Prime Suspect 2 (TV Mini Series) Operation Nadine: Part 1 (1992) User Reviews

Complexities of Racism

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 23 October 2015]

Two things are at work in this episode. The first is the case of a highly decomposed body of a young woman, found in the garden outside a home. The second has to do with the black Caribbean people who feel the police have no interest in them or their problems. They feel they are singled out constantly (sound at all familiar?). Tennison, Helen Mirren's detective character, has been having a tryst with a tall handsome black man. They eventually break up, but when relations between the black and white culture go stale, Inspector Oswald is brought into the precinct. This sets up incredible tension where Tennison becomes quite unfair and paranoid. Her humanness is an important part of her character. She is many-dimensional. Eventually, forensics are able to determine the identity of the young woman. Major focus is on a man who owned the house and rented a basement apartment to a woman. He is a racist and had come into conflict with a neighboring black family. He is also extremely ill and has very little time left. We find that like Tennison's character, the black man now working, is treated to all kinds of prejudicial treatment ("keeping him in his place," so to speak). There are numerous unanswered questions as the episode concludes.

Reminiscent of Borgen

[Warin_West-El · 7/10 · 27 March 2023]

This episode is reminiscent of the first episode of Borgen Season 3. Out of the blue the husband is gone and replaced by a new boyfriend that we have not been introduced to.

The story is pretty canned. We're supposed to believe there is racial tension in the air. Trying to emphasize this point, the writers focus on the bigotry of one detective.

Jane and her new boyfriend have two very stilted spats. In both cases the boyfriend walks out when what they're supposedly arguing about is trivial at best. It plays out as conflict fabricated by the writers to advance the drama by sowing division.

These are two people in an interracial relationship. It's unrealistic to think real people would be so trivial in that circumstance. I'm interested to see where this goes.