I was half tempted when I sat down to write this to post the following:

"It's amazing. Quite literally the best thing I've ever seen on television, and most likely the best thing I'll ever watch in my life."

And then just sign off the review at that. It would be completely true in every aspect and there doesn't seem to be much point writing anything more. I'm still left somewhat speechless when I try to express just how unbelievable and perfect the final season was. The last few moments of the show just blew me away, left me emotionally drained and pretty much unable to comprehend normal speech.

I have trumpeted my love for The Shield pretty much since I started writing here, it's the one show I'd almost profess to being a fan of, and that's saying a lot because I have the following definition of the word fan:

fan - A person marked or motivated by an extreme, unreasoning enthusiasm, as for a cause.

Yeah, over here in my book fan = fanatic. Mind you, my book is written in crayon and has bold easy to understand pictures about a boy named Bill and his ball, his big, red ball. But still, as much as I adore The Shield and consider it the single greatest piece of television I've ever had the pleasure to watch, I still hesitate to call myself a fan, because there's solid reasoning behind my claim.

Ever since The Shield burst onto the screen all the way back in 2002 it's been a show which has pushed the boundaries of both television and quality all the way. I was gripped from the end of the very first episode and amazed more television just wasn't this visceral. If you were to liken The Shield to an animal it would be a shark, swimming in your bathtub, with your privates already in its mouth and a tendency to shake while biting down - it's that darn intense and gripping.

Still, many shows can't manage to keep up such a level of intensity and devotion to their chosen path. 24 devolved over time from a truly unique concept into a laughable and at times disturbing parody of itself, Lost had a truly atrocious second season and even The Wire slipped a little when it reached it's fifth and final season. Considering the pedigree of shows like The Wire (and Lost), what chance does The Shield have at keeping up a consistent level of quality?

The short version is; every damn chance in the book. Because not only does The Shield keep up in it's consistency, delivering eighty eight episodes without a single one slipping in quality; not only that, but it manages the simply staggering feat of getting better with each passing season. And the seventh season, this final season contained within this boxed set, it is THE best season of The Shield by not just a bit, but by a huge margin. It's a season which brings a seven year story thread to a final and utterly devastating close. It's a show which remains utterly dedicated to it's own unique style and vision right until the final moment the credits hit, leaving you feeling drained and emotionally wrung out.

That's not to say the season is perfect, it isn't - initially the season takes a little time to get going, you can be left feeling a little "where's this going?" at times, but looking back on each episode now that I understand the entire picture I can see why things happened the way they did. It all builds up to a staggering set of pay-offs. The only other show I've seen which has managed to pull such a meaningful multi-season story is The Wire, where the character Bubbles, a minor character for much of the show (respectively speaking) closes out his five season "life story" with such an amazing earned moment. The Shield manages the same thing, it earns those final scenes and savours them with such poise and grace.

Yes, The Shield is not for everyone. It is a controversial show for good reason, it's a very macho and even misogynistic show at times. The leads are thoroughly unpleasant pieces of work and the crimes they commit in the name of law enforcement are absolutely revolting at times. But the show manages to highlight the duality of the characters, you begin to understand why they're doing what they're doing. The actions of Vic and the Strike Team paved the way for many morally grey (or outright black) characters to arrive, Dexter in part has a lot to thank Vic for.

I could go on for a long time, and I'm sure that this isn't the last time I talk about The Shield. So all that's left to say is this; if I still bothered with star ratings this one would go all the way to eleven.

Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go watch it all from the beginning again.

Extras:
Episode commentaries from the cast and crew
A Special behind-the0scenes Featurette (which is must see)
Deleted Scenes
Commentaries on the Deleted Scenes

Details:
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Languages: English, French
Rating: 15
Region: 2 (though the Region 1 release is identical)
Runtime 11 Hours 20 mins
Subtitles: English, Arabic, French, Hindi
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A rather peculiar thing happened last Saturday. I got home from a long day of work, spent dealing with a rash of genuine POS members of the public, RSI in my wrists and a blinding headache caused by a lack of sleep. Additionally due to flooding on the train lines I'd been delayed a further half an hour longer than usual in getting home.

I arrive back, put everything away and turn on the telly box, looking forward to watching some episode of Top Gear I've already seen five or more times before over on Dave. Pretty much the perfect television for winding down in front of, which is what Dave is all about for me and that's why it's my favourite British terrestrial television station - even if they do keep showing the same episodes of QI over and over (enough with the A series please Dave, I want something a smidgen more recent!)

But after turning on my box and TV I have a sudden and terrible realisation. For the first time in pretty much my life the channel remote has gone missing. For some of you this might be a pretty common occurrence, but for me it's a rare thing indeed, I keep all five of my remotes together, in order of height and colour. Yeah, a little OCD, I know. But the unthinkable happened and I was stuck with the TV on BBC 1 - left there from the previous night where I decided to watch The One Show because Adrian Chiles is quite likable and Christine Bleakley is a strange collection of physical and personality traits - which when taken separately are quite annoying, but when put together become simultaneously lovely and attractive.

This time though The One Show was not on, no - it was seven o'clock on a Saturday and this meant one thing. Robin Hood was on. As soon as I realised this I pretty much let out a cry of despair at the ceiling and began frantically hunting for my remote, pleading with anything which might be willing to me help out - my previous experiences with Robin Hood have always resulted in my switching the TV off.

After searching for five minutes unsuccessfully I sat down in my chair and considered my options. I could either switch the TV off and read a book - but I really wasn't in the mood to read, change the TV channel to the DVD setting and watch something from my collection, but glancing at it didn't reveal anything which grabbed me at the moment. I could turn on the 360 and either play Left 4 Dead or Castle Crashers, but I wanted an activity which would allow me to nurse my headache without forcing too much activity. So no luck there.

But, while sitting there I began to realise I was there was another option, so surrendered to the fates which caused my remote to be mislaid and actually watch an episode of Robin Hood again. So I began to pay attention - it seemed that the trendy, escaped from our time Robin Hood (Jonas Armstrong ) was sat by a fire with the more realistic (and frankly better) Guy of Gisborne (Richard Armitage) and they were being talked at by some mysterious hooded figure with a wheezy voice. He told them a story and I got to watch an episode with virtually none of the characters from the show in it. This turned out to be a genius move as the actors they had in for this 'one off' were much, much better than 90% of the current cast.

