

Shalom Brune-Franklin ( Line of Duty, Roadkill ) is enigmatic waitress Luci, who crosses paths with The Man.

"This story is unique and I'm excited to be a part of bringing it to life with this brilliant team,” reveals Brune-Franklin. “I'm looking forward to adding to the thrilling mystery of these scripts with the wonderfully intriguing character of Luci. It's very exciting to be working on such a great project in Australia — it's going to be a lot of fun."

Who else is in the cast of 'The Tourist'?

Damon Herriman ( Mindhunter , Justified ) plays quirky cop DI Lachlan Rogers, and replaces Hugo Weaving who had to leave the production due to scheduling issues. Meanwhile Ólafur Darri Ólafsson ( Trapped, The Missing ) also appears as Billy Nixon, an American who gets embroiled in the case, and Alex Dimitriades ( The End, The Cry ) is Kosta Panigiris, a wealthy but shady businessman. 

How many episodes of 'The Tourist' are there?

There are six 60-minute instalments.

Is there a trailer for 'The Tourist'?

Yes! The action-packed teaser features explosions, helicopters and guns. It begins with The Man driving along in the Outback singing to the radio before a truck shockingly crashes into him. As he later sits sipping a beer he muses, "Why would somebody want me dead?" We then get glimpses of several other characters including an anxious-looking Helen and Luci before we see The Man lying in his hospital bed suffering from amnesia and the ominous words What He Doesn't Know Could Kill Him are emblazoned on the screen.

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Caren has been a journalist specializing in TV for almost two decades and is a Senior Features Writer for TV Times , TV & Satellite Week and What’s On TV magazines and she also writes for What to Watch.

Over the years, she has spent many a day in a muddy field or an on-set catering bus chatting to numerous stars on location including the likes of Olivia Colman, David Tennant, Suranne Jones, Jamie Dornan, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Derek Jacobi as well as Hollywood actors such as Glenn Close and Kiefer Sutherland.

Caren will happily sit down and watch any kind of telly (well, maybe not sci-fi!), but she particularly loves period dramas like Call the Midwife , Downton Abbey and The Crown and she’s also a big fan of juicy crime thrillers from Line of Duty to Poirot .

In her spare time, Caren enjoys going to the cinema and theatre or curling up with a good book.

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Tourist’ On Netflix, Where Jamie Dornan Plays A Man Without His Memory Trying To Outrun His Past

Where to stream:.

• The Tourist

What would you do if you lost your memory? Not just what you had for breakfast, but all sense of who you are and who is in your life? Then you find out that someone really, really wants to see you dead? That’s the idea behind the new Netflix series, which originally ran on HBO Max back in 2022.

THE TOURIST : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Scenes of the arid environment in the Australian Outback. A tiny car drives down an empty road.

The Gist: A man (Jamie Dornan) stops for gas; he’s wearing a generic “AUSTRALIA” tourist t-shirt. He has no idea why the attendant at the station makes him sign out for the bathroom key. We see him come out the back door of the bathroom, next to the Dumpsters.

As he’s driving on the seemingly empty road in his tiny Mazda, a massive tractor trailer bears down on him. When the tractor trailer rams the man’s car, he realizes it’s not just an aggressive driver. After a long chase over some rough terrain, the man thinks he’s gotten away from the truck, when the truck slams into him, causing the tiny car to roll over a few times.

The man wakes up in the local hospital, surprisingly not severely injured. However, he has no idea who he is or what he was doing. He doesn’t even remember his own name. He can recall a song title when he’s in an MRI machine, but that’s about it.

A friendly local cop, Helen Chambers (Danielle Macdonald), goes to his room to take a statement. She is a bit uncomfortable with the man’s lack of memory, but ends up being reassuring to an extent. The only thing he finds in his possessions is a note to meet someone the next day at a diner in a nearby town. Helen says she’ll look into that.

We follow Helen home and see that, like most of us, she has issues with her weight, not the least of which is exacerbated by her fiancé Ethan (Greg Larsen) and their upcoming wedding.

