DVD REVIEW

Wire In The Blood - The Complete Fifth Season

Koch Vision || Not Rated || July 8, 2008

Synopsis

Dr. Tony Hill (Robson Green) is a clinical psychologist with an extraordinary understanding of the criminal mind.  Working alongside Detective Inspector Alex Fielding (Simone Lahbib), Dr. Hill must race against time to profile and track down vicious killers before the strike again.


Critique

Whoever is running the tourism industry in northern England must hate Wire in the Blood.  To have the show tell it, that part of the country is a playground for every kind of serial killer, rapist, religious nutcase, and every other imaginable degenerate.  It’s not exactly the kind of stuff they put in the guidebook, but luckily for us, Dr. Tony Hill is around to deconstruct it all.

The four episodes we have here are sharp, and the series, as always, does a great job of keeping us on our toes.  Each episode is a whodunit with so much misdirection that we often don’t see the end coming until the very end.  The fun of the show is watching all the pieces come together.

“The Colour of Amber” kicks off the season.  A young girl is kidnapped near her home and the clock is ticking.  Early on in the episode, they issue an Amber Alert for the girl, and the first thing I thought was, they have Amber Alerts in England?  It makes sense, but it’s an odd thing to hear, like seeing a McDonalds menu in Chinese.  

The clock that Hill and company has to beat is the average length of time the average abducted child stays missing.  After about three hours, the odds of them turning up dead increase exponentially.  Three hours pass, then five, and they find a body.  The story really begins when they find the girl’s body, and the episode climaxes in an ending that is just heartbreaking.

Some of my favorite Wire episodes are the ones that involve any kind of religious theme.  In season four we had “Hole in the Heart”.  Season five gives us “Nocebo”, an even better episode.  There are some great characters in this one, including a charismatic African preacher and a shady real estate developer.  This is a fun episode with a great ending.

“The Names of Angels” is one of the saddest episodes of the series.  A patient from Tony’s past resurfaces (Tony’s patients always have a way of paralleling the case at hand), and Tony has to try and deal with him while trying to catch a murderer.  The story revolves around dead girls whose killings mirror those of girls killed around Europe years earlier.  This might be the best episode of season five.  There are so many twists and turns, and the ambiguous ending makes us feel like Tony’s small victory is outweighed by the ways he has come up short.

“Anything You Can Do” is an okay episode, but it is not the one I would have picked to close out the series.  It’s not bad, but after “Nocebo” and “The Names of Angels” it pales.  A colleague from Tony’s past shows up, only to become a divisive force for Tony and Fielding, which is a great parallel to a very odd case of sibling rivalry.  

Season five is about fifty-fifty: we have two great episodes and two so-so episodes.  That might not sound too good, but even the so-so episodes are better than most of what is out there.  The writing is sharp, as are the performances.  Some of the other characters, like DS Kevin Geoffries (Mark Letheren) and DC Paula McIntyre (Emma Handy), get more screen time, which makes the show that much more interesting.  Tony is still the star though, and Robson Green is as good as ever.

On a final note, there is another Wire release coming in a few weeks that I’m dying to see, one that finds Dr. Hill in, of all places, Texas.  I’m curious to see how they portray a steely-eyed intellectual in a land primarily known as the home of George W. Bush, especially when the story centers on a veteran of the Iraq War.  I’m writing this on a laptop from a surfboard, killing time waiting for a few good breakers to roll in, so I really don’t know if the good people at Koch Vision will even be aware of this review, but if you are and you could see to it that a copy of Wire in the Blood: Prayer of the Bone finds its way to the disgustingly opulent Moviefreak offices, well … I’ll save you a spot on the beach.


Video

Wire in the Blood is presented in a 1.77:1 aspect ratio.  The presentation is sharp, the show’s rich black levels coming through solidly.  This show is about layers of dark, and the transfer is expertly rendered.


Audio

This disc set is presented in Dolby digital sound.  The soundtracks to these episodes are not the most complicated, but the levels are sharp, and the overall presentation is well balanced.


Special Features

Interviews with the cast and crew are the only thing you will find here.  They are on the first disc.  As always with these releases, the bonus material is severely lacking.  I would love a commentary, some insight from Robson Green, Val McDermid, or anyone else involved with the show.


Final Thoughts

The fifth season of Wire in the Blood is excellent television.  The episodes might not be quite at the level of previous seasons, but they are still better than ninety-nine percent of what is out there.  The bonus material is lacking, but the show itself is still a must-see.

VERDICT: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

 

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Review posted on Jul 20, 2008 | Share this article | Top of Page

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