Electric Dreams (TV Series) The Commuter (2017) User Reviews

The Commuter

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 22 October 2017]

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 intriguing story set in the present day

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 4 October 2017]

Ed works are the ticket office at Woking railway station; a rather routine job and when he goes home he has to deal with his teenage son who is prone to bouts of violence. The one day an attractive young woman asks him for a ticket to Macon Heights… a station that does not exist. He briefly turns round and when he looks back she is gone. He is so curious that a few days later he boards the train she said she intended to catch. At the time she stated it should arrive the doors open and several passengers jump off and walk across the fields to a town. Ed joins them. He finds the town to be idyllic and meets the woman again there. When he gets home things have changed; he no longer has a son. Has his visit to Macon Heights changed the world, has he returned to a different world and can he every return to the life he had before assuming he wants to?

After two stories that are set in the future, in very different worlds, this story feels more grounded in reality, at least initially. Timothy Spall really impresses as Ed, an everyman character, Tuppence Middleton is intriguing as Linda, the mystery woman who first alerts Ed to the existence of Macon Heights and Hayley Squires is solid as the waitress at the Macon Heights tea shop. The story unfolds in an interesting way and the creators picked their locations well; Woking seems to be a very ordinary commuter town and Poundbury, where the Macon Heights scenes were filmed, does have an almost unreal but idyllic look to it. The question of what happened during and after Ed's visit to Macon Heights was suitably mysterious; I formed an opinion as the story ended but wouldn't be surprised if others came to different conclusions; I might even think differently if I watched it again. Overall a very different episode that kept me interested.

Life Upside Down and Inside Out

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 21 January 2018]

This is remindful of existentialist drama. One the one had we continue to push that rock up the hill, knowing at least that it is about free will. The problem is that one needs to find happiness in the act. Ed has a son who is prone to violent behavior and this gives him great pause day after day. One day he is taken into another reality by being maneuvered to a town that is not supposed to exist. This town has been created for him and the decisions he makes there affect his "real" life, including the elimination of his son. When he returns to his home, he is filled with guilt but also with some relief. But then it dawns on him that his son is more than his violent behavior. He is connected to this man by more than his shortcomings. They share a love of music and when Sam, the son, is treated kindly he responds lovingly. Since he is a psychological mess, he can be highly dangerous. What transpires is the cravings of a man who needs to do right.

Train of thought

[Lejink · 7/10 · 19 October 2017]

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.

Interesting

[drpunkrock · 8/10 · 3 December 2019]

I like Twilight Zone and this episode has the same feeling to it. The actors are great and the story itself does not need a lot of fancy sets to be engaging. The down to earth way of the storytelling sits well with the whole concept of the episode. The idea could have taken a little farther but it is okay the way it is. Also the end is a little underwhelming but it works fine in the context of the whole episode.

Unusual and interesting

[simon-hunt-284-267592 · 7/10 · 2 October 2017]

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.

Even difficult choices are choices

[paulivo36 · 8/10 · 1 April 2018]

How touching. Even the difficult choices in life can be choices out of love.

An existentialists tale

[omendata · 6/10 · 1 October 2017]

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?

"Some of us have no choice but to need this place."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 3 February 2022]

'The Commuter' offers an interesting story having to do with choices one makes in life. Train station agent Ed (Timothy Spall) becomes intrigued with a young woman requesting a ticket to a town that he obviously knows doesn't exist. She appears to come and go at will, and when his curiosity is fully aroused, Ed decides to board the train in question on it's usual run, only to find that a number of travelers jump off at a particular location in a field, and make their way to the seemingly idyllic community of Mason Heights. On the second such journey, Ed returns home to find that it's as if his troubled and violence prone son doesn't exist. Although the mystery woman (Tuppence Middleton) does her best to convince Ed that he will enjoy an end to his mundane life and the problems he has if he makes Macon Heights a permanent home, his better judgment tells him that accepting the known, even with it's downside, is better than trading it for a life that forces him to surrender the memories and relationships of his current life. The outcome of this story stands in juxtaposition to a first season episode of The Twilight Zone titled 'A Stop at Willoughby', in which the protagonist, faced with a similar decision to make, fatefully decides to trade his life for an escape from his self imposed incarceration to status, money and a social climbing spouse. Both stories offer a compelling alternative that one might seriously entertain if that were possible, and the prospect of reaching either decision makes for thoughtful contemplation.

The Commuter

[bobcobb301 · 7/10 · 23 August 2018]

I am starting to notice a trend with this show. They gave us a really good premise and some incredible imagery as a man discovered a utopian world only for it to be not quite what he bargained for.

The ending was a little questionable though. Maybe from loving The Twilight Zone I expect a twist all the time, but this could have benefitted from one.

Addicted to the Ideal World

[dncorp · 7/10 · 2 October 2017]

There are those that are addicted to the Ideal World of the Town of Macon Heights that was never built.

Ed Jacobson a British Railroad Worker has a terrible life, his Son, Sam, has outbursts of uncontrolled violence, this only makes his relationship with his Wife Mary even more difficult.

The Daughter of the Person that was going to build Macon Heights gives Ed Jacobson a choice of an Alternate Future where he is Happy, or the Life that he currently has.

This kind of reminds me of the hidden Town of Atlas Shrugged 2, or some kind of Shangri La an Earthly Paradise, or so things seem, as some flaws are later revealed to Ed Jacobson by some of the Residents.

[6.5] Good cycle for some

[cjonesas · 6/10 · 9 September 2021]

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