Another reasonably acceptable Lynley...

The last one was back to the old, bad, thinly-written standards: all the boring, overwrought, oh-so-very — and oh so very contrived — melodrama surrounding Lynley's relationship with his wife. (Somehow, despite their ages, they never dealt with the concept of a spouse actually also having a job or being very deeply immersed in their careers; and somehow they never talked about having children.) Overall, a disappointing outing.

This one, however, was better: the at-home melodrama was considerably less overwrought, though it still seems terribly contrived, and so many moments just strike the wrong note, or are at variance with the characters they have developed (e.g., Lynley struck me as precisely the kind of man who would be thrilled to have a child, and why did Helen suddenly get all bitchy on having Havers over at the house — for her own protection! — after having connected with her on a woman-to-woman level the night before?), but this time it was at least mostly about the mystery.

There were some stupid bits in the mystery, too (like Dennis would really have forgiven Shelly for killing his mother, even by accident), but overall it was compelling. It's a shame about Red. I really thought they were going to go somewhere with him and Havers...


Categories: mystery, mysteries, tv, pbs, bbc, reviews, lynley, anglophile, byjjmg