LIAR, Liar

Article first published as TV Review: LIAR on Seat42F.

Sundance has a new drama premiering tonight called LIAR. It’s actually a co-British program that is being aired here on Sundance at the same time it’s still running across the pond, albeit viewers in the UK are a few weeks ahead of us in the story. In LIAR, schoolteacher Laura Nielson accuses surgeon Andrew Earlham of rape after a first date. The audience is left to wonder which one of them is telling the truth as Andrew insists the intercourse was consensual, and Laura apparently finds forged evidence. So it’s a psychological thriller mystery.

The lead performers, Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey) as Laura and Ioan Gruffudd (Forever) as Andrew, are excellent. We’ve seen Froggatt play a rape victim before and Gruffudd do creepy and mysterious, so they do feel very familiar in the parts. But there’s also new ground here, with the slow pacing and the surprise reveals, each sticking very firmly to their own version of events. For much of the first hour, I wavered back and forth over who was telling the truth.

I do think society influences our impressions and how each person would approach this. My instinct is to trust the woman making the accusation, and others will, too, although some will fall on the other side, especially when Laura’s mental stability is called into question. Part of the value of LIAR is making us think about our preconceived notions and evaluate them, as well as call attention to some of the complex issues and difficulty building a case in situations like this. For that, it is invaluable.

In terms of storytelling, I’m not sure about this show yet. By the end of hour one, I felt like I had a plenty good idea of what happened, and was no longer on the fence. Reading a review of hour three, which aired this week in Britain, it seems viewers that far along are all falling on one side. Though, I expect there are still some twists to come that may shift things back the other way, or further explain what’s been revealed. This is the kind of thing you’d really have to watch all six parts of before deciding if the tale was well done or not, the conclusion mattering as much as the journey.

There are some very positive signs, besides the excellent acting. For one, the series is by Harry and Jack Williams, the brains behind The Missing, another excellent, twisty thriller. For another, the production is high quality, looking fantastic and grounded, paced pretty good, no obvious plot holes, fine scoring, terrific directing, all pluses. Some of the characters have major possibility, like Andrew’s son, who is Laura’s student, and Laura’s ex-boyfriend who is not what he initially seems. The supporting cast, including Zoe Tapper (Mr. Selfridge), Warren Brown (Luther), Shelley Conn (Terra Nova), Richie Campbell (Eve), Jamie Flatters (So Awkward), and Danny Webb (Humans), seem solid, too.

On the negative side is how every character seems to have their secrets, not just the leads. This can be all right, and may still be here. But other shows have fallen into the trap of making every single other person the leads cross paths with too shady or untrustworthy. I hope LIAR doesn’t fall into that trap. I don’t think it will, despite a couple things that seem a bit forced in the premiere, but that’s something to be careful with.

Having only seen a single installment, I am willing to tentatively recommend it. My feeling is that it will be worth your time, although, as I’ve cautioned, I can’t guarantee it at this stage. However, if you like a good British mystery-thriller, this will probably be right up your alley, and the pilot is already better than most others in the genre I’ve seen.

LIAR airs tonight at 10 ET on Sundance.

LUTHER 3 Review

Article first published as LUTHER 3 Review on TheTVKing.

The BBC's Luther recently returned for a third (and final) series on BBC America and on DVD. The show follows a cop with dubious morals named Luther (Idris Elba), the killer he couldn't catch whom he now has a strange bond with, Alice (Ruth Wilson), and the various cases Luther is assigned to. Series 3 adds a fetishist murderer, a vigilante, and even the betrayal of members of Luther's own team to the mix.

The main draw of Luther always has been and always will be Luther himself. Elba captures the nuances of a man on the edge who can never find happiness brilliantly. Luther is tempted by many bad things, often at the hands of Alice, yet he always manages to come out ahead, even if only marginally so. He throws himself into his work more so than just about any detective on TV (and that's saying something!), which keeps him apart from any long-term romantic entanglements, though he does make a go this year with Mary Day (Sienna Guillory). And he's always near the brink of madness, seen in Elba's eyes, and other subtle bits Elba does so well, from time to time.

