Jack Taylor

Whoever is the fan of light crimi-movies will be delighted. Not a masterpiece but a good series to spend evenings during the week.

Even though the plots are a bit farfetched and Jack Taylor's drunken character was getting a bit wearisome, Iain Glen's appeal and the local setting kept me watching until Episode 7, "The Cross." Even though Taylor rarely uses a gun, the new opening credits ("Bang, bang,") should have been a clue that something was amiss and seemed to have been made for a different show.. The plot was ridiculous, even for Jack Taylor standards, and then inexplicably, the Kate Noonan character is replaced, not only with a new actress (zero chemistry, forced icky kiss) but with a contrived subplot. Best episode is #3 -- "The Magdalen Martyrs," worth watching as a stand-alone unit, full of real-life horror, intrigue and pathos. Not surprising that the series seems to have a died a natural death.

I really liked the first episode of this series. Makes me want to watch more. Taylor is tormented. He has a good heart, we feel he is a good person, yet he has demons. Alcoholism runs in his family. We try to keep it in the family, he sarcastically says. His mother is not nice at all, and he asks the question why does your closest ones always know how to find your weaknesses,, where to look for faults. Maybe because they put them there, is his answer. Jack cares for the outcasts, the betrodden, maybe because he sees himself in them. Episode one starts with Jack being fired from the force when he is drunk on patrol and stops a car driving a cabinet minister and proceeds to punch the cabinet minister in the face. It's all over the local news. Then a beautiful woman approaches him and asks him to find her missing daughter. This amazing woman he admits is out of his league, but she awakes something in him, a drive. I won't spoil your viewing only to say I enjoyed this first episode.

I can't understand why they changed the format so drasticly. It was too slick, appeared more low priced. The plot was flat as was the acting. the photography missed the gritty grounding of the first 6.

As far as police dramas go, this one sets itself apart in many ways, but primarily in how damaged the main character is. Ian does a terrific job as Jack, but he makes it very difficult to root for at times; which is ok once or twice in a show like this, but not as often as here IMHO.

The writing was overall quite good and gritty, however the chemistry between the characters took a nose-dive when Noonan was replaced by another actress. Not sure why the change occurred, and they all did as well as they could with what they were given, but between the lack of internal development with Jack and the unfortunate casting change without adjusting the role as to create a better segue, it's not too surprising how short lived the show ended up being.

Having said that, the characters were interesting, for the most part, and the plots were unique-enough to carry each episode on its own. The entire show could be comfortably watched over a weekend.