The Escape Artist - Playing Football

Now we are getting somewhere. 

I'm sorry for my last week's review not being an awfully nice one. However, I wouldn't change a single world of it. Because all of it is true. I still think last week's episode was too much action/too many introductions to in-jokes and hints. And too little time to appreciate them. At the same time I'm pretty aware of that at least some of that stuff had to be there in part 1 in order to lie the grounds of making part 2 the well, not exactly masterpiece, but it still manages to be better than some of the other stuff presented right now on TV. And yet episode 1 saw too many hints hinting at too few actual surprises.

Nevertheless, this week we got the time to catch our breath between takes. Unlike last week we remembered that watching TV does not need to feel like running a marathon. 

We also got all the tiny references which were laid there to pick up last week. And this time we did not know their meaning but felt it too. A bit.

Like Will freaking out about Danny not coming home straight after school. And the fact that his son finds himself sitting next to his mum's murderer on the bus is not really helping teenagers to win an argument  about personal freedom... only in real life.

Wolstencroft also makes sure to tick off the 'add some emotion' box. Somehow, the moment when Will is repeatedly calling his wife's number only to listen to her voice on the answerphone was the most touching moment of the series so far.

And luckily, Maggie did not repeat Will's mistake of refusing Mr Foyle's handshake. 

We also got that green apple reference, and oh my dear, is Foyle having an affair with his witness? His attachment to her seems to get stuck on a professional basis, though. 

Then there were those hilarious scenes  at that Japanese restaurant in the mall, them talking about "football". Loved the illusions. Besides it seems that Will and his lawyer friends are going to get  some trouble because of that blond woman - what's her name. Talking about names... or rather about the loss of them. It seems I'm not the only one who is struggling with the names Wolstencroft has chosen for his characters. It's just a 3 episode series... not likely to get another season.  This means even the folks writing for the Guardian do feel OK referring to the characters using the actors' names. Admittedly, it's tempting.

And finally,  Wolstencroft also gives us a cliffhanger. Some sort of. After all, when you're exposed to the stuff written by the Mighty Moff your definition of  'a cliffhanger' dramatically changes. Well, not only that, I guess. But that's something for another post. 

So, given the fact that this episode is not written by the mastermind when it comes to frustrating cliffhangers, I guess Maggie doing what Will Burton did in episode number 1, and Foyle having not awfully terrible chances of getting away with it yet another time ATM, is as close to a cliffhanger in this series as things can get. 

Interestingly, the strange thing is, and I'm not sure if Wolstencroft has been aiming to achieving this effect, that one can easily imagine something like this happening in a real court. And by this I don't mean the still highly surrealistic situation of the actual case, but that in the end the one having the better lawyer/defender wins.

'The Escape Artist' - A Broken World

I have to admit the idea behind the plot is quite intriguing: There is this fantastic defender who helps winning a suspected criminal, Liam Foyle, his hopeless case. And then, somehow the criminal ends up killing his defender's wife. This alone is a really challenging (not to say unrealistic) set-up and if this had been produced in the US I'm sure FOX or BBC America would have made sure to make a whole American season out of it, which equals 24 episodes. Instead of 3.

And to be honest, in this case I'm not sure if the Americans had been that wrong. After all, the first part of this trilogy feels rather rushed. It feels exactly like the introduction of a book. You get the setting, you understand the action. And my dear, there is a lot of action going on. So you know what things mean to them, but you aren't given the time to feel it too. The story does not get the time to sink in. It does not get the time to do its grim sparkle.

If this would have been an American production I guess by the time Will Burton loses his wife, in episode 5, they would have made sure we sit there blinking back tears. And as the credits roll in, our brains would slowly start to kick in thinking what can be the motivation behind a deed like this? How can a denied handshake have such consequence?  This way, we only do the thinking.

Then again, maybe the rushed feeling is just one part of the actual problem. Somehow, the story does not feel right. In addition to the obvious lack of closure, it's not exactly helping that its plot is highly unrealistic: First of all, why should have Foyle never used his own computer to access those adult sites? He was living on his own, well, if we don't count the birds. He paid for the content. Why not access it as well ? Additionally, why on earth should Foyle's sick mind come up with the idea of killing Burton's wife? That refused handshake cannot have been such a big incentive... Why should he accept to go to jail for it? What's more, why should Maggie defend Foyle? Yes, Maggie may be the second best out there, but still, she and Will know each other, what's more, she was talking to his wife. Isn't there a paragraph saying something about a personal conflict? Or does this only apply to American doctors, lawyers and investigators? But the cherry on the imaginary cake of surrealistic situations is that Will's wife decides to spend that night at the cottage... I know these days couples do not talk. But how could she miss something was going on... Besides Will certainly knew about his wife's plans for the weekend. So why not mention that lunatic he had to defend at court the other day?

So  actually, I do not know why the world Wolsstencroft created for his series does not feel right. Is it really broken or is this just what one may call the result of lazy plotting?
 

All in all, this was an puzzling introduction. It's a pity that it wasn't a puzzling story as well.