River (2015)

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Siskoid
Somewhere between Sherlock and Broadchurch is the 6-part police/mystery series River, about detective John River (played with presence by Stellan Skarsgård, but the casting will have you asking how a Swede can have that name) getting through case work while reeling from the murder of his partner, played by Nicola Walker (who I fell in love with in Spooks and would watch in anything). Cuz yeah, she's present. The twist in this tale is that River hallucinates the ghosts of victims, a sort of profiling that helps him uncover the truth. Of course, everyone thinks he's crazy because he actively talks to them. The show looks very slick, is well acted, and presents a complex mystery in the death of Walker's character - highlighting how other people are technically mysteries to us, absent any crime to solve - but as with any long-running mystery, there's always the danger of having a weak solution that frustrates the invested viewer and undoes a lot of the previous good. That happened in Broadchurch Season 1, and I think it happens here. Not as egregiously, but still. At least the mini-series has closure and on a psychological level, does have a satisfying ending. 6 years 1 month ago