The
conclusion of this story most certainly did not disappoint. Paddy follows her instincts and scrounges for
leads. She sees the power of journalism
first-hand, makes some truly harrowing discoveries, and shows absolutely
everyone in the story what she’s made of.
I’ve never heard of Jayd Johnson, who plays her, but the character is tremendous
on all fronts.
To
sweeten the Field of Blood pot, I
should also mention that the editor of Paddy’s newspaper is played by David
Morrissey, who I first saw as Stephen Collins in the terrific State of Play, and of course he played
the titular character on the Who
Christmas special “The Next Doctor.”
And
now, on to the main course: we see a lot
more of Dr. Pete in episode 2. While
he’s not exactly a central character,
he’s an important one. Paddy’s chief
lead in her story is the similarity between the present murder case and another
that happened years ago, and guess who did a lot of the reporting on it? Dr. Pete confides that he always believed the
convicted man was innocent, and he hopes that Paddy clears Callum’s name, doing
what he couldn’t back then.
Dr.
Pete is a possible mirror for Paddy’s future – a weary, hard-drinking
journalist who’s “misplaced” his faith, he’s let the job consume whatever drive
he once had, whatever hopes. “Cynics are
just heartbroken idealists,” he tells her dazedly, numbed to the point that
he’s hardly there anymore. But in Paddy,
I think he sees a spark of the journalist he must have been once, and that
spark is enough to shake him out of his complacency.
As for
the Dylan Thomas, I just have to rave about it for a bit. It’s hardly the most insightful
interpretation of the poem – Dr. Pete is practically marinating in alcohol as
the time, making it more of a morose, drunken rant than anything else. What I like about this recitation, though, is
that it’s all about what the poem means to him. He starts in a quiet monotone, almost as an
afterthought, but listen to his voice, and you’ll hear in an instant which
lines he feels are the vital ones. A
really interesting way of look into the unseen life of this character.
Final
thoughts:
Accent Watch
The
accent is super-thick here. I really had
to listen to catch his lines; the inebriation didn’t help.
Recommend?
In
General
– Absolutely. There’s a second season of
The Field of Blood that came out this
year, and I plan on tracking it down once Capaldi Fall is over.
PC-wise – Very much so. Great performance of a very sympathetic
character.
Warnings
Add
some sexual content, including a brief sex scene, and an intense scene of
violence.
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