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CORRIDOR OF MYSTERY |
DARK
CORRIDORS VOL. 2, No. 18 |
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--THE SECOND TIME AROUND |
 Clive Owen as British Detective Ross Tanner, who's hiding his approaching blindness. |
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Clive Owen is sexier this time,
but the stories stumble too much
By
KINNEY LITTLEFIELD
Of TheColumnists.com
"MYSTERY!" IS HARDLY the highest-rated series on television. But Clive Owen's severely sculpted cheekbones make it the sexiest.
This week--finally--Owen makes his long-awaited return as troubled Detective Chief Inspector Ross Tanner in "Hide and Seek," the first of three new two-part cases on PBS's moody "Mystery!" miniseries franchise "Second Sight."
The programs air at 9 p.m. Thursdays through May 17. But don't set your sights on them too seriously--even if Brit actor Owen is a sight for sore eyes. Hypnotic as it is, "Second Sight" is one of "Mystery!'s" least probable detective gigs.
When the series first aired in the fall of 1999 its lack of reality hardly mattered. Its heavily noir tone and oddball plotline made "Second Sight" mesmerizing. Tanner was simultaneously tracking a killer and going blind and hallucinating from a rare eye disease called AZOOR or acute zonal outer occult retinopathy.
His psychedelic visions gave him eerie insight into the case he was investigating. They took the series into a strange surreal realm where few if any detective shows had gone.
Now "Second Sight's" visual tricks are not so magical anymore. We know them. They aren't as well integrated into the storylines. And no new ones to be had.
Yes, Owen--who steamed in the independent film "The Croupier"--does a taut and implosive turn as Tanner. Occasionally he makes a nice move as he fumbles slightly for a doorknob or phone.
He has better hair this season. (Bad pompadour before).
And "Sight's" shivery jazz score is superb.
But "Sight's" surreal veneer feels shallower this time around. Its less-than-inspired plotlines are showing through. Its suspects are largely stereotypes.
Starting Thursday Owens' Tanner tackles an oft-clichéd trio of cases, two of them sadly disappointing. The perps are easy to figure. Plotlines are overly sensationalistic and silly.
First up is "Hide and Seek," in which Tanner and underlings re-open the old, cold case of slain violinist Vicky Ingham (Helen Hathorn). Turns out single mom Vicky was no angel. She had an ex-partner and a rather unsavory married lover who might have had motives to do her in.
Turns out her 9 year-old son saw her die and has been unable to speak about it ever since.
Turns out Tanner, a detective who works from gut instinct, follows his usual whims to find the killer.
And Tanner is as tormented in his personal life as ever.
He drinks too much--as so many Brit gumshoes do. (Although not nearly so much as the late lamented Inspector Morse). He even uses his drinking as a cover for his bumbles and stumbles from bad eyesight.
Tanner is divorced. He keeps disappointing his young son, Sam (Benjamin Smith), by missing Sam's soccer games and such.
And Tanner is hardly a winner in the love department. In "Hide and Seek" he and his latest squeeze and eagle eye, ambitious Detective Inspector Tully (Claire Skinner), fall out bigtime after she circumvents his authority while working a case.
To add to Tanner's hassles, his superiors replace Tully with snakey, sly D.I. Boyd (Mark Bazeley) who is even more ruthlessly ambitious than Tully.
Boyd senses Tanner is somehow vulnerable. He wants Tanner's job badly.
And Tanner--well it's hard to watch your backside when you can't even see what's in front of you.
On April 26 Tanner takes on the dippiest case of the lot in "Parasomnia." Really, this is all too fantastical by far. And it was written by "Second Sight" creator Paula Milne.
In the middle of the night Kerry Ann Roddam (Josephine Butler), the daughter of a lord, wakes up covered with blood. Turns out it's the blood of her slain fiancée.
Turns out Kerry Ann sleepwalks, even drives while she does it.
Turns out she keeps turning up where Tanner turns up. Like they kinda have a thing for each other.
Except she's pretty witchy-weird, which Tanner senses. Did she do it? There aren't many other possibilities in sight.
Best thing about "Parasomnia": The incomparable actor Michael Kitchen ("To Play the King") plays Kerry Ann's daddy, Lord Bruce Roddam.
Worst thing about "Parasomnia": Kerry Ann sleepwalking. Or is she?
Annoyingly
the best case of the lot, "Kingdom of the Blind," airs
last, premiering May 10. This time Tanner and crew stalk the
killer of a black youth leader (Nicholas Pinnock). His murder
seems linked to two white racists until blind ex-gangster Harold
King (Peter Vaughn) enters the picture--and Tanner's personal
life too.
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Vaughn is a fine actor who makes blindness seem queasily menacing. He gives "Kingdom" class.
And "Kingdom," written by Niall Leonard and Milne, does not indulge in anything resembling the gratuitous bloodbaths or silly sleepwalking of "Parasomnia."
Worst note: The repeated use of pop tune "I Can See Clearly Now" in Tanner's scenes is just plain hokey.
"Kingdom of the Blind" also intensifies Tanner's tension with Boyd--who eventually learns Tanner's devastating secret. Bazeley does a super job of making Boyd seem a cold-hearted sleazebag.
Even better is Rupert Holliday Evans as Tanner's second set of eyes, Detective Sergeant "Elvis" Pewsey. Pewsey is both loyal to Tanner and fearful about sharing his secret. Evans turns in a marvelous performance, full of solicitous concern and resentment all boiling together.
And there is a bit of a neat twist at the end of "Kingdom of the Blind" involving Tanner and Boyd--and Tanner's murky future.
If only the rest of this season approached the bold spirit of the original "Second Sight"--and its fresh if fractured vision.
© 2001 by Kinney Littlefield. The photo is used by permission from BBC Worldwide/Mystery! The Mystery! logo is by courtesy of WGBH.
You can comment on this column or contact Kinney Littlefield with an email to: talkback@thecolumnists.com
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