Injustice

Similar to Scandinavian crime thrillers, the British ones are also the ones I try to see as soon/much as possible. Some are great, others good, but never disappointing or causing blah! feelings.

Injustice has an unusual number of episodes - 5 - and is a fair mind- twister, where events and destinies intertwine and attitudes and opinions go back into decades before. True, not all characters and scenes are of equal importance and credibility (e.g. DI Mark Wenborn), and some crucial points were revealed too far, but James Purefoy's performance in particular and skilfully captured spirit provide the series with suitable and thrilling background. Unless you are used to the model "one case per episode", you can definitely obtain good memories from the one in question.

Referring to the final episode, one could have suspected the following season, but "so far - not good".

If I had given up because it was a tiny bit slower than the pace I was expecting up until about 3/4 of the way through the first episode, I'd have missed some fantastic entertainment. It was probably only slow to me because I'd just finished watching the movie about Cleveland mobster, Danny Greene, so my pulse was still pounding a bit. (I tend to really like biographical stories). This is a great story full of some really unexpected twists and very real and flawed characters who just pull you into the story even more. I loved it. The actors are not known to me --I'm in western Canada-- but that doesn't mean anything, because I usually forget the actors and only remember their characters if they've done a good job (plus I'm kind of ditzy with names). And they did an incredible job. If it were a regular TV show, I'd probably go and get cable again (I mostly rely on books and movies lately). Thank you to my friend, KJ, for insisting I watch it.

This is a slow moving series that will reward the viewers if they can get past the first episode. That episode does little to draw the viewer into the story since it is mainly a series of flash backs that offer little explanation about their purpose, the characters, or the plot. It seems to represent just the perspective of the Director as to only what he thinks viewers need to know at that moment in time. It almost resulted in my discontinuing to watch half way through that episode. I'm glad I stuck with it! The first episode just has too many unknowns for viewers to engage, start to build or understand the character connections, and the nature of the plot itself. It's a bit like a slow weave that has to go through a number of rows before one sees the pattern emerge. However, it is quite clever....just not for everyone!

Anthony Horowitz (Foyle's War, etc) is one of the best tv crime and mystery writers the UK has, and despite this not being one of his better programs, it's still very much worth watching. The problems are in the plotting: it could have been a full hour less and there's too much foreshadowing of the final scenes, which are far too predicable. But still, it's a solid show and while James Purefoy is, as always, terrific, it's Charlie Creed-Miles who steals the show in a highly unsympathetic role.

Although Horowitz created this series, I swear I saw the ghost of Hitchcock pacing in the background. Eerily, his prints hoovered just off the pages of script, evident in pacing, tone and tenor and I wonder if the honourable he and Mr. Horowitz wrote the denouement in one mind.

Yes, Purefoy (Travers) was excellent as a the subdued, yet stalk-on rigorous attorney, eying both the prosecution and his client throughout the trial. Moreover, the flashbacks of life before rural Suffolk, as well as the choppy shots of the murder of Spaull, were done in a coherent, easy manner with which to keep pace. The insinuations of a 'breakdown' in Travers' past was another great possible portent of pitiful prospects that sent frissons up my spine. Was he going to fall apart and go on a spree, will it come off short, constrained by the so-called British sangfroid? And again my thoughts returned to Hitch, who could have only contributed to this series through the breath of his spirit and his lasting influence on a talented Horowitz. Hitch was admittedly afraid of many things, in fact, he once said "The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them."

The support actors were brilliant! Dervla Kirwan is always spot-on. Although I have never watched Charlie Creed-Miles before, I can honestly say, I just hated him in such a good way! Can't wait to see him in something else.

In conclusion, this is a great UK miniseries with 5 episodes that keep one interested and, I would say, entertained. Give it a watch, you'll have no regrets.