Season One Review: Max, the older brother, is a slippery affluent lawyer whose dubious practices and contacts eventually emerge. Younger brother, Jake, is an endearing but hopeless proprietor of a record shop that appears to be progressively failing. Driving home from a wedding one night, their car kills an old man who turns out to have terminal cancer. So, they cover up the accident, leaving the impression of natural death. All would probably be OK, but it turns out that there is something shonky about the dead man's niece, a couple of next door neighbours and, eventually a number of others with whom Max is directly or indirectly connected. Among Max's other, more ethical, connections are his sozzled PI, Kenny, who begins to cause more problems as he sobers up, and his wife, Claire, who begins to realize just how dodgy Max is when she has an affair with a woman connected to Max's business contacts.
Episode by episode, every apparent solution simply adds to Max's deepening crisis, with the final episode remaining uncertain till the virtual end. The penultimate scene, with most of the main characters dispersed around the street where the old man was killed, is a delightful camera pan from face to face and back to Max. Then, the very last scene is of Max's face with a series of shifting expressions right up to the final slight smile, with its suggestion that there may be a sequel. I see that that is in progress. One can only hope that it lives up to this one.
The characters are fascinating and well thought-out, the acting is wonderful. The themes of morality, brotherly relationships and the entanglements of different forms of guilt are deftly displayed but never overplayed. The funny cynical, deadpan utterances that come out of the characters' mouths from time to time are surprising and sometimes brilliant. Mark Bonnar is brilliant as Max, Jamie Sives a truly endearing Jake who has managed to hang on to his sense of ethics till early middle age. Amun Elliott plays Kenny beautifully. And Ellie Haddington, as Sheila, one of the neighbours, is a gift to the show. Along the way, pretty well everyone else involved in this dark little gem of a series does a great job.
Highly recommended.
A year later, SEASON TWO. Who had the not-bright idea of turning a brilliant black comedy into some kind of tragic redemption-cum-revenge tale??? The twists and turns of Season One become pointless rambling in Season Two, leaving you both puzzled and disappointed.
Will I watch Season Three, if it appears? Probably, because S1 was so good, but with trepidation.
Episode by episode, every apparent solution simply adds to Max's deepening crisis, with the final episode remaining uncertain till the virtual end. The penultimate scene, with most of the main characters dispersed around the street where the old man was killed, is a delightful camera pan from face to face and back to Max. Then, the very last scene is of Max's face with a series of shifting expressions right up to the final slight smile, with its suggestion that there may be a sequel. I see that that is in progress. One can only hope that it lives up to this one.
The characters are fascinating and well thought-out, the acting is wonderful. The themes of morality, brotherly relationships and the entanglements of different forms of guilt are deftly displayed but never overplayed. The funny cynical, deadpan utterances that come out of the characters' mouths from time to time are surprising and sometimes brilliant. Mark Bonnar is brilliant as Max, Jamie Sives a truly endearing Jake who has managed to hang on to his sense of ethics till early middle age. Amun Elliott plays Kenny beautifully. And Ellie Haddington, as Sheila, one of the neighbours, is a gift to the show. Along the way, pretty well everyone else involved in this dark little gem of a series does a great job.
Highly recommended.
A year later, SEASON TWO. Who had the not-bright idea of turning a brilliant black comedy into some kind of tragic redemption-cum-revenge tale??? The twists and turns of Season One become pointless rambling in Season Two, leaving you both puzzled and disappointed.
Will I watch Season Three, if it appears? Probably, because S1 was so good, but with trepidation.