Noi and I have been very firmly gripped by the series Presumed Innocent. We finished the last of the eight episodes yesterday having, as usual, failed to guess the killer, and having very much enjoyed not having much of a clue as to the identity thereof. Incredibly good cinematography (if that’s the right word for a tv series. Anyway, it looked great.) Obviously extremely well written and superbly acted. Great entertainment. So what’s not to like?
Well, just one thing from me. I think the makers of the series may have felt they were saying something important. About stuff & life. Like the psychology of a killer. The pressures of being high powered lawyers. The media in America. The workings of justice. That sort of thing. But I don’t think much of that genuinely worked for me. It all looked beautifully crafted as if it should have depth, but the detective in me suspected it was all surface.
Just one example. The lawyers were supposed to be brilliant (I think that was the idea.) But at times they behaved like simpletons. Now, I’m happy with the idea that brilliant people are often stupid and pretty much everyone behaves like a simpleton. But not when they are actually doing the job they get paid for. So a top lawyer almost exploding with rage under cross-examination works in an entertaining, dramatic way. But not as a commentary on the way things are.
Of course, this observation is a bit petty, especially given the pleasure delivered by the makers of the show. But if I can't be petty over an American tv show what can I be petty over?
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