Three recs, gold edition

A heist-ish show, twisty feminist metafiction, and the best Star Wars series

Sep 22, 2023

Friends, it’s one of those issues where my recs have an unintentional theme.

I always enjoy when the things I’m reading and watching and listening to somehow seem in dialogue with one another. This week, I happen to be reading a breezy mystery novel that I didn’t realize in advance centers on a kidnapping. I also happen to be writing a script right now that deals with a kidnapping, albeit in a very different way and rather less breezy way. As a result, I’ve gotten to benefit from the other writer’s research and thought process – and consider ways I’d do it differently.

This issue, the theme seems to be something to do with money, power, and class. Just some light, easy topics. Sorry, no romcoms this week, I’m afraid. Not that a romcom couldn’t tackle these issues! (And, to be fair, these are also what my kidnapping script is about, so maybe we’re getting to the bottom of things here.)

I always have to wonder, in these situations, what would happen if you could mix up the characters from different stories and put them in rooms with one another. Would they recognize each other’s issues? How would they relate? Part of what makes these stories so good is that they’re universal. And yet, just because we the readers/viewers can see the connections, it’s hard to know if the characters would.

Anyway, on to the recs!

Rec 1
The Gold (TV)

Almost every issue for the last few months, I have been trying to find out when this BBC heist-crime-cops-and-robbers-show from February – one of my fave watches of the year – was going to finally come out in the US. And the answer, at long last, is: now! You guys are in for a treat.

In 1983, some relatively low-level criminals broke into a storage facility near Heathrow airport to steal some relatively low-value stuff. Instead, they stumbled onto £26 million of gold. So they obviously took that instead, in the largest-value robbery up to that point in British history.

But that’s not what the show is about. That’s the opening scene. The show is about what happens next. Because these guys aren’t big enough fish to move that kind of a score. (Don’t you love my gangster lingo?) So people who actually know what they’re doing have to get involved. And cops who know the ins and outs of organized crime have to hunt them down. This thing gets bigger than anyone ever thought it would, and it is so much fun to watch.

There’s Jack Lowden as the tough-talking working-class guy with a mansion and a chip on his shoulder (basically the opposite of his Slow Horses persona). There’s Dominic Cooper finally hitting his stride as a slick nouveau riche lawyer outrunning his past and trying to earn his place in Britain’s upper classes. There’s Charlotte Spencer (whom I didn’t know before, but will watch now) as the copper with a gangster father. There’s Hugh Bonneville as the Flying Squad (what a name!) detective determined to do one last job right.

Unfettered criticism of British class issues and a rollicking crime thriller? What more could you want?

Where: BBC (UK), Paramount+ (US)

Rec 2
Trust (book)

I first discovered metafiction with Ian McEwan’s masterpiece, Atonement, and Hernan Diaz’s latest (with another ambiguously thematic one-word title) has reminded me just how compelling the genre can be.

I don’t really want to tell you too much about this book. That’s sort of the thing about metafiction – the more I tell you, the more I risk spoiling some compelling twists for you. Here’s what I will say:

It’s about an early 20th-century American financier – the kind of guy who made bank in the wake of the Gilded Age, profited off WWI, and survived the 1929 crash just fine. It’s also about his wife, whom other people seem very keen to try to define. It’s about two different writers who try to write about them, in very different ways. It’s about legacy and what we create and what we leave behind. It’s about the stories we tell ourselves, the identities we build, the fictions built into our relationships with those closest to us. It’s about ownership and power and, yes, trust.

The story unravels in unexpected ways. It doesn’t end where it starts. It winks at the reader, letting you in on its joke – letting you behind the curtain. I promise it’s worth it. (Also, it won the Pulitzer, in case you were looking for another endorsement.)

Where: Reserve it at your library or order from your non-Amazon bookseller of choice (like Bookshop US or Bookshop UK).*

*(In the name of full transparency, I’ve included affiliate links to Bookshop.org – if you’re going to order from them anyway, please use my link so I can make a little extra cash! If you want to see/order any/all of my book recs, I’ve made lists on Bookshop, too: US version, UK version.)

Rec 3
Andor (TV)

Speaking of my favorite recent shows that I haven’t told you about yet… I did rec this one on Insta back when it came out, but the internet recently reminded me that it’s the show’s one-year anniversary, so that makes it an excellent time to tell you about it. Also, the second season will likely come out not long after the strike ends, so this is the perfect moment for you to get caught up.

Do you like Star Wars? If not, then I’ve got great news: This series from the great Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Identity! All the Bourne movies! Michael Clayton! The Cutting Edge!) is Star Wars for people who don’t like Star Wars. But also, if you like Star Wars and haven’t watched this yet, idk what you’re doing with yourself.

As a prequel to Rogue One (objectively the best of the Disney-era Star Wars films, but not required watching to enjoy the show), Andor thus stars the always excellent Diego Luna as the eponymous Cassian Andor. In Rogue One, he’s a die-hard revolutionary; when we meet him in Andor, he’s a punk-ass thief and troublemaker who’s only out for himself. How’s he gonna go from A to B? Welcome to the show.

Unlike most Star Wars stories, Andor isn’t interested in glossy hero stories or light capers. No one in it is a Skywalker. There are no Jedi. They’re real people living in a brutal, corrupt dictatorship, and they’re all doing what it takes to survive. Cassian’s journey towards radicalization is the heart of it – but there are so many equally compelling characters and stories here. This world is lived-in and real, and at times unsettlingly familiar.

Honorable mentions go to Ebon Moss-Bachrach (also of The Bear and The Dropout, two of my other recent faves) and Andy Serkis (does he ever not steal the scene?), but honestly the whole cast is killer. Also, my other favorite tidbit about this show is that they were about to start production when covid hit, so Tony Gilroy used lockdown to do significant rewrites. I’m sure the original version would have been good, but no doubt having that extra time made it that much better. Give writers time to make good shows!

Where: Disney+

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