The Capture
The title of the show makes more sense having seen the first episode. The use of ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’ for the trailer made me think that was the title, and then I kept hearing it as 'The Catcher'. Anyway, I caught up with it yesterday.
1.1 What Happens in Hellmand
First thought once we’d been introduced to the main characters: they cast this for the cheekbones. (Not that they’re bad actors either!) So, this show comes weighted with a ‘the new Bodyguard’ label, partly justified by the main male protagonist - an (ex) soldier not handling his return to civvy street well, although that’s mostly because he seems to be continually accused of crimes he didn’t do thanks to dodgy footage, with a cute child and a strained relationship with her mother - and the sexiness and the twists and turns. Too early to say if it will live up to that label, which kind of demands it lives up to the most successful hit of the last few years!
There were plenty of pointed shots of CCTV cameras, and the initial victory over the helmet cam ‘evidence’ cautioned us to be wary of what we see. It all drew me in, with the partial in media res opening, then the introduction to innocent Sean Emory (Callum Turner being compelling) which messed with our assumptions by holding back on the winning defence. We then saw Sean didn’t have a good hold on his temper, which, hey, he had provocation, but he also had been trained to fight. We’re left to presume he’s also innocent of the second crime, if it was a crime, of attacking and abducting his former barrister that he was just starting something with. Despite the end of his ‘flashback’, I’m dismissing Rachel’s initial theory of disassociation because it’s a first theory.
But it seems like a lot of effort to fake live footage of that - is it because of her cases? Because the appeal made other convictions unsafe? And what did actually happen to her body?
As with any show like this, what I was constantly wondering was if the solution to the mystery will hold together.
We also met Rachel (not quite what Robin Ellacott would be like as a copper). Holliday Grainger conveyed her intelligence well. Newly promoted/transferred to homicide, where most cops resent her for being a fast-tracked graduate who hasn’t come through the ranks, it seemed to me that her past experience being in well-resourced anti-terrorism was more of a problem. She clocked Emory’s disbelief at the footage.
But! She has also been having an affair with her old boss (I count Ben Miles as one of the cheekbones), so that’s the personal life in a mess tickbox checked.
So far, then, it seems a gripping story, using all that surveillance we have in the UK (aren’t we a world leader in this? How many bored operators have seen me make a Mirandaesque idiot of myself in public spaces?) and mixing in questions about over-reliance on footage that may not be as accurate it appears - timely. By emphasising the thriller aspect and the characters, it may have more to say about the state of the nation than more ponderous (cough Collateral) dramas.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/399144.html.
1.1 What Happens in Hellmand
First thought once we’d been introduced to the main characters: they cast this for the cheekbones. (Not that they’re bad actors either!) So, this show comes weighted with a ‘the new Bodyguard’ label, partly justified by the main male protagonist - an (ex) soldier not handling his return to civvy street well, although that’s mostly because he seems to be continually accused of crimes he didn’t do thanks to dodgy footage, with a cute child and a strained relationship with her mother - and the sexiness and the twists and turns. Too early to say if it will live up to that label, which kind of demands it lives up to the most successful hit of the last few years!
There were plenty of pointed shots of CCTV cameras, and the initial victory over the helmet cam ‘evidence’ cautioned us to be wary of what we see. It all drew me in, with the partial in media res opening, then the introduction to innocent Sean Emory (Callum Turner being compelling) which messed with our assumptions by holding back on the winning defence. We then saw Sean didn’t have a good hold on his temper, which, hey, he had provocation, but he also had been trained to fight. We’re left to presume he’s also innocent of the second crime, if it was a crime, of attacking and abducting his former barrister that he was just starting something with. Despite the end of his ‘flashback’, I’m dismissing Rachel’s initial theory of disassociation because it’s a first theory.
But it seems like a lot of effort to fake live footage of that - is it because of her cases? Because the appeal made other convictions unsafe? And what did actually happen to her body?
As with any show like this, what I was constantly wondering was if the solution to the mystery will hold together.
We also met Rachel (not quite what Robin Ellacott would be like as a copper). Holliday Grainger conveyed her intelligence well. Newly promoted/transferred to homicide, where most cops resent her for being a fast-tracked graduate who hasn’t come through the ranks, it seemed to me that her past experience being in well-resourced anti-terrorism was more of a problem. She clocked Emory’s disbelief at the footage.
But! She has also been having an affair with her old boss (I count Ben Miles as one of the cheekbones), so that’s the personal life in a mess tickbox checked.
So far, then, it seems a gripping story, using all that surveillance we have in the UK (aren’t we a world leader in this? How many bored operators have seen me make a Mirandaesque idiot of myself in public spaces?) and mixing in questions about over-reliance on footage that may not be as accurate it appears - timely. By emphasising the thriller aspect and the characters, it may have more to say about the state of the nation than more ponderous (cough Collateral) dramas.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/399144.html.