Amnesia

This seems a lot older than it really is but the acting was great from the usual suspects.

The plot leaves a lot to be desired and the flashbacks John Hannah keeps having get old very quickly.

It was a nice twist with his detective partner although I began to suspect it early on. But the full role he played kept me guessing. We are thrown a lot of red herrings which are never resolved though.

Several reviewers have wondered why John Dean had walked into A&E claiming amnesia but he was in an accident that required major face reconstruction. Cheaper than plastic surgery and left me wondering if it had been intentional.

I think it was an enjoyable watch in spite of the flaws. And there were major flaws.

This programme creates two intertwined story lines. One involves a detective whose wife apparently runs out on him on their 5th wedding anniversary and is not seen or heard from in the 3 months before the programme starts. The other story is about a man with apparent amnesia who MAY have murdered his wife and step child.

The detective falls apart, drinking heavily and starts to confuse fantasy and reality. Then he decides that two men appearing on two different Missing Posters are the same man, and this is the amnesiac man. The detective starts putting pressure on the amnesiac to admit who he is. Meanwhile other detectives begin to question whether the wife really ran away.

This programme relies heavily on amnesia, memory loss, memory gaps, hallucinations, twisted memories, unreliable remembrances. As such, nothing you see or hear can be relied upon. And therein lies the problem. There is nothing in this programme to get your teeth into. There are no reliable facts to hold on to. None at all.

Is the amnesiac a murderer? Is the detective a murderer? Has anyone actually been murdered? Does anyone care? Sure, it has the high production values of UK-based drama, with fine acting and a reasonable script, but the story just doesn't hold water and the over-use of unreliable memories makes the plot too fluid to be involving.

I lost count of the number of slamming doors when nobody was there, out of focus flashbacks, deliberately vague memories, seeing things that weren't there, mistaking one person for another, red herrings, over reactions and implausible coincidences. Everything is just too contrived to make sense.

Oh, and the computer skills ascribed to one of the characters is simply impossible.

Overall I found the plot simplistic, obvious and devoid of tension. If you don't bother to pay attention or think about what you're watching then you'll undoubtedly be surprised by the ending. Personally I knew the outcome less than 5 minutes into the programme.

A really disappointing programme.

Good story, nice twist & turns, entertaining & great cast

If you get a chance to see this 2-part TV show, then you certainly should.

Synopsis: (NO SPOILERS)

The story concerns police detective Mackenzie Stone whose wife disappeared a few years ago - and he who still recovering from the incident - experiencing weird dreams and the like. At the same time we are introduced to another man - John Dean, who is suffering from total amnesia, meaning that he remembers nothing of his past life before he turned up in hospital 5 years ago.

Mackenzie Stone, played by John Hannah becomes convinced that he knows who John Dean really is, that he is a man who dissapeared a few months before John Dean appeared - and that he murdered his family before hand to claim the insurance money. However, it starts to become apparant that DS Stone may well have killed his own wife...

In all this is a very good 2-parter with a very nice pay-off at the end. All the cast put on good performances, and it is all very believable.

You'll come up with several different denouements for "Amnesia" - not sure if you'll get the right one.

The story concerns an amnesiac, John Dean (Anthony Calf) who is asked to take part in an experiment for a treatment that shows great promise. At first he refuses. He is not sure he wants to know about his past as he is happily married and has a good life, but he and his wife (Jemma Redgrave) need the money, so he agrees to do it.

DC Mackenzie Stone meanwhile is searching for his wife, who walked out on him a year ago. He has very little memory of what happened and why she took off, except for brief flashes and terrible nightmares. He constantly goes through missing person reports.

When he sees one for a Paul West, he thinks that West might be Dean and starts an investigation. He soon learns that Dean's wife and child were killed in a fire, and then West disappeared. Shortly after that, Dean showed up in their town.

Mackenzie's partner, Brendan Coyle, starts to think that Mackenzie may have killed his wife.

Mackenzie thinks that John Dean is Paul West and that West killed his wife and child and probably killed before.

So who's right? Are they both right? Both wrong? One right and one wrong?

Great story, with the actors' excellent work throughout a bonus. They are all terrific.

I saw this on Netflix - I recommend it highly.