Waterloo Road

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I binged both series on the days they were released.

I’m not enjoying it anywhere near as much as I enjoyed the OG Waterloo Road.

The biggest issue for me is that it is almost taking itself too seriously? The old show was a bit camp and ridiculous, but still managed to handle hard-hitting stories amongst the exaggerated shenanigans. It has come back trying to be a “serious drama” but absolutely nobody on the cast is talented enough to pull that off.

I think someone said earlier on in the thread that it doesn’t feel like a school. The corridors aren’t busy and we don’t get to see many actual lessons nor storylines about teaching and learning. I completely agree. They may as well have set this revamp in a 6th Form college as it feels like all of the pupils are much older and more mature. You definitely got the sense that Finn Sharkey and Scout etc were 15 or 16 back in the day. This current incarnation all seem much older.
 
I’ve re-watched Series 12, giving it my full attention this time

+Topical storylines (cost of living, mental health etc.)
+Continuity from the last series/term
+Treneman’s return
+Val Chambers’ defence of the arts
+Steph/Grantly/Mica mentions

-Lack of resolution/consequences for some storylines (brush it under the rug mentality)
-Too many re-used establishing shots to that bloody instrumental
-The (supposedly explosive) Myles was a bit of a non-entity until 🏃‍♂️🔥 - his mother and Guthrie though… 🤩
-Is Coral now an recurring character/extra?! She was my favourite character in the last series
-Every episode seems to have some ‘spectacular’ overarching initiative (Chlo wish thing, radio, ofsted, that brick-wall poetry whichever), rather than being a more character-focused ordinary school day - immediate execution without build-up

Series 13
I cannot believe Kim’s still head. I hope they introduce some new teachers. I see there’s a new student called Libby Guthrie… does every teacher need to be related to a student? (assuming she is a relative of the history teacher)
 
Scrolling through my Facebook I thought this was Kacey Barry 🤣
 

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Kay's Good Cooking said:
Apparently they're relocating to a new build school after the next series. Unlike the Rochdale set, there's nothing memorable about the one used for the new series imo
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It's too small and doesn't give the right feel of a secondary school. So would be good for them to move location. And given how many schools are new builds these days, wouldn't be the worst decision to make.
 
Do you think we'll get Series 13 this Autumn? By the trailer at the end of Series 12, it looks as if it's already been filmed. I also know they're now filming Series 14 in a newbuild school

I need my WR fix o_O
 
I'm not at all an "anti-woke" person but I do feel that classic Waterloo Road did the social stuff without ramming it down your throat as the new one does. I just don't find it entertaining.

This is not something unique to Waterloo Road of course, I see it constantly in TV now. I feel like I grew up towards the end of the "golden era" of a lot of TV where things could just be entertaining for the sake of being entertaining. I feel like now every TV show needs to have some kind of "progressive", "woke" message which makes me sound really old I do realise that but I think the quality of a lot of things has really dropped off and they've tried to negate that with "look how progressive we are", which doesn't work.

I had exactly the same thing with Gossip Girl. The original wasn't anti-woke (I actually thought it had quite a lot of fairly progressive stuff, e.g. one of the main characters was gay) but it wasn't trying to create a message, it was just fun and poking fun at rich people and itself. I can't really see why that had to end? It's not condoning what they do or what they are like, it's just entertainment.
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Miss.Chanandler.Bong said:
Me too. Like the boy who couldn’t stop peeing himself and the pregnant girl who said Jack was the father
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A young Jack O'Connell! And Jodie Comer was in it too.
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Sw4 said:
I'm rewatching and tbh I don't think Tom comes across that well. Yes he has his moments, cared for Mika and Chlo etc but he has multiple romances that overlap, was homophobic to his own son, and comes across as pretty grumpy/surly the majority of the time. He was really horrible to Lorna in series 1/2! Good character though, don't get me wrong.
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Yes but that's the point, it's realistic for the time.

He was a fairly terrible man who improved over time and learned to get better. It is called development.

The problem now is they go "oh you're gay, trans, whatever, wahey for you", I can tell you for a categorical fact that's not how it happens. Original WR was not condoning the behaviour, just being realistic.
 
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