Some shows are easy to watch even if you are a restricted viewer. They are shown on television and all you need do is park yourself on your sofa, with a cuppa perhaps, and a bite to eat, and enjoy the view on the small(ish) silver screen in front of you.
Mind you, if the show is The Shadow Line, it might be wise to take great care when you choose to sip your tea, and like many of the characters you may not even have a chance to take that bite to eat, before a shocking moment descends on you. Happily in the viewer’s case the result is probably not death. For the characters there’s a high chance it might be!
This is a compelling and bizarre thriller with a vast multitude of thrilling moments in addition to very many hysterically funny moments also, some intended by the writer, (producer and director), Hugo Blick and others possibly unintentional. For me the greatest comedy was provided by Rafe Spall as baby-faced psychopath Jay Wratten, nephew of drug baron Harvey Wratten, whose murder sets the whole story and investigation by both criminals and police off. Jay was terrifying and funny at the same time, delivering lines, such as that accusing a fellow character of comitting a ‘naughty tackle’, superbly and later telling the story of a sportsman inviting people to ‘shoot him’ if he returned to his sport. Jay announces if the man had said that to him he would have shot him. And we know he would and with glee, and what that also means for anyone who does not leave his ‘sport’ when they have said they would. In a scene chasing another character his running gait provides some moments of light relief in the midst of high tension. He loves to torture; beware all humans and cats! The moment he, or Stephen Rea’s mysterious Gatehouse, appear on screen we feel very wary. That said Gatehouse is far less obvious as someone of whom to be afraid; he is still, monotone and in perfect control. He seeems like he may actually help the other characters. In first meeting him you wonder whether you can actually fully trust this man in raincoat, black gloves and trilby hat informing you, ‘What I am about to tell you will be the most important thing you will ever hear.’ But why? Well if I said any more it’d spoil the surprise(s) wouldn’t it?!
The direction, photography and acting by all are excellent. You could take still images and they would feel like works of art set in the shadow between light and dark – Leonardo DaVinci would have loved it! And the direction gives plenty of time to focus on each actor as they explore the depth of their character and his/her feelings in outstanding psychological studies. This is especially important in the stories of Detective Inspector Jonah Gabriel played by Chiwetel Ejiofor and ‘flower-man’ Joseph Bede – Christopher Eccleston. Whilst trying to solve the crime, Jonah is also trying to solve the mystery of who he is, suffering amnesia as the result of a bullet in his head. Is he ‘good cop’ or ‘bad cop’? The great sensitivity of his emotional expression has us feeling for him and yet not knowing if we are ‘right’ to – our doubts reflecting his own. His work partner Lia Honey (very nicely played by Kierston Wareing) tells him that he is a good cop because ‘it goes with the badge’ but that doesn’t feel very convincing or reassuring. The difficulty with these two characters is we don’t really get to know them. Chiwetel does an excellent job expressing what he can but of course holds back because he doesn’t know exactly who he is! And Honey comes across as a very efficient and dedicated, though a little naïve, cop but also a highly expositional character. This is also the trouble with the script at many points. Some of the characters are given very long-winded expositional monologues/dialogues to take the plot forward and yet we cannot engage enough to understand it. At points it tries to be too clever; too over-the-top for what actually needs to be conveyed. And when, following probably the longest expositional scene by a character in the whole piece, that same character decides to put a gun in his mouth instead of a cup of tea we completely sympathise! That said, even with its vast array of characters – probably too many to follow and some seemingly uneccessary, we do feel a great deal of empathy for many of them even some more minor characters.
The character who most inspires our empathy though is the ‘main’ criminal character Joseph Bede, who has felt obliged to take over the drugs operation from his murdered boss Harvey Wratten. Played softly and subtly by Christopher Eccleston, he seems so gentle and hardly a cold, calculating criminal. He is all about surviving and making enough money in a final drugs deal to support himself and his wife Julie – Leslie Sharp – to the end of their days. The tragedy is the end of their days together may be much sooner than for others in their mid-forties. Julie suffers with early-onset alzheimers. Arguably Lesley’s performance in this is the most impressive of all – it is certainly the most heart-rending. Joseph and Julie were childhood sweethearts and we will for him to have his final deal succeed so at least they can have the care required to make the best of the few remaining precious real moments her illness allows them together.
So who did kill Harvey Wratten and why does it matter so much to the 70 characters involved? What is The Shadow Line really about? Is is simply asking us to think about the ethics and moral of human behaviour and how there is no black and white but rather we are all good and bad? Or is there something much greater at stake?
For that you will have to watch for yourselves and hope to understand – it is not easy!
Or you can read below for a few clues and resolutions…
** WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS**
The answer to the who-dunnit comes surprisingly early in episode 3 when we learn it is Gatehouse. In fact this seems too simple and obvious and has you asking yourself if that was really the case and what more is there to discover? Of course, in spite of the fact that Gatehouse is murdering people right, left and centre and did kill Harvey Wratten, there is more to it! And that is one of the reasons we remain hooked. We so want to know what as well as follow Jonah’s journey of self-discovery and find out if Joseph can find a miracle to help him and Julie!
The what was beautifully summarised in a text from someone near and dear to me:
“I only understood what was going on just before the end. I don’t quite see how this system {pension ‘scheme’} can be viable considering the numbers of murders necessary each time someone steps out of line! Emotionally harrowing though…”
And yes it really is that!
Joseph’s deal does not succeed in time to make a better life for him and Julie with care in their own home. And as he has not left the ‘game’ in adequate time to satisfy Jay Wratten, he knows he intends to kill him. Desperately sad and with Julie trying to kill herself to stop the pain and begging him to let her go, Joseph commits sucide himself allowing Jay to kill him in the same manner as Harvey Wratten was killed at the beginning.
And just as Jonah has found out that he is in fact a good cop and now tries to stop the bad cops he also gets killed by his own partner Honey! This is awful – the good hero dies – thinking at the end of the scan of his new baby still inside his wife’s womb.
Unusually bad has won over good and we are left with bad guys Jay Wratten and Gatehouse and bent cops taking care of the continuing pension scheme!
The Shadow Line – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2011
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