If any
Whovians are wondering what Sarah Parish (the Rachnoss Empress from “The
Runaway Bride”) looks like without eight legs and too many eyes, here’s your
chance. She stars in this TV movie in a
decidedly less-spidery role.
In Unconditional Love, Lydia and Peter are
a pair of devastated, desperate parents.
Their 4-year-old son has been abducted, and as the days slip by, the
police lose confidence that he can be found.
That’s when they’re contacted by the abductor, who forces them to jump
through increasingly sketchy hoops to get their child back. Plot-wise, some of it strains credibility,
but the central performances are very good; I could believe that distraught
parents would act that way if they were in fear for their child’s life.
PC
plays DI Terry Machin, who’s in charge of the case. Since, when Lydia and Peter start talking to
the abductor, they’re instructed not to tell the police, we don’t see much of
him as the story goes on. Furthermore,
as the DI, he’s the boss; another officer is more directly involved than he
is. As such, he doesn’t have a surfeit
of screentime or a whole lot to do.
Still,
there’s a little we can tell about DI Machin.
He’s a buttoned-up professional type, not much of a people person –
Peter bristles immediately at his matter-of-fact, all-business conduct. Also, while he is sympathetic to their situation, he’s all too aware that his
department has limited resources, and other criminal activity isn’t taking a
siesta while he focuses on the abduction case.
Maybe
it’s because I’ve been watching it lately, but this movie reminds me a little
of the series Broadchurch. There are some differences – Lydia and
Peter’s son is taken not killed, the police don’t play a huge role, and the
mystery is about what the abductor wants rather than who it is – but I was
getting definite Broadchurch
vibes. It’s most noticeable near the
start of the film. There’s the same
mounting dread as the parents realize their child is missing, the same bursts
of fear-and-grief-driven irrationality. I
like Broadchurch better, but this is
pretty good.
Accent Watch
RP, I
think. There are enough accent slips
that I thought it might be Scottish, but I’m pretty sure he’s putting something on. Oh, PC…
Recommend?
In
General
– If you like a good mix of crime/mystery and human drama, you’d probably like
it. I enjoyed it.
PC-wise – Not necessarily. There isn’t a lot to write home about.
Warnings
Dark
subject matter and thematic elements, some language, a little violence, and
references to criminal activity, including drug use.
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