This personality is reflected in the tone of the show. It verges into the horror genre at times, bloody and scary. A man like Luther exists in a violent world, and Luther does not shy away from that, making Series 3 perhaps more intense than the first two. Dread is Luther's closest companion, as much a part of the show as the characters themselves.

Luther is sort of an anti-hero. While he is a cop, and so on the right side of the law, he often skirts over the line. His tormented personality keeps him from being noble sometimes, and he succumbs to his weaknesses far more than one in his position is expected to. He isn't anyone's role model, and perhaps deserves to be locked up himself, after all he's done and whom he associates with.  That outcome might be a good deal better for him than living with his darkness any longer, though that would leave the streets less safe for everyone else. It's this edge that makes the character unique and interesting.

And Luther might just be taken down. In Series 3, an out-of-retirement investigator named George Stark (David O'Hara, The Departed) gets on Luther's case, working tirelessly to bring Luther to justice. With everything else Luther must contend with, keeping an eye out behind him is not convenient. But it does add some more delicious tension to the installments.

The bond between Luther and Alice is a strange one, but highly satisfying for the viewer. We know Alice is wicked, we know she has committed some serious crimes. Yet, it's hard to root for her to get caught because that would limit her interaction with Luther, one of the strongest elements of the show. I don't know that I want them together romantically, if only because that just might destroy the last of Luther's soul, rather than save him. But I do enjoy seeing them in the games they play, which we unfortunately get less of in Series 3 than in the past.

The other characters in Luther are great, too, but none of them get all that much to do. This is solidly Luther's show, and so while we see some amazing glimpses of Justin Ripley (Warren Brown), Martin Schenk (Dermot Crowley), Benny Silver (Michael Smiley), Erin Grey (Nikki Amuka-Bird), and others, none of them get their own serious subplots.

Series 3 more or less picks up where Series 2 left off, with implications from those events echoing into this new batch of episodes. Characters are shuffled and replaced in different positions, and a couple of loose ends are tied up. Yet, I still wished for just a hair more of a serial nature to this drama, as it does get a little repetitive as it goes on, like American cop procedurals are wont to do. It also skirts realism a bit, but the performances are more than enough to make up for these drawbacks and keep the show worth watching.

Sadly, this two-disc DVD release has only a single extra, a Making Of featurette. One would love to get into the heads of the star and the creator, but sadly, this is not to be, at least not here.

Luther Series 3 is available now.

What dark thoughts dwell Inside Men

BBC America presents the four part series INSIDE MEN. This limited run show tells the story of a robbery, with a concentration on the motivations and actions of three men who work on the inside.

For those who enjoy The Killing, Luther, or other intelligent crime dramas, but worry about the ending being drawn out or left unsolved, fear not. INSIDE MEN is only designed as a four part run, and no more will be made. The length of roughly two feature films, this design allows for a deeper exploration of characters than most movies, but is still short enough to satisfy the very impatient.

As the story begins in September, John (Steven Mackintosh, Luther) is held at gunpoint in the secure money depot he is manager of by a bunch of masked men. John leads the robbers to the loot, with security guard Chris (Ashley Walters, Outcasts) getting shot along the way. It seems like the villains get want they want, and poor John and Chris are left behind with the rest of the staff, most locked in the vault.

But that's not the entire story. As the first episode progresses, viewers flash back to January. Chris falls for a young woman named Dita (Leila Mimmack, Married Single Other) who swipes a bill from the facility, costing her the job. Chris and Dita begin running a con on another company, but Dita can only manage to keep the job for a little while, not long enough to solve their money problems or ambition.

Meanwhile, a money mover for the company named Marcus (Warren Brown, Luther) owes some people some dough. He helps Chris fence a few articles of clothing, and when that runs dry, comes up with a plan to fleece cash from their employer. It sounds like an achievable feat to Chris, and the two begin their plot.

Also running through the episode are scenes of John after the attack, presumably being moved with his wife (Nicola Walker, MI-5) and daughter to safety. John seems haunted by the events of the crime, and would not like to stick around town, especially considering that the bad guys know where he lives, having held his family hostage as the thievery went down.

