Sea of Souls: Series 1, Episode 2 – “Seeing Double: Part 2” (2004)

 

I have to tell you – having a previously-unknown identical twin with whom you may or may not share a psychic link just isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  Poor Carol is put through the ringer, in terms of her family, her emotional state, and her own personal well-being.  In a way, I suppose it’s understandable that the two sisters have problems.  When you’re brought face-to-face with someone who has the same DNA as you, it’s probably easy to starting asking why she has things that you don’t have.  It’s clear that Helen covets Carol’s life, how put-together she is and how idyllic her family seems. 

 

Yet, at the same time, Carol feels threatened by Helen’s easy manner.  It kills her to see Helen joking and having fun with Gordon when it seems that she (Carol) always has to work so hard with him.  She probably wishes that she didn’t always have to play the bad guy and tell her son what he is and isn’t allowed to do.  Carol is quieter, politer, and more tightly wound – she just can’t loosen up the way that Helen can (although, considering some of the mischief Helen gets up to, that’s probably a good thing!)

 

And what of Gordon, you ask?  He’s not quite as featured here as he is in part 1, but there’s still some goodness to be had.  The whole business with Helen is doing his head in, and he doesn’t know what to think.  He alternates clumsily between callousness and caring, scolding Carol for undo accusations in one scene and backing her suspicions in another.  Essentially, all he knows is that, despite everything, he really does love his wife, and he’s trying to accommodate her sister’s presence in their lives, but he’s not ready to face the fact that maybe he can’t do both together.

 

On a side note, it’s interesting to watch the goings-on of the parapsychology folks.  In the main cast, you have one doctor who’s a little obsessed with the idea of ESP and desperate to prove it, another who’s steadfastly skeptical in the face of all evidence, and one who at least endeavors to keep an open mind.  It’s a good dynamic.

 

And now, as we finish Sea of Souls:

 

Accent Watch

 

Scottish.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Maybe.  Interesting premise, some good acting, and it’s a nice twist on a lot of the more typical procedurals out there.  But warned, though, of some hokey over-dramatics.

 

PC-wise – I might.  PC more than rises to the challenge of playing an ordinary man dealing with some pretty out-of-the-ordinary circumstances.

 

Warnings

 

Add some scary situations and an overall darkness running through the piece.