The Divide

The Divide premiered with a 2 hour episode, the totality of what I have seen at the time of writing this review.

At first glance it appeared to be the story of a legal battle between a zealous prosecutor and an initiative trying to establish death row inmates' innocence.

I was perfectly okay with that being the scope and focus of the story, but by the end of the 2 episode pilot it was clear the show was looking at a much broader view of the Judicial system and corruption.

This leads to the introduction of a multitude of complex characters who each have mysterious motivations and goals, and also the establishment of several plot lines for future episodes. Some are acknowledged by the characters themselves, while at least one was only vaguely insinuated.

I was highly entertained by the pilot, and the excellent way the story matured and evolved to be a different and more far reaching than I had ever anticipated sold me on this being one of the best new shows of 2014. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys political or criminal themes in their television.

As a former lawyer and one who fell out of love with the law, the way that this show discusses the machinery of the law struck a strong chord with me. While we have seen much of the legal procedural that this show portrays elsewhere, I also loved the very real and complex relationships within an extended and blended African American family, where the mother and father are legal professionals, and there is the shadow of trauma and loss in the background. I love that they are intelligent, sensitive and caring people, they are also very fallible. The writers tempt us to see these and other characters hidden motives as evil, but it is an intentional trap; there really is little true arch evil in the world - just the damage that comes from assumed and apparent evil. Highly recommended.

Gets off to an interesting start... not what you would expect, as obstacles to trying to exonerate the (apparently obviously) guilty arise, and are seemingly insurmountable.

'Justice don't play right when colour is involved...'. An interesting quote from the African-American prosecutors who struggle with some 'shortcuts' they took to get the original conviction.

Characterized by good performances.. bit of gruff language and some sensuality, but not like what you see on many cable-network produced shows, or European equivalents.

Now available on Netflix.

The role played by Nia Long is probably written with her in mind. The legal actions that need to be investigated in a trial need to be examined more than once to ensure that it is understood by all parties...this could make or break a case, I am glad there is finally a series willing to portray the reexamination of facts in cases that were tried and completed erroneously due to persons of interest or habitual offenders that are named as suspicious by the investigating police officers and an overzealous DA or prosecuting attorney. The relevancy of certain facts are often in dispute by the defending/prosecuting attorneys especially if there is a convenient witness that could corroborate facts that are manipulated or even manufactured depending on who interprets them.

They were written by people with political axes to grind who primarily want to make their personal world view known. They don't reflect the show.

This is a crime drama elevated by a uniformly terrific cast. It's neither left- nor right-wing in tone, really. It's about a justice system that is still trying to catch up to state-of-the art forensics, and examining past convictions that occurred when we were still in the forensic "stone age." Yeah, there's some local political corruption in the story line, but I've lived in big city America all my life and know it's often just a fact of real life.

Joe Anderson, who plays wrongfully convicted Terry Kucik, will totally convince you he's a blue collar, Phillie street kid. In real life he's a Brit with impeccable UK thespian ancestry. His acting is that good. But really, the entire cast is bringing their A games (especially Marin Ireland), which makes for some great TV.