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 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.

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.

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 know I can be quite generous when it comes to reviewing shows, but when there's quality there I will always point out. Even I am struggling to pick out huge positives for Collateral, I enjoyed the opening episode, I was very impressed by the acting and production values, but somehow it just seems to fall short. I delayed watching it as I watched Trauma, stupid to transmit two shows with John Sim simultaneously. Trauma came in for some major criticism, but I quite liked it, at least it gave Sim a chance to show of his acting quality. I made the right choice as Collateral seems to promise so much, just not deliver, it was a little confusing, a little too clever for its own good and just a little uninspiring. I quite liked the story, but the execution didn't really do it justice. Had the series had episode one's quality all the way through it would have gotten a much higher rating. Not bad, should have been excellent. 6/10