Another thing we see is someone buried underground. Desperate to get out of whatever box he’s been put in, he tries to call someone on his phone, but no one is answering.

The man goes outside to get air, but gets lost inside the hospital, scaring him senseless. He decides to check himself out of the hospital the next day, against medical advice, because he needs to go to that diner and find out just who wanted to meet him there. Helen understands why he wants to do it, and gives him a bus ticket to get there.

At the diner, he meets a waitress named Luci (Shalom Brune-Franklin), who seems to be fascinated by his amnesia. When she spills lemonade on him, she takes him out to where there are bathrooms. Just then, there’s an explosion, right in the booth where he was sitting. He wonders aloud why in the world someone is trying to kill him.

Pictures from a disposable camera found at the crash site help him retrace his steps, as well as video from the gift shop he visited. It brings him back to the gas station and its bathroom. He doesn’t find out his name though, as he signed the key sign-out sheet as “Crocodile Dundee.” But he finds something else; a stuffed koala that he hid next to the Dumpster. Much to his surprise, it starts ringing.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Take the movie  Memento and cross it with the quirkiness of the first season of the  Fargo series, and you’ve got the vibe of  The Tourist.

Our Take: The Tourist , written by Harry Williams and Jack Williams ( The Missing, Fleabag ) looks like it’s a complex show with a twisty plot, but when you really take a close look, it’s pretty straightforward. Dornan’s character has no idea who he is; all he knows is that someone wants to kill him. With the help of Helen and others, he’ll try to piece things together before those that are after him, including Billy (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), the whistling man who almost squashed him in the tractor trailer, catch up to him.

In the first episode,  The Tourist  evolves from what seems like a thriller to a more personal narrative. It’s why we get involved in Helen’s life when she’s off-duty. In a Weight Watchers-style meeting, she claims she doesn’t like her body, even though everyone is yelling about body acceptance. But it also feels like she’s more there because of her fiancé than anything else. So even though Helen knows her name, who’s in her life and what she does, she also hasn’t found herself. Plus, she seems to be made to feel guilty about just about everything.

Perhaps as she gets more involved in the life of Dornan’s character, the more she will figure out who she is. At least that’s what we hope, because Macdonald is utterly charming as Helen, who is very much in the vein of Allison Tolman’s portrayal of Molly Solverson in the aforementioned  Fargo. She’s good at her job, even if she’s a bit green, but also is a friendly and helpful sort who needs to help herself most of all.

There is definitely a bit of a sense of humor running the first episode, but the Williamses aren’t trying to make the show quippy. The humor is there when people seem to be fascinated with Dornan’s character’s amnesia, though he assures them it’s no picnic. The humor creeps in along the edges of the show, but it does just enough to ease what is a pretty serious and grim performance by Dornan.

There is one twist near the end of the episode that we won’t spoil here, but it does make us wonder if, as things get more complicated for Dornan’s character (notice we haven’t named him yet, because the character has none as yet), the plot will become more convoluted. We hope not, as it seems the straightforward manner in which this story is being told suits  The Tourist just fine.

Sex and Skin: Nothing in the first episode.

Parting Shot: When the stuffed koala starts ringing, the man digs out a burner phone and answers it. When the man who’s buried starts yelling in relief that he answered, the man says, “Uh, who’s this?”

Sleeper Star: Shalom Brune-Franklin does some compelling work as Luci, and we know that she’s much more involved in this story than most of the first episode lets on.

Most Pilot-y Line: Nothing we could find.

Our Call:  STREAM IT.  The Tourist  hooked us in with its story, plus the performances by Dornan, Macdonald and Brune-Franklin. Let’s hope the story continues to be interesting as the season goes on.

Joel Keller ( @joelkeller ) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com , VanityFair.com , Fast Company and elsewhere.

