More Collateral
Feb. 20th, 2018 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessEpisode 2
Some new interactions between the characters we met previously and some new characters. And sometimes a crushing lack of subtlety. Why, hello sex pest soldier in authority! I suppose you haven’t been booted out for sexual harassment/assault/sexism/challenging authority/stalking/black hattery because you have a nose for mysterious phones. Or Hare is making a point about the army’s culture (in black marker pen). See also the security services guy, who was utterly odious, even if I get that you might need all the info he held in his head if everyone is claiming to be Syrian (a nuance I’m kicking myself for not picking up). Still, he was snotty, superior and inhumane, and probably wron.
I’d been a bit sniffy of Kip’s deputy in the previous episode, but was more so in this. Yes, he’d worked out the pizzeria was a front for drug dealing and why the saved delivery manboy had got beaten up, but he smugly saw the wood for the trees. However, by the time the card was exchanged, I was feeling that black marker pen was drawing arrows and underlining things three times, and felt mildly resentful.
I’ve already said that I’m coming towards the institutions of Ye Olde England (as depicted by London, which is not at all problematic, oh no) from a different angle. It seems to me as if Hare has a belief in good people gone wrong, and good people gone so wrong/arrogant that they’re bad.
But our killer is perhaps the most nuanced of the lot!? We followed her, learned she was getting harassed from her boss, was traumatised by witnessing her friend’s death (her shrink let her get away with major deflection on the golf), expressing itself in RAGE, and then she got blackmailed into sex. As for the killing, we got some tit-bits – it’s still unclear as to whether Abdullah was the target or not. Could be that his sister was telling the truth and the travel company in London is a front for traffickers. But then we’re also talking drug dealers.
The woman who sent him to his death felt a bit guilty and bumped into Jane, who doesn’t believe in objective truth (so, if we take that argument a little further, why SHOULD your girlfriend tell the police who she really is, where she really is and her impression about the killer’s gender? That was her truth when she was high as a kite.) But then Jane is messed up. So much so I noticed she didn’t ask how the poor girl took her tea (and I thought ‘that’s sloppy writing.’ But I guess it falls under the umbrella of procedure which Hare is dispensing with.)
I also felt hugely sorry for her mother, especially as we watched the beating up to death, when she’d been so close to home. The police bring bad luck, indeed.
Kip was good, though, if sacrificing her health and personal life a little for this case. All trusting her instincts and asking questions and daring to be good at her job and in charge. (That is still a big deal in a female character.) Somehow her colleague managed not to make a 'having a kip' pun when she woke her up at her desk. We had a little kick out of her meeting with John Simm’s character, and to my relief, we didn’t learn about more women he’d slept with.
My writing so far has been snarkier than I really felt about the episode. I maintain that some of the characters introduced were far from subtly drawn, and I wonder if the resolution will ultimately satisfy, but there were interesting developments.
Some new interactions between the characters we met previously and some new characters. And sometimes a crushing lack of subtlety. Why, hello sex pest soldier in authority! I suppose you haven’t been booted out for sexual harassment/assault/sexism/challenging authority/stalking/black hattery because you have a nose for mysterious phones. Or Hare is making a point about the army’s culture (in black marker pen). See also the security services guy, who was utterly odious, even if I get that you might need all the info he held in his head if everyone is claiming to be Syrian (a nuance I’m kicking myself for not picking up). Still, he was snotty, superior and inhumane, and probably wron.
I’d been a bit sniffy of Kip’s deputy in the previous episode, but was more so in this. Yes, he’d worked out the pizzeria was a front for drug dealing and why the saved delivery manboy had got beaten up, but he smugly saw the wood for the trees. However, by the time the card was exchanged, I was feeling that black marker pen was drawing arrows and underlining things three times, and felt mildly resentful.
I’ve already said that I’m coming towards the institutions of Ye Olde England (as depicted by London, which is not at all problematic, oh no) from a different angle. It seems to me as if Hare has a belief in good people gone wrong, and good people gone so wrong/arrogant that they’re bad.
But our killer is perhaps the most nuanced of the lot!? We followed her, learned she was getting harassed from her boss, was traumatised by witnessing her friend’s death (her shrink let her get away with major deflection on the golf), expressing itself in RAGE, and then she got blackmailed into sex. As for the killing, we got some tit-bits – it’s still unclear as to whether Abdullah was the target or not. Could be that his sister was telling the truth and the travel company in London is a front for traffickers. But then we’re also talking drug dealers.
The woman who sent him to his death felt a bit guilty and bumped into Jane, who doesn’t believe in objective truth (so, if we take that argument a little further, why SHOULD your girlfriend tell the police who she really is, where she really is and her impression about the killer’s gender? That was her truth when she was high as a kite.) But then Jane is messed up. So much so I noticed she didn’t ask how the poor girl took her tea (and I thought ‘that’s sloppy writing.’ But I guess it falls under the umbrella of procedure which Hare is dispensing with.)
I also felt hugely sorry for her mother, especially as we watched the beating up to death, when she’d been so close to home. The police bring bad luck, indeed.
Kip was good, though, if sacrificing her health and personal life a little for this case. All trusting her instincts and asking questions and daring to be good at her job and in charge. (That is still a big deal in a female character.) Somehow her colleague managed not to make a 'having a kip' pun when she woke her up at her desk. We had a little kick out of her meeting with John Simm’s character, and to my relief, we didn’t learn about more women he’d slept with.
My writing so far has been snarkier than I really felt about the episode. I maintain that some of the characters introduced were far from subtly drawn, and I wonder if the resolution will ultimately satisfy, but there were interesting developments.
