The Commuter

The late Philip K Dick seems to be everywhere at the moment, and this series is based on his short stories. Last night's episode was unusual (or should I say quite usual for this strange series!), with an as-expected high-quality performance from Timothy Spall and an interesting role for Tuppence Middleton. I do enjoy a parable-type tale, and this one benefited greatly from the scenes in Poundbury, Dorset, which gave it an ethereal quality, and made me want to visit the location for myself. I expect it's very much a subjective like / dislike - I thought it was well worth watching but would have improved with a little more time spent on adding some extra detail.

The Commuter works because writer Jack Thorne resists going down some futuristic grungy Blade Runner look.

Ed (Timothy Spall) works in the ticket office at Woking train station, a rather mundane job but it shields him from a difficult home life coping with a teenage son prone to violent outbursts.

One day a mysterious young woman asks to buy a ticket to Macon Heights, Ed tells her the stop does not exists and the woman suddenly disappears.

Ed's curiosity leads him to board a train that presumably stops at Macon Heights when suddenly some of the passengers suddenly jump off the train and head for this idyllic town.

When Ed returns home it is to a happier household but he has this nagging doubt that his visits to Macon Heights has erased his son from existence.

Some of the story went off in tangents such as the visit to the journalist, maybe it could had been tightly plotted but it worked as a story about a man who is willing to embrace life even with all its disappointments.

An interesting abstract view on life and love; Though, too abstract and psychological for me.

I remember reading the short story when i was a kid and finding it as confusing as this version.

PKD wrote this at a time when he was churning out short story after short story and it shows even in the first few lines of the short story describing the protagonists dull existence and the description of the people on the train which perhaps PKD felt like himself - indeed i am pretty sure it was - he was perhaps making a comment on society and how monotonous and neverending the daily grind is , how people cannot even see their own treadmill rather like the Greek mythology of Sisyphus and as i perceive it how difficult it is to break free from that reality and try something new. Even in an alternate reality which PKD was fond of expounding the protagonist could not give up his primary reality for an "improved" reality; perhaps a comment on the modern human condition and if so far ahead of his time.

Great comment also on the suburbs and how they can exist almost anywhere and no one would notice the difference which was also key to the original story and how memory and history can be easily forgotten and manipulated to achieve whatever goal is required.

Quite a good translation of the original but still rather unsatisfying as was the original story. I am sure this was at a time when PKD was bored with writing short stories and wanted to start writing novels and it shows!

But hey , maybe my perception is complete crapola and i am in my own alternate reality - it will be interesting to read others perspective on this episode as it is certainly better than the awful first episode of this series and does leave the viewer with more questions than answers and maybe just maybe makes one ask the question "just what the f*** have I actually done today"! ARE YOU A COMMUTER?

Another good episode of this Channel 4 series dramatising Philip K Dick short stories, as a drastically slimmed down Timothy Spall's workaday railway station manager is led by a mysterious, now-you-see-her young woman (Tuppence Middleton) to escape his difficult personal life and mundane existence by stopping the train at a strange town where everyone appears happy, content and free from the stresses of everyday life.

Spall's character in particular struggles in his relationship with his mentally impaired son and by extension his long-standing wife so it's no surprise that his character is initially attracted to the utopian town of Macon Heights, although it somehow just doesn't sound right as a place name with the action moved to England. Here you get a great cup of tea, wonderful home made cake and a newly- engaged couple running up to you in the street full of the joys of life, but is it just a place to visit or would you want to live there? The secret lies in his tracking down the elusive Tuppence Middleton who apparently comes and goes at will. Unlike the two previous episodes, there's a definite, non-speculative ending to this one and the right one too I thought.

There were a few plot strands which escaped me, like the Groundhog Day events at the new town, the appearance of Spall's troubled son also at Macon Heights and his brief encounter with an elderly journalist, but the central point about facing up to the realities of everyday life was well made.

Less obviously futuristic than the two earlier episodes, there was comparatively little employment of big budget sets or special effects. This well suited the down to earth nature of the story itself which was well acted by Spall and Middleton in their contrasting lead roles.