martin-intercultural

This show is a reincarnation of 'Murder She Wrote' - only without the charm, the fun, the humor, the memorable intro montage, and the colorful supporting characters. The only plus is the female main character's fairly believable and committed performance. The rest is mostly a pack of clichés. Strong women, left and right. Mixed-race offspring, in an English fishing village (?). The DCI's 20-something, always surly, deeply unlikable female sidekick who constantly mocks him and puts him down (??). What little actual crime investigation there is left is hard to follow, or to care about. Characters and relationships aren't given the time or the space to develop - instead, from the very first episode the creators want us to accept that this is a masterclass in mystery. Overall, a joyless, sophomoric effort - although to be fair, so is 95% of all TV shows these days.

I started binge-watching this show on YouTube. The binge ended very quickly, though, once I realized that the likeable and vulnerable Lucy Punch only stuck around for three episodes. Toby Stephens does a commendable job, even though he sometimes comes across as an amalgam of Charlie Sheen and a few other established comedic actors.

To make things worse, the show's underlying but increasingly loud message is that white males are a general waste of space and the world will be so much better off without them - but not before we (literally) smash their kneecaps, beat them to a pulp for no reason, and give them testicular cancer. How tiresome, and sad to see the Lucy's replacement bring this to new heights as the female detective who thought of everything, analyzed everything, and figured out everything well ahead of the dude, every single time.

I bought this series on DVD, so trust me when I say I wanted to like it. At the time I was getting a bit tired of police shows of the gritty, big-cloudy-skies, North-of-England variety. But now... I miss them and how utterly gripping and believable the atmosphere they create is.

By comparison, The Chelsea Detective is paint-by-numbers stuff. To start with, it is billed as tales of the elite who mingle in the rich London heartland of Chelsea and Kensington, yet - for the record - the pilot story contains none of that. But that's the least of my reservations. The truly underwhelming aspects come from the many "issues" - social, family, reproductive, sexual, emotional, you name it, the creators liberally sprinkle over the narrative. All are borrowed from elsewhere and the viewer can generally spot them a mile off.

Then there are the "subtle", symbolic clues and other touches - if you can call a coffee machine that, for instance (old, new, broken, replaced, fought over... the list goes on).

All in all, I can see how proud the makers must have been of what, in their minds, is a sophisticated and richly layered product. For the rest of us who aren't 21 anymore, the show is a sophomoric effort and frankly a yawn.