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The Accidental Tourist

• An emotionally distant writer of travel guides must carry on with his life after his son is killed and his marriage crumbles.
• After the death of his son, Macon Leary, a travel writer, seems to be sleep walking through life. Macon's wife, seems to be having trouble too, and thinks it would be best if the two would just split up. After the break up, Macon meets a strange outgoing woman, who seems to bring him back down to earth. After starting a relationship with the outgoing woman, Macon's wife seems to think that their marriage is still worth a try. Macon is then forced to deal many decisions — Justin Sharp <[email protected]>
• After the murder of their young son, the marriage between Macon and his wife Sarah disintegrates, and she moves out. After a freak accident puts him on crutches, Macon goes to stay with his quirky siblings at the family home, where he meets the spirited Muriel, a dog trainer with a young son of her own, with whom he begins a friendship. When Sarah learns about this, she attempts a reconciliation and Macon is forced to make a decision. — Jwelch5742
• Macon Leary is the author of a travel book for people who want to travel with the minimum fuss and as little impact as possible on their lives. Arriving back from a working trip, his wife announces she can no longer deal with the fact that he is dealing with the death of their son the same way that he travels: with minimum impact. Macon subsequently meets the quirky Muriel, who it seems is just the opposite to Macon. — Murray Chapman <[email protected]>
• Macon Leary (William Hurt) is a Baltimore writer of travel guides for reluctant business travelers, which detail how best to avoid unpleasantness and difficulty. His marriage to his wife Sarah (Kathleen Turner) is disintegrating in the aftermath of the murder of their 12 year-old son, Ethan (Seth Granger). Sarah feels living with Macon she is losing the will to live and wants to reset her life. Sarah is also angry that Macon has no passion or loud emotions, he is very subdued. Sarah eventually leaves Macon, moving out of their house and into an apartment. Macon has a bad back that keeps resurfacing. Macon is pursued by Muriel Pritchet (Geena Davis), an animal hospital employee (Macon had met Muriel when he had to leave his dog with her at her hospital for care-taking, when he had to go away on a business trip. Macon was desperate as his regular animal shelter had refused to take in Edward due to his biting habit) and dog trainer with a sickly son Alexander Pritchett (Robert Hy Gorman) (Alexander is allergic to many many things and is almost always at the doctor's). Muriel is very chatty, while Macon is the quiet, reserved type. After he falls down the basement stairs and breaks his leg, Macon returns to his childhood home to stay with his eccentric siblings. Rose Leary (Amy Wright), Porter Leary (David Ogden Stiers) & Charles Leary (Ed Begley Jr.). Rose is super organized and has kind of like an OCD. Macon eventually hires Muriel to put his dog Edward through much-needed obedience training (as it was Edward which led to Macon falling down the basement stairs in his house. Plus Edwars also attacked Macon's employer Julian Edge (Bill Pullman) when he came to visit him at his sibling's house) (Julin also reminds Macon that he is running very late with his guidebook). Although Muriel at first seems brash and unsophisticated (she thinks Rose is Macon's ex-wife or something till he corrects her that Rose is his sister), Macon eventually finds himself opening up to her and trusting her (She is able to train Edward and befriend Macon in the process). Muriel had got married because she got pregnant, but then something went wrong during the pregnancy and Alexander was taken out by c section early. Muriel can never have kids again. Julian, meanwhile is attracted to Rose and joins the family for dinner to spend more time with her. One day Macon criticizes Rose's cooking (she had cooked the turkey at a wrong temperature), in front of Julian. Rose gets real upset and she thinks Macon wants her to take care of the boys forever and is thus trying to drive Julian away from her. Muriel continues to pursue Macon and invites him over for dinner at her place.. Macon is very resistant and tries to get out of it by saying something came up. But Muriel confronts Macon and he reveals that just last yr he lost his son in a holdup at an hamburger joint. Hence he is not ready to socialize yet, nor spend time with Alexander. Muriel quietly hugs Macon and wins him over. She takes him to her bed and they snuggle. Macon spends more and more time at Muriel's and gets more involved in their lives. eventually Macon moves in with Muriel Macon completes his book and delivers it to Julian. Julian tells Macon that he is going to propose to Rose. Porter talks to Macon and tries to warn him and say that Muriel is not good for him.. Macon wouldn't have any of it, and instead finds himself bonding with Alexander (taking him clothes shopping and saving him from school bullies). Macon wants to put Alexander into private school and this upsets Muriel as Macon is not sure if he is committed to her for the next 10 yrs or not.. Muriel tells Macon that he is not sure of what he wants and wants him to get himself sorted. Macon says he doesn't want to get married and this upsets Muriel even more. Rose gets married to Julian. Sarah is Rose's Matron of Honor. When Sarah's apartment lease is up, she moves back into their old home and suggests to Macon that they start over. Macon leaves Muriel, and he and Sarah set up house once more. Meanwhile Rose has moved back as she worried about her brothers without her to take care of them. Macon suggests Julian that Rose has OCD and he should give her some organizing job that she can immerse herself into. When Macon visits Paris for research, Muriel surprises him by showing up on the same flight and stays in the same Paris hotel, recommended by Macon in one of his travel guides. She suggests that they enjoy themselves as if they are vacationing together. Macon insists he is there strictly for business, and although he shows concern for how Alexander is doing, keeps Muriel at arm's length. During Macon's last night in Paris, Muriel asks to go with him, and despite an early flight she tells him he doesn't have to reply just now. Waking up in the middle of the night Macon decides to call Muriel but his telephone malfunctions. Macon gets up and while trying to fix the cord, hurts his back and becomes bedridden. Muriel knocks on his door waking him up but before he can decide what to do Muriel assumes he has gone already and leaves. Mustering the strength to go to the front desk, Macon phones Julian (and finds that Rose is now working for Julian and organized the entire office) to inform him of his back pain. Sarah comes to Paris (This was also organized by Rose), to care and make day-trips for him in order to complete his travel guide. Sarah proposes that after finishing the day trips if he is feeling better they can go sightseeing, reschedule the flight for a latter date and make the trip a second honeymoon to which Macon agrees. However, Sarah tells him that she has run into Muriel when she arrived and as such continues to question Macon about his attraction to Muriel, angering Macon. The next morning, Macon dresses while Sarah still sleeps, then wakes her to tell her that he is going back to Muriel. On his way to the airport, Macon spots Muriel hailing a taxi and tells the driver to stop. Thinking the driver stopped for her, Muriel bends to gather her luggage and catches sight of Macon in the taxi. She smiles, and Macon returns the smile.

