T E L E V I S I O N / Glue 101

“Tell you what? He had brown hair, fair skin, liked chicken for dinner, sausages sometimes. Is that what you want to know?” The series name alone makes you hesitate. Glue? The first thing I thought of when I heard it a few days before the show even premiered was: are we supposed to be thinking the actual glue product? You know, the white sticky stuff that you’d spread all over your hands and wait to dry and peel off to see what skin would look like? The obvious route would be bonds, things that connect other things together—but it’s also easily breakable. I came in to the show knowing basically nothing of what the show was about except that it was new and on E4, and I’ve left the episode with a sense of piqued interest and a new on screen crush. As a brief synopsis for those of you who haven’t heard of the show, Glue is about a group of kids in the countryside experiencing a traumatic event—one of their friends being murdered. No one knows who did it, but it’s heavily implied that it’s someone within the gang. If you need a further run down of the basic essence of the series, think Skins with murder. You get your drugs, your sex, and your wild teenage angst. But what Glue offers and what Skins really didn’t is this new inclusion of Romani culture. Although I don’t live in the UK (though I will in the future!!!), I can assume that like those here in the states, these people are often looked down upon. The public perception of them are simply what stereotypes are offered (gypsys, thieves, uneducated, etc). What Glue includes and seems to be executing well from my opinion, is this culture’s side of the story. What the English view as backwards, they view as practical for their own lives. Though the nude opening scene seemed quite sudden, I didn’t mind it. For once, it seems, there is a show that has more male nudity than female or at least, it was equal rather than lots of boobs hanging left and right in other shows (sideyeing you, Game of Thrones). The writing seemed interesting and engaging. As a sucker for aesthetic shots, the cinematography kept me watching. There were so many shots that were so pleasing to the eye in its pastel/rural way. The pilot of the show has definitely left me with a curiosity to see how the murder will unfold and how well it will be executed in terms of finding the killer and learning the backstory of each character in a way that gives them each the nuances and complexities they need. I await the second episode with a subdued excitement. Plus, Callum Turner, aka Eli Bray on the show, is a fresh face with literally (read that in Rob Lowe’s voice) razor sharp cheekbones and a hair that d e m a n d s to have fingers run through them. Just fyi. Ratings: ★★★☆☆ G L U E | Mondays, 10PM → E4