I will not spoil the twist ending of the first hour, for those viewers who have not seen it yet. Suffice it to say, John, Chris, and Marcus are connected in many ways, and will soon be learning not only what the others are capable of, but how far they themselves are willing to go. Will the perpetrators be brought to justice? Or will they get away? Is that even important, in the end? INSIDE MEN is a character study piece, with relatable, realistic people in a situation that many have thought about, but few have dared to act on.

INSIDE MEN is intense and gripping. The acting, much of the cast veterans of the gritty British drama scene, are amazing, really selling the parts, but avoiding overacting. The story is interestingly plotted, and though it jumps around in time a bit, is relatively simply to follow. The pacing is good, too, unspooling the mystery slowly enough to dwell on pieces of it, rather than rushing it along, but fast enough to build excitement and tension. In short, INSIDE MEN will probably be another great entry into the genre.

It's a shame that INSIDE MEN only made four episodes, and does not intend to make more. After only a single hour, there is definitely enough draw to really hook viewers and make them fans. It's already clear that four installments will not be enough. And yet, it must be respected that the writer wants to tell a complete story. Maybe another cast could be put together for another series, in a kind of anthology?

INSIDE MEN airs Wednesdays at 10 PM ET on BBC America.

Luther 2 takes things to the next level

BBC's Luther ends its first series on an incredibly dark note, with Detective John Luther (Idris Elba, The Wire, The Office) having been betrayed by his best friend and devastated by the murder of his wife, Zoe.

As series two, which consists of four hours split into two stories, begins, Luther has been wasting away working cold cases. He is given the chance to come back to investigate current crimes, but with his old unit gone, he will now serve under Martin Schenk (Dermot Crowley, Raw, Bleak House), a former police complaints officer who, with good reason, isn't sure that Luther should be a cop at all. Working with the ambitious Detective Erin Gray (Nikki Amuka-Bird, The Omen, Bad Girls), Luther also recruits his former partner, Justin Ripley (Warren Brown, Savage, Dead Set) to assist. The two, with their very different opinions on the titular detective, provide a nice counterbalance to each other.

Other familiar faces return, too. Mark North (Paul McGann), Zoe's guy at the time of her death, is now a good friend of Luther's. He even helps during a case. This is a strange reversal, as the two are so at odds previously, but it's nice that Luther retains McGann's talents in any fashion.

There is only a little bit of Alice (Ruth Wilson) in series 2, as she is in jail. One misses her presence, and it changes the tone of the series to have her out of the game. While it may be a relief to have a cold killer like her off the streets in real life, Luther needs her involvement to be the best show it can be. Hopefully, she will be freed be the time series 3 begins.

Luther, himself, is quite a bit different. He is still in a depressing place, occasionally contemplating suicide, but he no longer contributes to the darkness. In fact, he would like redemption for his wrongs. His conscience continues to bother him, but he's working to balance the scales in his favor. He may still be grieving, but he is finally moving on from the events of the first episode, and that's a good sign.

Luckily, Luther doesn't get much chance to dwell in his sadness, because there are two strings of killings that must be stopped in Luther 2. The first is done by a serial murderer who thrives on causing fear. He is played by the wonderful Lee Ingleby (White Heat, Inspector George Gently). The second villain is more elusive, and less showy. It takes all of Luther's considerable skill to take on these two criminals.

Elba is the heart of the series, and always will be. He shines brilliantly in this second batch of episodes, taking a character he already soars with, and adding new layers and depths. The accolades continue to pour in for his performance, and every one of them is deserved.

The sole fault with this release is the lack of extras. At least the first series boasted one, while Luther 2 has none. It is a great show, one that will keep viewers on the edge of their seats. But it would be nice if some behind the scenes information was given, letting fans take a peek into how the show is made. Instead, the episodes are expected to stand alone.

Which isn't necessarily a terrible thing. After all, Luther is one of BBC America's most popular programs for a reason. It has complex, intelligent characters and stories, and is populated with some great actors delivering some truly impressive work. So if any gritty crime drama wants to stand alone, with no bonus features to support it, then Luther is the one to do so.

Buy Luther 2, on DVD now.

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