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Germany’s ZDF Studios, Iceland’s ACT4 Partner on Nordic Crime Thriller ‘Big Brother’ (EXCLUSIVE)

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Anna Marie de la Fuente

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Germany’s ZDF Studios has teamed up with Iceland’s ACT4 to develop the Nordic crime thriller “Big Brother,” based on the award-winning debut novel ‘Stóri Bródir’ of Icelandic author Skuli Sigurdsson.

A tale of revenge and justice, “Big Brother” centers on a mysterious figure in black who, every full moon, viciously attacks a person before vanishing into the night. The victims, all unpunished sexual offenders, are carefully selected.

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Said Ólafsson: “As a crime fiction, the tale of ‘Big Brother’ is thrilling and brutal, a very suspenseful narrative. It rises above its genre as it poses a difficult question for our society: Someone is taking it upon himself to punish sexual offenders when our justice system fails. Gradually his actions become more brutal and he starts killing his victims. Who do we side with, the self-proclaimed warrior of justice or the people who are trying to catch a murderer?”

“We are excited to partner with ACT4 on the adaptation of Skuli Sigurdsson’s brilliantly crafted novel. The characters, the storytelling from two different points of view and the heightened suspense as the plot unfolds makes for a chilling, binge-worthy drama,” said Yi Qiao, director drama, ZDF Studios.

Joining forces with a group of international investors, they built the new indie Nordic production powerhouse and optioned “Big Brother” last year as one of its first projects for the big screen.

Author Sigurdsson, a lawyer and former journalist, won the Icelandic Crime Novel Award and was nominated for the Glass Key Award.

In recent news, ZDF Studios teamed up with Spanish broadcaster RTVE and Galician production house Portocabo on the procedural “Weiss & Morales,” which began shooting in the Canary Islands last April.

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