Criminal record

This came out this year, and I haven't heard anyone talk about it. At first glance, it didn’t impress me, but I finished it this week and now I’m actually sad that no one else has seen it.

It’s a crime thriller, but to me, it’s mostly a drama with some suspenseful moments. The first episodes are slow-going. I liked watching it, but I wasn’t really drawn to keep watching. Maybe it should’ve been five episodes instead of eight. But somewhere around the middle, I suddenly started caring a lot about what was happening, and long story short, I watched the first four episodes over a month and the last four in one night.

It's incredibly well-made, with perfect cinematography (especially the night shots—chef's kiss, the daytime shots are okay, they have that classic blue tint of crime dramas). The directing ranges from "okay" to "amazing" (see the flashback scenes in the penultimate episode, also the editing is ADMIRABLE), and the performances are just right (Cush Jumbo is a bit over the top at times, Peter Capaldi somehow makes expressionless expressive—I don't know how else to describe it, but his face really fits the role).

Overall, I wouldn’t say it’s a masterpiece, but it deserves more attention. The script isn’t some great revelation from start to finish, but where it ends up is a bit shocking when you consider how horrible things can happen to innocent people for such stupid and meaningless reasons. And for me, it was very interesting that it tackles the usual themes of the genre (racism, police brutality, corruption, etc.) but with less obvious manifestations of them. Anyway, I won’t say more because I’ll end up spoiling it, but the series is good. If you're not too bored, watch it—it’s only eight episodes.