Now this story was rather predictable and pedestrian, and included more than it's fair share of retch inducing moments - combined with a pretty cruddy performance from the boy playing 'Young Robin'; but on the whole it was quite watchable. I found myself paying attention and understanding why there are people who watch and enjoy this mind-numbing tripe - it just doesn't try and offend in any way what so ever. No surprises, no need to philosophise or understand character motives, just sit back forget about any sort of realism or a remote jot of period accuracy (I can't call it historical accuracy because it's hardly history) and enjoy!

I also found myself thinking how much better this was without the normal cast doing the acting and wistfully remembering Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and the Errol Flynn's The Adventures of Robin Hood with a forlorn remembrance of how much better each of those was than this (aye, even Costner's Robin is better than this one.) But I did continue to watch even though I had the option to switch off the TV and go paint a wall. I stuck with it until the episode finished and at times enjoyed the events.

And even though my only gains from the experience were the following...

a) If your cast is as rubbish as a lot of the Robin Hood one is (from previous viewing experiences), don't highlight it by giving the viewer a great episode episode which is well written and acted - without including your main cast for most of it. Then again, if this is some plan to boil Robin Hood down to Guy & Robin then I'm all for it.

b) Richard Armitage as Guy is just about the best thing in the show and as such I'd be very happy and content if he killed Robin and everyone who knows what he looks like then take over the job. I'd watch the "Guy of Gisborne" show on a weekly basis.

c) A Knight's Tale is more realistic and historically accurate.

d) I absolutely hate, HATE that CGI archery target board transition with a passion.

e) I forgot just how much I enjoyed the scene where Guy slew Marian at the end of the last season. That was a well written moment, even if it was a tad misogynistic... Then again, what do you expect to happen if you taunt a heartbroken and violent man carrying a sword? Bravo Guy and bravo the writers for that one.

...the experience was a lot less painful than I expected it to be. At times it was actually fun.

Frankly I wouldn't go out of my way to watch Robin Hood again any time soon, but as the experience was not as awful as I remembered earlier episodes being it did give me with an idea. So each week I'm going to find a show I normally wouldn't watch and give it a go, then I'll write about the experience here on either a Friday or a Saturday. Maybe I'll find some new gems, get a new perspective on something old or just revise my opinions (which believe it or not I have actually done where RH is concerned, as I now class it as light entertainment instead of "must avoid").

As for the remote? It turned out to be hiding behind my Rock Band guitar.
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As today has been such a fantastic day for television I like I'm going to break down the highlights, complete with links.

The Shield's final season is available for purchase on DVD this week, managing to make it to both sides of the Atlantic at the same time. A big thumbs up to the production company for managing this. Get out there and support quality TV by picking up either this or the complete set (I shall get both!)

Fox see sense and renews Futurama for another season with 26 episodes. I hope my purchasing of all the DVD movies helped in some small fashion. (Thanks to Rob Buckley for bringing this to my attention - always cite your resources!)

Rob, in a double whammy also let me know about an interview David Simon held with Simon Mayo and Treme is mentioned. I shall be listening to it on the train tomorrow.

Shawn Ryan (The Shield's creator) has his pilot "Terriers" greenlit. (Rob mentioned this as well, but I didn't notice it in the excitement over Futurama and found out about it elsewhere).

Mad Men's 3rd season hits the screens August 16th.

Seriously, as I have such a specific set of tastes in the world of Telly Vision (finding 99% of it out there utter rubbish and hiding from it like some TV hermit) days like this are so rare they have to be savoured and celebrated.
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It's no secret that I care very little about Ricky Gervais's earlier creation The Office, as I found Gervais's performance as David Brent completely unwatchable. I know and understand many people found it hilarious and a spooky parody of "the office boss", but I found it as tolerable and puking inducing as watching a snail being crushed by a shoe in slow motion. Backwards. While Aria on G String plays. Mixed with the Cheeky Song. Backwards.

I know it was Gervais who made the show so utterly intolerable for me, because Steve Carrell on the US version of The Office doesn't elicit the same bodily response from me. Instead of wanting to pull out a hammer and cave in my own skull while watching I actually have an enjoyable experience with laughing and genuine empathy for Michael Scott (Carrell).

So there was a genuine level of wariness when I first heard about about Extras from friends and family, as it was mostly coming from people who admitted they loved The Office (UK) - most of them still haven't seen the superior US version, philistines! As such I missed out on watching the first season when it aired on the BBC. Not even the mention that HBO was involved in the production made me come out of my shell and take a peek.

But then I saw the first series available for purchase at a ridiculously low price - I can't recall exactly how much, but my mind is telling me it was around three quid. So I decided to give it a go, I'd sat through the experience of H2O in the cinema and that cost more. I'd also seen Gervais's stand up live and that was very good. So how bad could Extras be? Crappy lightning doesn't strike twice, it's too runny.

The short answer is not bad at all, not even in the slightest. Gervais's character Andy Milman is a far more likable and sympathetic individual who manages to be flawed without being an inhuman caricature of a cardboard goblin. He feels quite genuine in his struggle to 'make it' and be recognised as an actor. But more importantly here Gervais is supported by some fantastic actors who are willing to throw themselves into the project. Ashley Jensen plays Maggie Jacobs, a fellow extra like Andy who's also searching to 'make it' or make it with mister right, and she's a lovely character indeed. It's almost heartbreaking to follow her struggle throughout the series, but she remains sweet and funny throughout.

Then there's Stephen Merchant as Andy's rather incompetent agent Darren and Shaun Williamson as Barry "off Eastenders" aka himself. Shaun in particular is a great sport in this, more than willing to send up his career as he shuffles around like a man who's been beaten into submission. And Shaun Pye as Greg, Andy's nemesis, a fellow extra who's talents are recognised and enjoys a meteoric rise while Andy wallows in mediocrity.

But the real star turns are the ones performed by the guest stars each week. Many famous Hollywood and British actors take part in this show, playing often hideously inaccurate and offensive caricatures or stereotypes of themselves with a passion and sense of irony which shows that they're more than willing to send up themselves and famous actors in general. In the first series we have the likes of Ben Stiller, Ross Kemp (who's brilliant as a pretend hard man), Samuel L. Jackson and the brilliant Patrick Stewart (Who's write a script about a man with the ability to change the world with his mind. But just uses it to make women's clothes fall off like a dirty old man. The second series brings us; Orlando Bloom, Keith Chegwin, David Bowie, a fantastic Daniel Radcliffe (as a pervy teenage version of himself), Sir Ian McKellen and Jonathan Ross. While the finale/special brings a host of actors including Clive Owen, George Michael, Gordon Ramsay, David Tennant, Hale & Pace and more besides. While it's no surprise that so many actors are willing to get involved with one of Merchant and Gervais's projects, it's refreshing how willing they are to lampoon themselves on screen.

