The Commander: Blackdog

Much appreciated revisiting of the Commander's behavior in the Lampton's recent arrest and another investigation into the doctored CCTV tapes implicating Mike Hedges' involvement. It puts the first episode into perspective and shows us the true despicable nature of the Commander. David O'Hara is perfect in the role of investigator and is a delight to watch piece together the evidence in both cases. The level of corruption they are all capable of stooping to is quite surprising and I find no redeeming qualities in the Commander. It'll be interesting to see how she behaves in subsequent episodes.

The overall plot is good but my main problem with this is the awful wobbly camera work. It's like the camera was given to some student and told to have a go. It's all over the place, quite often focusing on areas that are irrelevant to what's going on, such as someone's glasses or the back of someone's head, etc. Quite often the camera is behind half a wall as if someone is hiding. Ridiculous. Really quite amateurish and off-putting.

The Commander herself seems to walk around with a gormless grin on her face as if she can't believe she got the role. She doesn't look convincing at all. Helen Mirren was far better in Prime Suspect.

Stephen 'Blackdog' Blackton (David O'Hara) is known for his dogged pursuit as a lone wolf investigator. He is called in to investigate DCI Mike Hedges' role in the Cripps shooting despite the case being supposedly closed. He also investigates Commander Blake's role as well as her expected coming testimony in the Lampton case. Blake's sister dies. Officer Graham Warner, who was at the Cripps shooting, is found killed.

I like the Cripps story more than the Lampton story. David O'Hara is a good addition. I'm interested in his investigation even though there isn't a big mystery. The audience has been watching it for two long movies and is essentially waiting for Blackdog to catch up. The first half tries to compensate with a lot of moody visuals. There are ultra-closeups and murky styles. There is also a splitting of point of views. Blake goes all the way to the darkside as she pushes sweet DI Carol Browning to do her dirty work. Blake becomes an utterly unappealing character. It would be easier to swallow if Blake was always this morally corrupt. This franchise continues to be in flux.

Although I realize that Great Britain does not have a Constitution, for some reason, I've always believed that the British Legal System was still similar to its American counterpart when it comes to the rights of its citizens pertaining to the procurement of evidence by various police forces. What I mean is, none of the evidence the "Blackdog" character has come up with would be admissible in any American court. All of it (through part one, anyway) was obtained without any sort of warrant and most from breaking and entering. He would actually be investigated, prosecuted, and probably jailed, especially after stealing the gun. Yet, all the investigatees (sic) simply accept this as par for the course.

That said, even if his behavior is legal there, I feel his character went so far over the top, that he became unbelievable, or one can say that it's obvious he was following a script as presented. I think that if his character was better directed he may have been more watchable, but as it stands, he has to this point behaved far worse than those he's investigating. I find it very strange that these characters have allowed it to happen without repercussion. It's very strange from an American perspective.

Well, off to part two. I can only hope he gets what's coming to him.

EDIT: It looks like maybe this episode may have gotten a lot of flak from your own people. Every movie (episode) that followed had constant instances of warrants being required, requested and served. Thank God!!!!!!!!!

David Patrick O'Hara starring in Blackdog -Commander III is an excellent series. The acting is excellent but I am disappointed with the ending of the story. I would like to see the series further continued in story content with O'Hara as leading actor. The story is very true to life and the acting within is excellent. Both Amanda Burton and O'Hara compliment each other. La Plante should continue on her episodes with these great actors/actress in this series especially with O'Hara, who is very complimentary with his acting abilities. He is an actor who is not appreciated by many. David O'Hara is an actor that can achieve many La Plante writings and should be therefore, taken into account by the author. O'Hara is definitely overlooked on the big screen. As a talented and handsome person, it makes one wonder why he is not a candidate for larger parts and acting in a Oscar type motion picture.