Patience on Channel 4

New series of Astrid m In Paris stated on channel 4 a couple of weeks ago for anyone interested :-)

I've not watched the Astrid one, but I didn't find the ending of Patience annoying or disapointing, I was glad, because it means she'll be back and I quite enjoyed hanging out with her every week. Hopefully the programe will have enough traction now for "Patience" to develop and show us more autistic traits, things that are normal for us, but weird to NT's, also how NT's relate to us, I think that was one of the programes strengths and I hope it makes NT viewers think about how they react around us.

Bit behind with this thread, but half way through the many episodes of Astrid and have also watched Patience. Much prefer the Astrid series. Weirdly, with Patience I found her relatable at the beginning and then it seemed like her autism disappeared (apart from in isolated instances I like at the pub). Appreciate that we all probably appear like that if we manage to feel more comfortable in a situation, but Astrid resonates with me much more. Anyway, I know there’s no one experience and it’s just fiction but the best thing about is that my NT partner has enjoyed watching it with me.

I've watched the first two episodes so far and enjoyed it. I particularly liked the fact that Patience has a mouse mat with a picture of a squirrel on it - reminded me of a certain thread on this forum

I know there's usually a cliffhanger but I found this one particularly difficult in my "need" to know that unknown piece of information. But yes I hate if a show if left unfinished. I read that Patience has already been renewed for season 2 so I hope that's true.

Yes, the cliffhanger! Annoying, but most shows do this these days. The extra annoying thing is when they do that but the show doesn't get renewed.

Pixiefox, I think you would make an ace movie critic.  I enjoyed reading your analysis.  Thank you.

Lotus said:

I would have emailed Bea with my findings and asked her if she wished to see the other files.

Yep...me too.....I only mention this because of my comment below (and because I am not averse to breaking "rules")....I like BALANCE!

Lotus said:

But that was not protocol and autistic people are usually rule followers

I think that is about as true as "autistic people usually can't make eye contact"?

I’ve been rewatching Astrid because of Patience and I just watched episode 4 of series 2.

There’s a scene where she’s becoming overwhelmed in a room full of people talking and background noise and she puts her ear defenders on and the noise cuts away. I felt the tension drain out of me when the noise stopped. It was such a small thing but it was so well executed.

Little things like this have the potential to increase awareness of what being autistic is really like.

I've now finished it. Am I the only one that couldn't cope with the end? Like I need to know what it was. It will consume so many of my thoughts.

Thanks for sharing your analysis.  Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently springs to mind too.  Although maybe I'm just grabbing all the best players to be in our team :-)  Thanks for the link.  Sherlock Holmes - brings to mind a rude joke that has the punch line "lemon-entry my Dear Watson" I have explored different reasoning models for a while too  - Holmes et al seem to me to incorporate hypothetico-deductive reasoning (testing the lamp smoke for neuro-toxins in one that I recall), pattern recognition (the size and roughness of hands on a pawn-broker to reveal that has not been their sole profession) and maybe eventually being able to reach outside the box to incorporate them into a solution for the puzzle.  The effort that the characters put into solving the puzzle seems to me to be a stand out.  Maybe this is a skill that is developed by having to solve the puzzle of the normal world as experienced by them? For me it's the abstract reasoning that stands out - being able to avoid the problems that relying on "Ive seen this before" into what is there here that I haven't seen (but have in a different way).  Maybe why jokes are fun too :-)  My wife suggested a couple of names for characters this morning - Dr Trine and Dr Toring. All the best and I look forward to reading further from you :-) 

I will probably watch the French Astrid at some point, but I do love Patience. Some of the actual plots are whacky, but I realised after the particularly over the top episode 4, that I am now watching for the characters.

As Martyn is maybe saying below, it's good that she's not portrayed as a superhero.

I'm currently researching the 'autistic detective trope' as part of my PhD project (the other part is me writing a novel with an autistic amateur detective), so I was particularly interested in seeing how it was handled in Patience and how it might have differed to Astrid.

Sherlock has been mentioned here, and the roots of the autistic detective trope lie with Sherlock Holmes being retrospectively diagnosed as having Aspergers in the 1990s. He's always been a character that invites diagnoses through the narrative voice of Dr Watson who characterises him as a 'cold-blooded enigma' and a 'mystery to be solved.' In the 1980s, it was quite popular to read Holmes as being bipolar, which I think had something to do with Jeremy Brett, the actor who played him in the 80s/90s TV series himself being bipolar. By the time of Sherlock and the more recent Robert Downey Jr films, his autism was firmly established but arguably the way it was portrayed was actually quite damaging in terms of public perception of autism - it again featured the idea that autistic people are cold, unemotional, almost robotic. 

There's a really good article by the autistic scholar Sonya Freeman Loftis exploring the trope and how it works in wider culture;

The Autistic Detective: Sherlock Holmes and his Legacy | Disability Studies Quarterly

I think Astrid and now Patience have moved the trope on a little, it's not something to be guessed at - it's stated from the beginning, and the characters are shown with a range of abilities and challenges rather than being superhuman. The introduction of the autism support group can feel a bit clunky but it's the first time I think 'autistic gaze' has been introduced as a discreet feature, giving space for autistic perspectives. Astrid/Patience are not unemotional superheroes, they feel more human, make mistakes, and contribute to a collective crime solving effort.

Sherlock always said he was a 'high-functioning sociopath'. It was other characters who decided he was 'a bit Aspergers' and they used it in a disparaging sense to mean emotional coldness. 

I think the French series is altogether slicker and 'classier'. I am very fond of Patience though, and Ella Maisy Purvis does a great job. I think there's something to be said for the differences between the two. It would have been very easy to just completely replicate the French series in a UK setting, but Patience feels very British. I've found it quite emotional to watch - I used to live in York, and there's so much about Patience's mannerisms and behaviours that match my own. It all feels very personal and close to home. 

hehe _ i just smiled as I appreciated your agreement and didn't know what else to do :-)  no personal reference intended - I do find that funny tho'!  all the best :-)

For avoidance of doubt, that was not an attempt to describe myself as 'adorable'

:-)

I agree. I liked Patience but Astrid is just better written and is more entertaining. And Astrid herself is absolutely adorable. At first I saw it as an exaggeration of autism but then I began to realise how much of myself I see in her.