Season 1 - 10 episodes (2016 Sky1/2017 Netflix)
Created by: Harlan Coben
Starring: Tom Cullen, O.T. Fagbenle, Lee Ingleby, Sarah Solemani
Rating: TV-MA
Plot
Twenty years after Mark and his three young friends believed Mark's brother was killed, though never found, the supposedly dead brother's DNA is found at a crime scene. The four friends reunite to find the missing person.
Verdict
This British mystery provides a refreshing story. It's not another tale about a killer, but focuses on a missing boy and the lives impacted in the wake of that traumatic event. Thankfully it has a plausible conclusion and answers the questions surrounding the mystery, something other British, Netflix dramas haven't been able to manage.
The characters have been trying to reconcile the disappearance for years, and this new evidence stirs up all their old emotions. The conclusion leaves you with a moral question. Instead of a surprise twist that shocks, this question makes a lasting impact. Two wrongs don't make a right. but you can argue whether the events worked out better.
Watch it.
Review
This premiered in the UK in April 2016 before Netflix picked up distribution rights. A follow up eight part series The Four is in the works.
This series is written by best selling author Harlan Coben, with this being his first original television series venture. He has another series with Michael C. Hall coming to Netflix in 2018, Safe.
Episode 10 - The kids twenty years ago. |
Episode 1 - The kids today. |
A complex set of characters are living their own lives when a DNA evidence causes them to relive the past.While it can seem a bit contrived when all the pieces and characters matter and fit into the story perfectly, the intertwining stories never become confusing.
Episode 1 - One of the kids grew up to be a cop, convenient. |
The pilot was engrossing, but Netflix's British crime thrillers have started well and often devolved, read my Marcella review or my Paranoid review. Marcella left big questions unanswered and I quit caring about answers just a few episodes into Paranoid as it became less a crime procedural and more a soap opera. Thankfully The Five doesn't suffer the same fate.
It does become a bit too interconnected as everything ties to the case perfectly, but that's balanced with how personal the drama is. All of these characters have a stake in the disappearance whether one of them should have walked Jesse home or been nicer to him. The big question is how does Jesse's DNA turn up at a crime scene. Is he a criminal? Is it some kind of ploy?
Episode 2 - Watch out for one hit wonder music artists. |
Episode 3 |
No comments :
Post a Comment