Extras is a great piece, not just because of the outlandish performances from all the celebrities involved (big or small), but also because of the humanity in the show. Extras are an essential piece of television, they plod along in the background fleshing a scene out, bringing realism to shows, all the time hoping that they might get recognised or even just get a line. And Gervais knows about this business, his experiences in it bring a weight and emotional edge to the show which just isn't present in The Office. This really is a show which tries to celebrate the struggle to become famous and then demonstrates how meaningless it is when you succeed.

Andy's course across the series, culminating in the ultimate humiliation/last ditch remember me experience - the celebrity reality show - is a chilling example of what happens to most people involved in the industry; the machine ignores them until they show ability for making money, then it sucks them in, chews them up and spits them back out. Left with a taste of what was like for a brief moment to be noticed. Andy's speech on Celebrity Big Brother is a powerful one and a great way to close out the entire series.

Extras is a genuine piece of telly culture; a sit-com which manages to be both funny and thought provoking simultaneously. It's something which holds up to repeated viewings and also has something meaningful to say to those watching and the industry itself. Of course; if anyone is listening is another matter entirely, and if Extras is right...

No-one is listening and no-one cares.
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I'm not really sure what to make of Nurse Jackie, Showtime's latest addition to a growing stable of programming. It's a thirty minute hospital comedy drama starring Edie Falco and based around her as the titular nurse - instead of being focused on doctors like the umpteen other drama, comedy and comedy-drama hospital shows. I watched the pilot episode and hadn't really formed an opinion, so I then watched the second episode and still didn't really form a serious opinion. The hour of watching passed by pleasantly enough, neither episode seemed to drag, but by the end of it I was left feeling an hour of my life lighter but none the wiser as to how good the show actually is.

I think the big problem I had is there was no real big punch to either episode, things just kind of happened, some were mildly amusing, nothing was really shocking and the characters are sort of very one dimensional. Of course, this early on in a shows run it's difficult to break the characters down into complex individuals, especially the non-titular ones. My notes about the characters run down as follows; gay male nurse, newbie nurse, British doctor and best friend, problematic young doctor seeking attention, another gay nurse, Jackie's affair doctor, Jackie and her family (husband plus two daughters). That's about as far as I could distinguish them, Jackie herself has a quite a bit going for her on the complexity front, but nothing I haven't seen before elsewhere.

Likewise Jackie isn't doesn't seem to have anything unique about her; she's a drug taking, straight talking, philandering, seen it all before nurse with a heart of gold. Who gets through her days on a mixture of cynicism and prescription drugs. You could almost call her a mixture of House, Cox and Gray in a nurses uniform. But, I also found that she's a bit of a success in some aspects because I didn't automatically judge her negatively which we find out she's married and cheating on her husband. It's good when a character can do bad things without automatically being hated. Some of my very favourite shows have exactly that happening.

Visually the show is quite stunning, there are some great moments, especially the 'cracking the pill' sequence from the pilot episode, a shot of which I've decided to include here.

But it really doesn't do the whole sequence justice. Likewise the opening credits, which first make their appearance in the second episode, are very striking to watch - but I found the theme tune chosen annoying. It was at odds with the appearance of the shows credits, it's rather pushy/aggressive when the credits are more sort of broken window glass in mid flight in style.

Over the pilot and second episode we're treated to multiple drug related scenes, two boob grabs, a deceased biker, fake organ donations, a flushed ear with diplomatic immunity, an affair, a kitchen floor romp in fruity pebbles, the diplomatic ear unflushing itself, newbie nurse throwing up twice and a mother who took her son's safety helmet off him in order to get better skateboarding shots. An eclectic mix of drugs, sex and death - which might well be enough to keep the show interesting, especially if there turns out to be several long term plots built up, a solid sense of time and stronger comedy in future episodes.

Right now I'd call it a mix of House, Gray's Anatomy, Green Wing and Weeds. Which means it might do quite well as it's positioned on Showtime's line up right after Weeds and has several elements in common the show. It's these elements which have one thinking I should keep an eye on this show, Weeds is something I grew to love greatly - in part because of the W.W.V.M.D? A scene which inspired me to go have a T-Shirt made. And in part because of the mix of great camera work, funny moments and ongoing drama. But unlike Weeds, which has several gripping and often funny characters, at the moment only Jackie herself is interesting here.

This is a show which bears watching and might grow into something special as time progresses.

For some additional takes on Nurse Jackie I'd like to recommend Rob Buckley's review over at The Medium is Not Enough and Memles over at Cultural Learnings. Because it's always good to get a second or third opinion on something and Memles makes some interesting comparisons between the structure of the pilot and Mad Men's pilot.

footnote: Eve Best's performance as Dr. Elenor O'Hara is pretty good in this, but her accent is that strange percuiliar creature which seems to exist only when the English are placed in an area surrounded by Americans. It's almost exactly the same accent as the one Tara Summers had in Boston Legal.
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Boston Legal's first season aired back in 2004 and was born out of The Practice's final season - it was created as a spin-off from The Practice, which was sagging in the ratings and so was used (in part) to set up Boston Legal, a show with a mostly different cast and a different flavour to it. Boston Legal ran for five seasons and the first is often considered to be one of the best, if not the finest. But regardless of which season you prefer, Boston Legal is without a doubt one of the best spin-off shows to have aired on telly vision alongside great alumni like Frasier, The Colbert Report, The Simpsons and Happy Days (which reminds me of a brief time I entertained Spin-Off Sunday, a tribute to the greatest spin-offs and a look at some potential fictional ones, maybe I should revive that - if there's interest).

Fresh from the events which closed out The Practice's final season, Alan Shore joins the law firm Crane, Poole and Schmidt which represented him the previous show. He and Tara have both been hired into the firm by Denny which sparks a long and lasting friendship between the two men.

Boston Legal is a light-hearted law based drama with a huge bent for the comedic, at no point does the show ever take itself seriously, many of the court cases are at least slightly humorous in their nature and Denny's antics alone across the seventeen episodes which make up the first season are enough to place the show firmly as 'comedy-drama'. It's got a smart, witty, sexy cast who aren't afraid of looking foolish at times - including greats like Candice Bergen, Rene Auberjonois, Mark Valley and Christian Clemenson (who guest stars in this season).

