Fortitude, the Amazon series...

Written 5.30.2017 on Facebook, posted on JoeActon.com 6.3.2017

I've been busy doing my own writing thing so have been remiss in keeping up with my writing page. My bad. Am catching up:

Stanley Tucci is one of the few actor-directors I’d stand in line just to watch him stand in the same line. As an actor he brings to a role a multi-layered nuance that isn’t on the page, which writers appreciate: body language verbage… rhythm and cadence to dialogue… responses that allow other actors to land their lines. He's the consummate professional. 

So when I learned he was going to be in the Amazon series "Fortitude" I was eager to catch it, as it also included actors which had appeared in "Game of Thrones." I was not disappointed. "Fortitude" is set in a Norwegian research station and takes us to a new world of both sci-fi and crime drama. If you haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil season one for you, but suffice so say Tucci does not reprise his role in season two.

Dennis Quaid replaces Tucci as the brand-name actor in "Fortitude" for season two and though an accomplished and experienced actor his nuance tends to be more hammer-like; nothing wrong with hammers, it’s almost impossible to build a house without them. In this case, however, the house was already built so I was concerned maybe the wrong tool had been chosen to continue the build.
Not so much. Quaid does a good job for the role created and "Fortitude" keeps you on the edge of your chair the entire season, which I just binged. This season is a little grittier, which is to say the body count is higher — and if you’re wondering how the shower scene in "Psycho" would be shot today, the answer is in season two of "Fortitude." 
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You don’t need to have watched season one to watch season two. Tucci’s cop role is gone; Quaid’s role is a struggling fisherman; Richard Dormer is the sheriff who’s missing but shows up in episode one; Sofie Grabol is the governor about to fired; and Parminder Nagra is a research scientist. About these actors… they are all superb. Dormer was in "Game of Thrones;" Grabol was lead in the Danish original version of "The Killing;" and Nagra has done extended roles on "ER" and "Blacklist."
All in, Tucci or no, season two of "Fortitude" is worth the watch. If you got the grit!