Thirteen

Over a weekend filled with the flu and fueled with Dayquil and hazelnut coffee I had the chance to subscribe to a free trial of Amazon Prime. Who sees this offer and goes "Nah, I don't need more bingeworthy content."? Well not me. After having seen the movie "Room" on Netflix about a month ago, when I stumbled acrossed BBC's "Thirteen" I was intrigued and decided to spend a day watching it from beginning to end. The first thing you need to know is "Thirteen" follows 26 year old Ivy Moxom (Jodie Comer) who has been in captivity for the last 13 years. Her family has since moved on with her sister about to start her own family and her boyfriend, now a married man, an adult that she still sees as the same person he was when she left. Her dad, now in a new relationship, seems to have also left her an all but forgotten relic of his past. In the first few parts of the show it is easy to feel sorry for Ivy. She goes through an incredible amount of police questioning as well as speaking with government officials who are all asking her the same thing. It is an inside chance to see how the process of coming back to society can be quite demeaning, both as a human being and as the victim. Ivy, through her constant poking and prodding, is put on the back burner because her kidnapper has now taken someone else. Ideas of jealousy and stockholm sydrome swallow the thoughts of one the detectives, DS Lisa Merchant (Valene Kane) , while the other, Elliot (Richard Rankin), seems to be blinded by getting too personal with Ivy. As the show progresses it is easy to see a continuing theme of Ivy becoming attached to the men in her life. Her motives are questioned and one detective can't help but believe that she may be "helping" her kidnapper in some fashion and lying about being kidnapped at all. Ivy even has a moment back at the cellar where she was held that looks to corroborrate the idea that she was actually in love with her kidnapper. Her continuing jealousy surrounding her family, friends, and the police lead me to believe that instead of escaping she was actually tossed aside for a younger victim. The series definitely put me on the edge of my seat and ready to click the next episode as soon as the current one ended. It was easy to decide who I was "rooting" for as it seemed the writer kept that open for interpretation. There were only a few moments that left me questioning, even at the end, but I won't spoil that for you. I give "Thirteen" an 8/10

Thirteen taps into the much overdone "I'm back after vanishing for an inexplicable period of time", mystery crime drama, sub genre.

All the obvious questions bubble to the surface yet again. Is Ivy Moxham, the abducted girl, who and what she claims to be? Does she have an ulterior motive or some other nefarious intent, lurking in the background for her relieved but confused family and friends? Will the two intrepid British detectives uncover some hidden, awful truth?

In other words, Thirteen is not really doing anything terribly original. You can pretty much predict the likely plot twists and turns. Naming the main character Ivy is a bit obvious, too. Ivy, a plant that twists and turns and smothers. Not hard to see where she might lead those who suddenly find her in their lives. Nowhere good, that much is obvious, without giving anything away.

Whilst all this may have you reaching for the remote, I can say, thankfully, this series is well cast, with excellent acting talent and intelligent narrative. These factors lift Thirteen above other drama's and films cast in a similar vein and dampen down, the dulling sense, of deja vu.

So what to do I think about Thirteen? Look, like most dramas out of the UK, with a few exceptions, its a quality production. As such, its inherently watchable. Just don't expect anything that has not been done before, in one way or another. Seven out of ten from me.

I actually looked this up to see how old it is because I too was shocked at the insensitivity of the police towards a person who has endured obvious horrors. I thought maybe it was from many years ago before law enforcement understood anything about kidnap victims. It was made clear in the first episodes that she had experienced multiple physical attacks in addition to captivity, demonstrating that she had survived many forms of torture. Even if they did need information, in real life, dealing a person who had survived her ordeal, they would not terrorize her in the process of the interrogation - locking her in rooms and threatening her with incarceration - dahhhh!! I thought it was good generally up until now and I'll keep watching, but this twist in the story line is annoying.

A woman escapes from a house in Bristol. At first the police are skeptical of her story but it turns out that she is Ivy Moxam, who was kidnapped 13 years ago at the age of 13. Now begins the task of reuniting with her family and friends and restarting her life. Meanwhile, the police are trying to catch her kidnapper, Mark White, but questioning Ivy makes the details of her kidnapping and imprisonment murkier and more inconsistent. Moreover, it appears that Ivy wasn't always a totally involuntary prisoner. Then Mark White kidnaps another girl.

The plot to this series initially sounded similar to the movie Room, but this is different to Room in many ways. While Room concentrated on the mother and son and how they (especially the son) cope with life on the outside, Thirteen has more of a mystery drama feel to it. It does cover Ivy's having to adjust to life after 13 years of isolation, but it also covers to a very large extent the police's attempts to unravel what happened while she was imprisoned, their relationship with Ivy and their attempts at catching her kidnapper.

Very intriguing, the mystery/crime-drama side, with a few good twists and turns. Even at the outset you aren't sure that she really is who she says she is, and later we start to think she may have been more accomplice than victim. This creates a wonderful greyness to Ivy's innocence, and fuels the intrigue.

The human drama side is also done pretty well, though does feel a bit slow and clumsy at times. Reasonably emotional though.

Solid performances all round. Jodie Comer is OK as Ivy, though doesn't really shine. The best performances probably come from Richard Rankin and Valene Kane as DI Carne and DS Merchant respectively.

Great opening song - "In your dreams" by Dark Dark Dark.

Well worth watching.

It had so much potential with such an intriguing premise, but unfortunately fell short.

The script was overworked and hindered with unnecessary subplots, ideas and characters which never properly served the central story, but rather diluted it. So many pieces introduced that were left unanswered or just didn't have enough payoff to justify its inclusion.

So much scope for an exhilarating and sophisticated mystery/thriller, but sadly it took an underwhelming and predictable path.