Over the first season Crane, Poole and Schmidt deal with problems within the law firm and legal cases; dealing with a prominent member of the firm being institutionalised, disturbed ex-lovers, Alzheimer's, a transvestite Santa Claus, Denny being arrested for solicitation, science teachers refusing to teach creationism, Alan hiring men to fight in a bar brawl for him and many more. As you can see this is not a show which shies away from unusual issues, politics and the absurd.

Now, unfortunately for the viewer who wants the complete story arc this set (from FOXTVDVD) fails to include the episodes from the final season of The Practice's eight season which introduced Alan Shore (James Spader), Tara Wilson (Rhona Mitra) and Denny Crane (William Shatner) which some of the other versions of this set do. It's not going to spoil your enjoyment as such, but it is a shame because the performances from Spader and Shatner are just fantastic. It's worth tracking down the final season to watch their performances in my opinion as it's very much the prelude to Boston Legal.

Extras:
Deleted Scenes from the pilot
Court is now in session: How Boston Legal came to be
An Unlikely Pair: Alan Shore and Denny Crane

I've always felt that Boston Legal could do with Mystery Science Theatre 3K style riffing commentary from Alan and Denny - unfortunately this hasn't happened... yet.

Details:
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Rating: 12
Region: 2
Run time 11 hours 37 mins approx
Soundtrack: English 2.0
Subtitles: Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, English HOH
PPM: 4.4
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So the re imagining of Battlestar Galactica is over and the final season is out for DVD on general release. Battlestar Galactica is one of those shows I've had something of a love/hate relationship with, when it's good, it's very good, but when it's bad, it's horrid. Season Three was the biggest culprit for this, containing huge swathes of episodes filled with stuff I just couldn't care less about. Fortunately the final episodes of the third season more than made up for this, and Razor followed by the fourth season continued with many fantastic moments and episodes. It seemed that slimming things down and combining them with the sense of urgency that the end of the line brought really resulted in

At the end of the fourth season boxed set the crew of Galactica along with the human fleet had found Earth a dead planet, destroyed and torn down to ruins and dust. This leaves the fleet without direction and as such the despair is so palpable you can taste it. The final season goes to some truly dark places as humanity, morale and even the fleet begin to fall apart. Some of the episodes in this season are BSG at it's absolute finest, the acting, directing and script all have a sense of urgency and desperation to them which hasn't really been palpable since the start of the third season (and before that in the mini-series & season one). There's a real return to the struggle for survival, but while the Cylons were the largest threat before, now it's the nature of humanity and the stresses of prolonged space travel which rise up.

This season features rebellion, religion, racism and so much more as it touches upon real life issues in the way which BSG does best, true at times the show has in the past handled things a tad ham-fisted, but the final season (for the most part) is a more elegant creation and far more subtle. The show remains true to itself all the way up until it's final moments, but the best episodes are not the final one.

Which brings me to the final episode, which is something of a disappointment, while it does include some fantastic moments, it also suffers from 'repeated endings' a symptom of poor editing which Return of the King also has. This is where a scene is provided which is pretty much a perfect ending, then the show cuts to black for a little too long before opening up with another scene. The final moments of BSG had so many of these that I found myself getting increasingly more irritated as time passed and wishing that the show would just 'hurry up and finish'. That's not really the kind of reaction you want to inspire in a viewer - in comparison the finale of a show like Six Feet Under brought out a profound level of sadness and loss in the viewer, most people who saw that were emotionally crushed and uplifted by the events. BSG's finale instead just brings out irritation and impatience. Which is a shame, because the individual scenes are fantastic and heartfelt - they're just put together badly.

I can't let the massive spoiler sat right on the front cover of this DVD pass without remark, while the 'last supper' imagery used is a spoiler in it's own right it's the tag line which really ruins it. I hadn't seen the last six episodes of BSG when this set was released, and while I could easily make an educated guess as to how it would finish once I read the tag line I knew exactly. Needless to say this spoilt my watching, not as much as the old '24' DVDs which spoiler the events of each disc in the bleeding menu, but still, it shows a lack of thought and concern for the viewer who might have not already watched the season.

So I guess the question remains, is this season a great one and does it close out Battlestar Galactica as well as the show deserves? Fortunately, for the most part, it is. The show remains true to itself all the way until the final moments, it might have a few hiccups near the end but I'm sure knowing how it is edited will make re watching a far more pleasurable experience and BSG is a show worth re watching. Likewise this DVD set is a piece worth having for anyone who's already got the earlier seasons - for the rest of you I'd suggest picking up the complete collection instead.

Extras:
Deleted Scenes
Commentaries
Caprica sneak peak
An unrated version of the episode 'A Disquiet follows my soul'
Ten minute wrap up called 'What the frak is going on with Battlestar Galactica'
A look at the show's sound track with composer Bear McCreary.

Details:
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Rating: 15
Regions: 2, 4 and 5
Soundtrack: English 5.1 and English Stereo
Subtitles: English SDH
Direct Link

Starring:


With:





Read about passing the buck, why you don't mess with Valchek and the price of business beyond the link...

The Recap:

The bodies of the thirteen young women found in the container which The Greek's man Sergei refused to collect (in Ebb Tide) and Frank Sobotka had dumped in the pile are laid out on the floor of a warehouse in white body bags, it’s speculated they are from Eastern Europe and that the air pipe was accidentally crushed during off loading. Doctor Frazier confirms that he will start cutting the bodies for examination this afternoon and asks that any identification found should be passed onto him. He then asks who’s responsible for these bodies, there’s a hesitation and a discussion breaks out, no department or authority wants thirteen Jane Does dumped onto them, statistics and clearances are of huge importance to any Baltimore police department. Baltimore State agrees to ‘eat’ the charge, there is no evidence of foul play so they don’t plan to open a case folder or investigate. Beadie is the one left (figuratively) holding all the paperwork, surrounded by the bodies.

Cue the credits…

The old man is at Little Johnny’s restaurant reading a Turkish paper when Frank and Nicky arrive to talk with them about the dead girls. Frank is understandably upset about this and has harsh words to deliver at an exceptionally calm Vondos. He explains why they did not pick up the cargo and they try to placate him. Frank wanted to know why he wasn’t informed there were live women in there – Vondos enlightens him on a whole range of things which might be in the cans with a joke. Frank tells Vondos next time there are living things in the cans he needs to know and then leaves, Nicky apologises for Frank and leaves as well. Vondos gets up and goes over to talk with the old man.

