You know how someone will try and convince you to watch their favourite television show and their unbridled enthusiasm is thrilling but their synopsis of the show is just really, really shit?

When The Fall was described to me as “a BBC crime drama set in Belfast”, I think I blacked out for a second, so few shits did I give. When said friend stuttered, “but it’s got a mad feminist agenda!” I damn near slapped her in the face, she was failing so hard.

The addition of X Files‘ Gillian Anderson to the argument and the series’ immediate availability on Australian Netflix however, quickly got me across the line (seriously, it doesn’t take much) and I watched that series so quick I think I single-handedly redefined the word ‘binge’. Blerg is delighted to report that The Fall is indeed worth pursuing, and the TV Gods recently agreed when they granted the series will return for a third season next year.

The Fall could be pegged as a run-of-the-mill serial killer show, but I have to admit that it’s female viewers are going to spot more to love in it’s approach than the way it masterfully leads into the next episode (it feels like it should be a Netflix exclusive in that regard). Anderson is a B.O.S.S. No two ways about it. And she is unapologetic in her approach to her work in which is is required to lead her male colleagues through a most treacherous run of events for the Belfast police. She is intensely feminine and a total ball buster. Basically, Anderson is TV gold. (We kind of forgot).

Stella Gibson is a boss

Fans of The Killing will sink their tentacles into The Fall immediately. They’re both hopefully one in a series of crime dramas that will see women grip their professional lives by the balls as their male colleagues wither and stumble around them. Let us all pause and give thanks for an exchange in Season One where Anderson’s character quickly corrects one of her colleagues when he suggests using the word “innocent” to describe recent victims – hitherto all professional and attractive brunettes- as Jezabel points out:

“Let’s not refer to them as innocent…What if he kills a prostitute next or a woman walking home drunk, late at night, in a short skirt? Will they be in some way less innocent, therefore less deserving? Culpable? The media loves to divide women into virgins and vamps, angels or whores. Let’s not encourage them.”

“Would you like to continue watching” Netflix asks. “Hell, to the yes”.

The Fall Seasons 1 and 2 are streaming now on Netflix Australia. Do it.