To begin with, let’s establish that the four-part thriller series Inside Man(not to be confused with Spike Lee’s film of the same name) by author StevenMoffat is a pretty derailed mess. And is it really a thriller, or is it ablack comedy, a family drama or a philosophical reflection on the evil in man?We found that we had a lot of fun binging the four episodes of this BBCseries, but not without shouting all kinds of insults at the screen, in thegenre of ‘you’re not kidding!’ or “do you believe it yourself?”
Moffat is the man working for the BBC Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes_revitalized and so also kicked the career of Benedict Cumberbatch, who playedHolmes, into high gear. The find in the series _Sherlock to situate some ofHolmes’s classic adventures in today’s London turned out to be a golden idea.And the fine combination of the criminal puzzle and the absurd plots were madefor Moffat and Cumberbatch.
Death row inmate Jefferson Grieff (the ever strong Stanley Tucci), who is ondeath row awaiting his sentence, has similarities to Sherlock. We learn thathe gruesomely murdered his wife, but before that he had a career as abrilliant criminologist with a hawkish eye and a sense of logic reminiscent ofour Baker Street detective. In the role of Grieff we also find echoes ofHannibal Lecter, as he is played by Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of theLambs , a monster with exquisite taste and a high IQ. As long as Grieff isstill on Earth, he is consulted on unsolvable matters, demonstrating anability to see what others miss.
And then there is that second line, which takes us to the English countryside,where the beloved preacher Harry (David Tennant) already in episode 1 with awell-intentioned intervention sets in motion a series of ultimatelycatastrophic events. You sense that Moffat is putting together a kind ofpuzzle here, wondering at what point you can morally compare the villageclergyman to the American murderer. It ties in with Grieff’s philosophy. Toparaphrase, there are moments that can turn us all into killers if you justmeet the right person on the wrong day.
Let’s say that Inside Man a very heavy burden on our ability to set asideour sense of logic in a story (also known as suspension of disbelief ). Inthe storyline of the village clergyman in particular, all the charactersconstantly make the most ill-considered decisions at key moments, so that thedilemmas resemble philosophical questions where you have to choose between twocompletely improbable scenarios.
That doesn’t change the fact that Tucci and Tennant are always fun to watch,and that Moffat can write strong scenes. At the end, several lines cometogether, but there are also enough loose ends that seem to herald a possiblesecond season. If that does not happen, the viewer will be left behind in arickety structure with no exit.
To be seen on Netflix.