Brianna Barksdale is talking with her brother Avon about the problems with supplies from New York, Roberto and his men are refusing to deal with the Barksdales because of what’s happened. It’s all over unless Avon knows of a new supply, he puts forward someone from Atlanta, one Vargus, who might be able to sort things out if Stringer talks to him. Brianna then asks about Dee, Avon hasn’t seen him and Dee’s girlfriend Donette is stepping out instead of bringing Dee’s boy to see him every week. Dee paid a high price for the Barksdales and Brianna is afraid he’s being left in the gutter like trash, she wants Dee cared for. Avon promises to do so, once Dee “adjusts” and stops giving him the cold shoulder. But he promises he’ll protect him no matter what.

Bunk is in interview room one eating crabs with McNulty, he moves to open the door and get some air in the room, but McNulty asks him to avoid doing so. If Rawls sees him here he’ll ream him for the stunt he pulled over the floater in the previous episode. Bunk asks him just how much effort it took to stick the body to Homicide and Rawls, McNulty admits to three hours of hard work, and shows no remorse – even though it’s Detective Cole who ends up taking the hit hardest as he’s the one stuck investigating. Bunk then moves onto the pressing need to find Omar for the Gant case, but McNulty is distracted by the news about the thirteen girls found down the port printed on the paper used to wrap the crabs up. Bunk presses about Omar, McNulty needs to deliver.

Tommy “Horseface” is talking with Frank about a can, he claims that the customs seal was broken before the can arrived and the sailors got into it before the stevedores took a little. He’s not talking about The Greek’s can here, but different one. Then Ott walks in, apparently the police are ticketing all the stevedore’s cars.And sure enough, Sergeant Carver is one of the cops out there doing Valchek’s dirty work; all of the stevedores are being hit hard with parking fines for various minor and petty offences. Frank talks a little with him about this, and Carver confirms to Frank that this is all from Valchek and even goes a little further, warning Frank that twice a day this will be happening. Carver just wants to be left alone and cites the old ‘chain of command’.

Wee-Bey’s cell is being tossed over (fun side note, when the adult magazines are found under his mattress the subtitles actually put up ‘BLACK TAIL’ in big, bold, capital letters. I’m not sure why this is – maybe people who are hard of hearing are sometimes unable to read… except for subtitles I guess). Bey is on the prison guard’s shit list because of the charges he copped to previously. Even his tank of plastic fish are tipped onto the floor (remember how much Bey loves the fish from last season?)

The following day, Valchek arrives at the Union office; Horse walks into the office and indicates to Frank that he’s here. Frank heads out to talk with him and Valchek lays it out on the line for him. Vlachek wants the spot Frank got for the stained glass window, Valchek promised a lot of people that his window would be the one to go into that knave. Frank is not moved about this, Valchek mentions that there is another window space which can be used for one of the two windows, he then goes on to warn Frank that he should be the one to move to the less desirable spot. Frank isn’t impressed with threats, he’s known Valchek for a long time (they are both of Polish descent) and he tells him to sling his hook quite graphically. He’s not afraid of Valchek, but maybe he should be.

McNulty is tethering up the boat with Claude, badly I might add, before he heads over to the warehouse to talk with Beadie about the bodies. She’s trying to make sense of identities with he colleagues when he walks in, assuming there is a detective on the case. Beadie and her co-workers confirm that she’s the one dealing with them. He introduces himself and asks a little about the case. He’s curious, but as he’s also McNulty he has a second agenda, he’s interested in a connection between these girls and the Jane Doe floater. Beadie confirms there were fourteen bedrolls, but just thirteen bodies. McNulty then tells her that his was a murder and she was from a foreign country. They then head to have a look inside the can, McNulty is interested in the can and after looking inside he decides to take a look up top. Beadie fills him in on the ins and outs of human smuggling during this, McNulty notices something wrong with the air pipe at the same time as Beadie becomes curious why he’s involved.

Valchek is talking about Sobotka, as he’s looking to apply political pressure to get the window taken out. Valchek is going to lose a lot of face over this if it isn’t rectified. He’s also still curious about the amount of money which was donated, there’s a lot of money going around and Valchek repeats his suspicion that Frank’s into something dirty. He takes a look at the planned apartments for the Grain pier and they talk about Burrell’s possible promotion to Commissioner.

Beadie and McNulty are talking with Doctor Frazier about the bodies and the damage to the air pipe. McNulty feels that the pipe was pounded closed, Frazier wants to talk with the metallurgist to be sure, but it looks like these girls were murdered.

Valchek talks with Burrell in his office about his possible promotion to Commissioner, Valchek promises to help Burrell out with this promotion and in exchange he asks for a detail to be assigned; One which will investigate into a few stevedores, specifically Frank Sobotka. Burrell agrees to six men and six weeks, with Rawls picking who.

Daniels is walking home with his wife, she brought up his career position again, asking him to move out of the police force and consider a career in law. Daniels agrees with her and tells her he’ll put in his papers.


Nicky, Zig and the other stevedores are having breakfast at Delores’s place, if you can call alcohol breakfast anyway. Ziggy then takes Nicky aside and talks to him about a possible deal. White Mike has offered Ziggy a package to deal, Zig wants Nicky to come in on this, providing a little more cash in order to provide a bigger pay off. Nicky isn’t interested and heads out to work. But the stevedores are stopped by Carver and other policemen, they are to be breathalysed for driving under the influence.

In Rawl’s office a representative - Robbie from MSP - is talking to Rawls about the thirteen bodies which have now become homicides. He’s unwilling and unable to deal with this many bodies, but Rawls isn’t willing to eat them because it will drop his clearance rate from 51.6% to 39.4%. Statistics are king here in BPD and he’s unwilling to take anything which will hit him that hard. Also, as Rawls is able to roll that percentage drop off with great ease it shows that he’s already been considering this might happen, someone has warned him about the thirteen bodies in advance. Rawls heads out of his office, observed by Landsman, Lester, Bunk and Cole. Landsman heads over to and stands by Rawls while the rest all watch nervously. They’re all clearly concerned about receiving these thirteen homicides as it will bury their department. Rawls walks back to his door, pauses and pumps his fist to indicate that he’s got them out of this. The relief is palpable.

