Prime Suspect: Series 3, Episode 2 (1993)

The second half of this story is filled with twists and shocks; every time I thought I knew who killed the boy and why, Jane would turn the corner and another bomb would drop.  In addition to a tense, intricate mystery, there's some fantastic character stuff, for Jane as well as a few of her fellow officers.  Just really excellent, gripping television.

 

Oh, and in addition to the actors I mentioned yesterday?  This episode features a young Jonny Lee Miller doing some absolutely top-notch work.  I love Britain.

 

And PC.  Oh, wow.  Vera struggles throughout the episode with the thought of opening up to the police, terrified of what she knows and of what will be done to her if she tells.  PC is superb from start to finish, but there's a heartbreaking scene near the end that is pure master class.  It makes me shiver a little just to think about it.

 

On a side note – whenever I watch something involving transpeople, I'm hyper-aware of pronoun usage.  A few interesting things to report here.  First, Jane is the only officer that almost always addresses Vera by her preferred name.  However, when speaking with her colleagues, she generally refers to Vera by her birth name and uses male pronouns.  I wonder why that is.  Does she only use the male designators because of how the other officers would otherwise react?  Does she personally think of Vera as male but uses her preferred name out of respect when questioning her?  Is calling her “Vera” just a means of earning her trust and getting her to open up?  The inconsistency is an intriguing choice.

 

Also, there's a scene in which Vera refers to a transgirl as a he, which raised up immediate red flags for me.  I can't imagine that she wouldn't have used female pronouns, even if the girl hadn't begun to transition yet – bit of uninformed writing there.

 

The last word on both Prime Suspect installments.

 

Accent Watch

 

I'm gonna go with RP.  There's a scene where Vera is talking with a friend, and her friend's extremely Northern accent clinched it for me; she just doesn't talk like that.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Yes.  Very well-plotted mystery, and Helen Mirren does no wrong.

 

PC-wise – Definitely.  Just definitely.

 

Warnings

 

Some additions from yesterday.  This episode has a lot of discussion of sexual abuse against minors, including a couple of difficult scenes recounting specific abuses.  There's also some S & M gear, and a few characters attempting self-harm (not in an S & M way.)

Prime Suspect: Series 3, Episode 1 (1993)

 

This was a PC project that I had my eye on from the start.  Come on – Ciarán Hinds, David Thewlis, Mark Strong, and the glorious Helen Mirren?  I'm there.  I'm halfway through this two-part season and... well, let's just say I'm not disappointed.

 

Prime Suspect was a long-running British crime drama, starring Mirren as DCI Jane Tennyson.  Series 3 finds her starting a new job, heading up a vice squad.  As first days go, she's not exactly eased into it.  She arrives the morning after a dead rent boy has been pulled out of a burned-down flat.  An investigation into the boy's death quickly begins to point toward larger implications:  there's a menacing pimp, a secret stash of child pornography, and pressure from above not to delve too deeply into the case.

 

PC plays Vera Reynolds, a timid transwoman brought in for questioning.  She owned the flat in which the dead boy was found, and the police suspect her first of killing him and later of knowing more than she's telling.  

 

This is a really great performance.  In the interrogation room, Vera is like a delicate, spooked bird.  She's just lost her home, someone she knew has died there, and she's being treated like a criminal, a freak, and possibly a criminal on account of being a freak.  She doesn't visibly flinch as the officers repeatedly call her Mr. Reynolds, but you can feel her flinch.  She's a very evocative character.  You can feel her distress and confusion, the shame that's being thrust upon her, and most of all, the fear of what will happen if she reveals what she knows.

 

I'm excited to see the second half, both so I can figure out who murdered the boy and why, and so I can see more of Vera!

 

Accent Watch

 

It sounds mostly RP, but there might be a little northern thrown in there.  Many of the characters have northern accents, which could be biasing my ears.  Also, Vera's voice is pretty quiet and pitched up a bit, so it's a little harder to tell.  I'll try to figure out for sure next time.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Yeah.  It's a good mystery, the acting is great, and Jane is an excellent leading lady.  She's tough and smart, and she has a driving curiosity that's just so admirable.

 

PC-wise – Yes; PC is stellar.  Even though I can't say he looks too much like a woman, he really seems like one, and his Vera is greatly sympathetic.

 

Warnings

 

Lots of frank discussion of solicitation, sex, drug use, and pornography, all involving minors.  “Thematic elements” puts it mildly.  However, it's pretty much entirely kept to discussion – nothing explicit is depicted.  Probably on par with some of the more intense Law & Order:  SVU episodes.