Collateral

This is TV. This is drama... All I see in the reviews are polarised views on Brexit / Build a wall / Make Britain Great Again vs. Hippyism / Leninism / stalinism...

Is that what it's become? two completely inconsolable halves?

The whole idea of this show was as that there ARE no clear divides between what is white and what is black. When Kip said "we are the people." she meant it... We are not Politick. We are not Robotic. We are not Servants. We are people. We are humans. We each deserve case by case assessment...

Of course, this show was also demonstrating that this would be impractical in any sense....

still... top marks for acting and raising to our attention the plight of both foreigners in the UK and the services that have to deal with them either for or against their own opinion of what is right.

I don't understand all the low reviews. I found this series to be very riveting. It was multi-layered with characters stories intertwined. I was sorry when it was over.

Collateral (2018), is a new four part limited mini-series that was made by BBC and presented to the rest of the world as a Netflix Original. We were thoroughly intrigued by the trailer which promised a lot with the stellar cast. The 4 episodes of this mini series occur over four consecutive days. They have tried to address too many issues in this short mini series, which in my opinion might have muddles the waters a bit. Carey Mulligan as DI Kip Gillespe, Jeany Spark as Major Sandrine Shaw, John Simm as MP David Mars and Nicola Walker (one of my favorite mini screen actors) as a gay clergy were stellar in their roles.

The series has bits about the pains of a homecoming soldier, the desperation of the refugees fleeing from their terror riddled home countries, drug abuse amongst young mothers, LGBT acceptance amongst the English clergy, rank abusing Army superiors and the immigration stance that has ravaged all developed nations. They have bitten off more than can chew and it becomes glaringly obvious when you watch the characters struggle with their problems.

To summarize, I would say its a decent watch which promised a lot more than it eventually delivered. Too many issues and too little a screen time (and yet there were a few boring fleeting moments in between) might have acted against in making this an exceptional watch. Its a nice enough watch but nothing earth shattering.

The pizza supplier, an illegal economic refugee, is shot after a delivery. It looks like a contract killing. Detective Inspector Kip Glaspie investigates.

The case is solved conclusively, but relatively without tension. In the end it wasn't clear to me what purpose all the subplots should have had. The mini-series isn't exciting enough for a thriller. Too superficially treated as a refugee or military drama. Quite ok, but nothing more.

I watched this mini series in one sitting, not that it was thrilling or real edge of the seat stuff, but it did draw me in. Plenty of plot twists and turns and I think the BBC managed their full quota of diversity box ticking on this one. Good performances from all the leads and it isn't easy to predict the end. Wanders off with plenty of not really needed backdrop stories almost like a soap script at times but it does all fit together. Worth the watch, quite slow as the story unfolds, for me this isn't a bad thing as I prefer story rather than mindless action. The look at detention centre is quite disturbing, if indeed it is an accurate portrayal, the look at the military sexual harassment was quite disturbing but again, seemingly not needed but understandable why it was included. Not unmissable, but still a very competent thriller.