Avon is approached by a Bey and a guard, is seems that despite Bey’s low status in the prison and lack of stock with the guards Avon has more than enough pull to overcome this. Avon is living in relative comfort compared to Bey’s situation, he’s also willing to keep sending stuff into Bey’s cell no matter what happens. Bey doesn’t mind most of the harassment; it’s what’s happening to the fish which gets to him and also it turns out that Bey’s pleading to the murder of Ladontay is what’s landed him in this situation. Avon promises to help him out over this.

McNulty, Frazier and Beadie are talking about the bodies now that Rawls has refused to take them. Frazier knows the score with regards to McNulty and Rawls and McNulty admits to it much to Beadie’s discomfort. So Frazier and a man from the State Bureau of Mines set to work with the numbers.

Back in prison Avon attempts to talk with Officer Tilghman about Ladonaty, Tilghman is unwilling to talk with him under any circumstances.

McNulty is in the office, he signs a set of papers with a grin on his face and it’s clear he’s found a way to stick Rawls with all thirteen bodies. He sticks the papers into the fax machine while Claude watches him.

Rawls meets again with Robbie over the bodies, it turns out that the women suffocated inside Baltimore City jurisdiction and this means that they will have to eat the homicides and take the loss of their statistics. Rawls attempts to fight this, trying to pass it onto any other department. But they are all united against him in this and so Bunk, Landsman, Cole and the other members of BPD Homicide have to stand and watch thirteen more Jane Does go up on the board in red.

Ziggy meets with White Mike about getting another package, but it turns out that Ziggy screwed up the previous two packages his was given and Mike isn’t willing to give him another chance.

Stringer meets with Avon in prison, he thinks it’s about the supply situation, which is now sorted, but it’s actually about Tilghman. Avon wants him sorted; he also wants Stringer to talk with Donnette about visiting Dee. Stringer wants to know how Dee is doing, Stringer inquires if Dee is still sticking to his plea and hasn’t wandered out of the Barksdale’s influence. Avon confirms he’s under control as he’s family.

Bunk is drinking with McNulty and Freamon. He’s to down fourteen shots, one for each of the homicides he landed on Cole. Freamon and Bunk can see the funny side of this because they haven’t been stuck in this little stunt. Rawls, Cole and Landsman on the other hand have stink all over them from McNulty’s stunt. Freamon tells him he’s buried himself for good for this one, McNulty isn’t worried because there’s nothing worse they could do to him and he’s going to ride the last eleven years on the shelf. McNulty finishes the fourteenth and final shot.

Frank and the other stevedores head out of the station, Frank has managed to bail them all out and admits that the problem is being caused by Stan Valchek. He’s told he needs to handle the situation and he tells them he will before walking off with Nicky.

Bunk and Freamon return to homicide in high spirits when they are met by Landsman, who has his “someone’s going to get shat on and it ain’t me” face on – grinning while he dumps the thirteen bodies on them and moves Cole off to an easier case. Landsman knows Cole won’t be able to clear these cases, so he wants his best two men on it. Cole is thrilled as he hands over the case to them both.

At Ronnie’s place we’re treated to a bit of McNulty side-arse (for the ladies and discerning gentlemen) while she pulls the sheets off a hung over Jimmy. Ronnie berates him a little and then warns him if he shows up at two in the morning ever again then she’ll have the cops haul him off. Ronnie asks McNulty what she means to him, and he replies that they’re good together. She presses for an answer and he tells her that his wide wants to get back together and he’s going to go for it. Ronnie slams the door on him, while all he does is ask for some aspirin.

Horse is at the police car park, he breaks into a surveillance van and hot wires it. Driving it away while a pair of unwitting police officers wave.

Bunk and Freamon walk up the stairs to meet with Beadie, she’s on hold while trying to get the ship held. Rawls has pretty much pissed everyone else off, so all they have to help with the case is Beadie. Freamon tells her to head on out, she asks if they know McNulty and Bunk replies “Yeah, he’s dead to us.”

The detail is assembled for the first time to meet with Valchek in their new offices. Prez is in charge and they are told that they will be heading after Frank. Amongst the people brought in is Detective Polk (remember him from the early part of the first season?) who repeats his line from the first season about overtime, Prez looks around and realises the men he has aren’t great workers – they’re even worse than the first detail appeared to be when Daniels was in charge...

Frank and the other stevedores are thrilled with Horse’s theft of the surveillance van, this is a great way for them to stick it to Valchek, they load the van onto a can and watch it head off for shipping.

Sergei arrives in the port of Philadelphia, the area he pulls into is restricted – but he flashes some i.d. and the guard lets him through with a “Sir”. On board the Atlantic Light the crew have realised the ship is being held. Which is of great concern for one crew member – the shepherd of the girls – he grabs some papers and heads off ship quickly, watched by Sergei. He attempts to run from the car load of men, but he has little chance and is quickly caught, beaten and loaded into the car. The guard watches dispassionately and allows them to leave with the man.

Avon meets with Dee in prison; Dee has turned to snorting coke on the inside. Avon asks after him and tells him that they need to talk. The alarm sounds for lock up and Avon leaves.

Beadie, Lester and Bunk arrive at the Atlantic Light to talk about the crew. It costs the hauling company massive amount each day the ship is held, but it’s a crime scene and Bunk doesn’t care about the costs to some company.

Sergei is beating on the man they captured, who is now sat on a chair naked. The man claims to know no English and know nothing about the girls. The door opens and another man walks in. As he reaches the top of the stairs we find out that it is the old man from the diner. He tells Sergei to get the man his clothes and then offers the man a cigarette. He talks with the man, asking about what happened to the girls. They converse a little in Turkish and then switch to English. The old man tells him that once he learns about what happened then they’re done.

The sailor proceeds to tell the story about what happened on the Atlantic Light. The girls were allowed out for a breath of fresh air and the sailors wanted to use their services. But one of the girls did not want to do this any more, so one of the other sailors got rough with her and killed her. The other girls saw what happened and he panicked, but apparently another man killed them all. The old man then tells them he gave him his word just as Vondros cuts the sailor’s throat. He dies slowly and The Greek (the old man) tells them to make sure the body has no fingerprints and no face. Vondros and The Greek leave Sergei to deal with the disposal.

