Conversations With Friends recap: Slowburn frustrations for all involved  

Alison Oliver is great again, but episodes nine and ten of Conversations With Friends required plenty of patience 

Alison Oliver in Conversations With Friends on RTÉ One. Pictures: Anna Lenihan

Sometimes while watching Conversations With Friends, it feels like I’ve fallen into a screen-induced wormhole where the laws of time and physics mean nothing. NOTHING. In real-time, it’s a half-hour, but going by my Theory of Drawnoutedness (patent pending) and my wax regrowth, episode nine uses up three weeks’ worth of my lifeforce. Tectonic plates move faster.

I don’t want to be a smart alec about it though, because once again Cork actress Alison Oliver turns in a nuanced performance, as her character Frances spends most of this instalment stupified by pain — physically from her period and emotionally tortured over Nick.