Amnesia

John Hannah shines in anything he does. Amnesia had us on the edge for 3 episodes, since it showed over a 3-week period here on TVO! Patrick Malahide was also superb as his boss. What these guys can do with their facial expressions! (applies to rest of cast also).

General comment: British suspense-mysteries are compelling because the characters are so complicated. In fact, the cops are sometimes more messed-up than the guys they're trying to catch. The plot or the 'whodunit answer' is often secondary. If you try watching typical American CSI-type shows afterwards, they almost seem laughable.

What gives Amnesia such a punch is that it does have an intriguing plot and outcome also. The movie ends, but the story doesn't. Hope you enjoy as much as we did.

Added note: a few are questioning the conclusion or ultimate solution to the mystery. The Brits don't worry about whether the parameters of their plots are rational-they just want to surprise you! Stop worrying!

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.

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.

I won't give anything away, but.....this series really should have been continued beyond the ending, or else it should have had some sort of sequel. Talk about leaving you hanging.....