------

The Review:

Much like Ebb Tide previously, Collateral Damage is another episode title with multiple indications and meanings. This time there are a lot of examples of collateral damage spread across the episode; Bunk directly refers to Cole as being it during the crab eating with McNulty. But there is also the girls in the can, Beadie, Bunk and Freamon – who’s stuck with the case, the stevedores themselves who are suffering collateral damage from many sources, not just the bodies, but the changes in the American work life, and from Frank’s feud with Valchek. Frank Sobotka himself has been hit hard with collateral damage from the dead girls and also in the fallout around the church windows – but that is at least in part something he brought on himself. Valchek is a small, petty man who doesn’t care who gets hurt when someone gets in his way and this, combined with the huge amount of power he wields, means he’s able and willing to trample a lot of people into the dirty in the pursuit of revenge. Frank is quite aware of this, but it seems he’s too proud to back down in the face of a ‘small minded punk’.

Much like Ebb tide previously Collateral Damage is an episode which continues to force the viewer to either sink or swim. It continues to follow the fresh new characters for a large amount of it's plot, while also bringing back characters from the previous season. Even with a large amount of viewings under the belt it can be difficult to recall who's who. I especially have difficulty with the names of the minor characters, there are just so many of them to keep a track of and it's rare that these characters refer to each other by name enough to allow the viewer to cement their names in their head. For example, I didn't recall Brianna's name until Avon used it, I knew exactly who she was and where she fit in with the Barksdales, but her name was beyond me. Same problem with Ott, I recognise him on sight but his name is always beyond reach until I go back and look at the cast list I have written up to remind me of who's who.

I actually do like this density to the show, yes it's hard work for most and sometimes you'll just end up giving up and following the flow until things stick, but it brings an additional level of realism and strength to the show.

The main things to note in this are the continued persistence of hubris for several characters. McNulty is the prime example of this, no matter how deep he is in the shit box he continues to dig himself in further. Previously he was driven by a desire to prove himself better than Stringer and the Barksdales, now he's doing it to screw with Rawls, partially for revenge but also almost certainly to prove to himself that he's better than Rawls. Fortunately while his motives are less than pure, the result is the right one. Once again, without McNulty's personal agenda another crime would go completely unnoticed. Yes he's a gigantic, egotistical, martyr complex driven arsehole - but he's also a cataylst for a lot of good. That's the position I see McNulty in for the most part, he's the primary catalyst for the events and the investigations, without his prescence all that would of happened is these girls would have been written up as accidental murders. Just like in the first season, without McNulty the Barksdales would still be in full operation almost unnoticed by the BPD.

Frank's another person with a major hubris, in his case it's pride, in himself and his union. If he had just backed down from Valchek and accepted that he should move his window, then Valchek wouldn't have bent Burrell's ear and got Prez assigned to a detail looking into Sobotka. Remember Prez has learnt a lot from Freamon and Daniels in the Barksdale investigation, it's unlikely he's going to want to do a half-arsed job, which is what he expressed to Valchek in Ebb Tide.

I would like to quickly acknowledge that this is another appearance for Eric Todd Dellums as Doctor Frazier, Eric also appeared in Homicide: Life on the Street as the major kingpin Luther Mahoney, he’s wonderfully underused in The Wire as Doctor Frazier, especially for an actor of his brilliance. He appeared in the first season when dealing with the William Gant case and it's great to see him return here. But David Simon likes to use some of the same actors from one series to the next, I guess it's because he's dealing with a known quantity then, while also rewarding people who've worked with him previously.

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Carnivale is an unusual beast in the world of television; airing between 2003 and 2005 and set in the American dust bowl during the great depression era but the events of that time are only lightly touched upon. Instead the show focuses on a travelling circus, a priest and a supernatural struggle between good and evil. Originally the show was planned to run for six seasons, with each "pair" of seasons telling a tale in the trilogy and while cancellation resulted in just the one full story being told. This story is still an absolute dooz and warrants attention.

Carinvale is a deeply distinctive show; every aspect, from it's look all the way to it's music speaks as an unusual and striking piece of work. The show tells a series of self contained stories in each episode combined with and over-reaching arc told between two separate and distinct plot lines. The first of which deals with the carnivale itself and the one of the lead character Ben's (Nick Stahl) experiences with the travelling folk, the second deals with a deeply religious man - Brother Justin Crowe, who is played with a high level of competency and skill by Clancy Brown.

Over the course of the two seasons we come to know more about Ben and the people he joins and starts travelling with in the carnivale; there is Samson (Michael J. Anderson ), the diminutive ringleader and nominal head of the troupe. But he answers to the Management, a mysterious individual who lives entirely inside a caravan and may or may not exist - many suspect Samson created Management as a fiction and in truth he is the management. There's the snake charmer Ruthie (Adrienne Barbeau), Tim DeKay is Jonesy the co-manager, Patrick Bauchau is Professor Lodz - blind mentalist of great ability and then there is the catatonic seeress Apolloina and her daughter Sofie (Clea DuVall) who reads and interprets for her - but there are also a host of other characters involved in the carnivale, both as stars and as reoccurring guest stars.

The cast in Brother Crowe's story is smaller, mostly centered around himself, his sister Iris (Amy Madigan), a second priest Reverand Normand Balthas (Ralph Waite), Eleanor McGill (K Callan) and Tommy Dolan (Robert Knepper) a local radio. We learn much of his life, his gradual discovery of the power inside him and his acceptance of his position. Clancy gives an exceptional performance as Brother Crowe, avoiding many of the stereotypical aspects his character could have shown and instead giving us a magnetic and interesting man who draws the viewer in and carries them along for the ride.

The visuals of the show are as stunning, if not more so, than the plot and the authenticity of the series. Carnivale is a show which looks the part, you can almost taste the ever present dust and dryness which cloys everything in some scenes. The costumes are great, the sets are just stunning and everything feels very real. Apart from the strong supernatural bent to the show this is something which paints a very real picture of the 1930s Dust Bowl existence.

There's a great deal of depth to the show; much of the mythology in the show is quite profound and subtle at times. It's not entirely clear as to who stands for what and you only find out as time progresses over the two seasons. Gradually the meta-plot moves forward and the show brings events to a head in it's final few episodes. Resulting in a satisfying collision of plot lines. The show is also very authentic outside of it's supernatual areas, and has been praised for this authenticity by experts. In some ways it is a distant kin to Deadwood, there are parallels which can be drawn between the two shows - especially in the attention to detail and authentic nature of the shows.

Now there is one large warning which has to be delivered when talking about Carnivale and I touched on it earlier, the cancellation of the show. Because this project was conceived and designed as a long term story, there will be certain threads left hanging at the end of the second season and never resolved. You'll just have to steel yourself against the mysteries and accept that not everything is explained. In truth the cancellation is a shame, because while Carnivale does have it's flaws it also has a very unique and gripping vision. There is also some hope it will be finished in some form as Daniel Knauf has not yet given up trying. Unfortunately HBO still own the rights to the show and are refusing to do anything with them, and considering the climate of the media currently, they are unlikely to do so.

This warning aside, Carinvale is still a piece which is worth watching thanks to it's unusual style and unique vision.


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I was a little astounded and somewhat ashamed when I looked at the page of contents and realised a glaring omission in the W section. One which I intend to correct today by looking at the boxed set for the fifth and final season of The Wire.

I've written a lot about The Wire elsewhere on this site and later (probably next year) I shall go into the fifth season in more detail. But here I'll go with a simple and mostly spoiler free rendition of the shows final season. A season which looks at the final piece in the puzzle - the last part in David Simon's portrait "Death of the American city" - a season which examines the role of the media in reporting and influencing events while also looking at the decline in journalism due at least in part to the advent of the Internet.

Still, be warned this must contain spoilers about events from the previous four seasons and they start below...


In the city of Baltimore Marlo Stanfeld's star continues to rise; over the fourth season he cemented his position as the top dog in West Baltimore, filling the void left by the Barksdales - who more or less tore each other apart in the show's third season. With the help of Snoop and Chris he's placed a firm grip on the drug trade and with the despicable (and untouchable) Maurice Levy he's set in a powerful position.

In this world the young lads we first met in the fourth season; Dukie, Michael, Randy and Namond have moved at least partially their own ways. Namond has done the best, the interest in him placed by Howard "Bunny" Colvin has seen him moved away from the streets, Michael and Dukie are working in the Stanfeld Organisation as low level dealers and Randy has been put into a foster home.

McNulty has returned to homicide (partnered again with Bunk) after spending the fourth season sidelined but content as a foot patrolman. Bodies murder at the end of the previous season brought him back, determined to do something - this drive fuels a lot of his actions over the season and those actions affect the others around him profoundly. Omar Little has retired from the business and is no longer living in Baltimore.

The big block of characters introduced in this season are the journalists from the Baltimore Sun; the most one being Clark Johnson as "Gus" Haynes, but the others have their parts to play.

Meanwhile, on the streets Bubbles struggles with his long search for redemption.


I'll get this out of the way first, the fifth season is not The Wire's finest season; that spot remains in the hands of the fourth season with a nod to the third which in my opinion is pretty close behind. While the fourth season managed to bring in the four young lads, introduce us to them and immediately draw us into their situation, the fifth season mostly fails to do that with the newspaper cast. Personally, while I get why they're introduced and what the "point" to their presence in the season is. I feel the season would have been better served if the media had been introduced earlier in the shows run as a more dominant plot force.

A lot of the scenes set in the newspaper offices drag - they're not all bad times; Clark's performance as Gus is superb, Jimmy's interactions with Scott Templeton and Mike Fletcher's report on Bubbles's struggle are good. But the rest of them remain very undeveloped, especially when you consider the amount of screen time they receive.

But it's not all negative; the rest of the show remains strongly on message and delivers some truly fantastic moments, finally culminating in a superb finale which manages to rank itself as the third best show finale I've ever seen (behind Six Feet Under and in first place The Shield). The show ends well and the journey getting there was well worth the effort. It's just a shame this season isn't the shows finest one (it's possibly the weakest) - but it still stands far ahead of just about anything else on television and as such it is a must have work.

Extras:
"The Wire: The Last Word" - A documentary looking at the role of the media
"The Wire Odussey" - A retrospective look back at the first four seasons
Audio Commentaries on six episodes.

Details:
Aspect Ratio: 5.1 and 2.0
Audio: 1.33:1
Languages: English, French
Rating: 15
Region: 2
Run time: 10 Hours 22 Mins approx
Subtitles: English, French, Dutch, Danish, Finniish, Greek, Hungarian, Norwegian, Portugese, Swedish
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Life is a police procedural show which runs on NBC, starring Damian Lewis as Charlie Crews - a detective who was imprisoned wrongfully for murder and finally released and cleared of all charges twelve years later. As part of his settlement he's reinstated to the force; with a new outlook on life, fifty million dollars, a new appreciation for fruit and the determination to find out

Life's first season is something of a grower, it starts off strongly and then flounders a little before solidifying into something truly special. The core cast is small, but performances from all of them are nothing short of superb. Charlie is partnered with Dani Reese (Sarah Shahi) who's a tough, competent and independent woman with a few problems - she's a recovering addict and her father might be involved in the people who framed Charlie. Then there's Ted Earley (Adam Arkin) who lives in Charlies home and works his accounts; Ted and Charlie met on the inside, Ted was locked up for embezzling pensions. Robin Weigert is Lieutenant Karen Davis, Charlie's commanding officer seeking for a reason to have him fired. And Brent Sexton rounds out the cast as Charlie's ex-partner Robert Stark.

The first season of Life runs for eleven episodes, each episode is a self contained case but there is also an overarching story involving Charlie's burning desire to find out who actually committed the murder he was framed for and why he was framed. His driven need to do this sometimes interferes with his ability to work smoothly and without incident.

Over the course of these eleven episodes we're introduced to a wide range of cases, some of which are very intriguing and all of which have the stunning and stylistic visual shots which Life loves to employ. Charlie and Dani will investigate a fallen "angel", half a man standing by a fridge, a buried alive Zen instructor and more besides. Many of these cases are quite interesting in their own manner, which is very important when you're dealing with a procedural show - you need to have gripping stories which can run in around forty minutes if you're going to be a success. Life manages it with increasing confidence as the season develops: "Farthingale" is an excellent episode, but the crowning moment is the final two episodes "Dig a Hole" and "Fill it up".

There is a lot to like about Life, but it's not a perfect construct. The small cast does put a lot of pressure onto Damien Lewis's performance, fortunately he delivers, but this is an issue - personally I find shows which focus too heavily on one character risking too many eggs at once. There are also parallels which can be drawn between the character of Charlie Crews and one Doctor Gregory House, and while I personally don't have any issues with this, it might irritate some.

Still, if you're looking for a beautiful, stylish, police procedural which switches things up a little and takes the stereotypical "quirky main sleuth" in a new direction Life's first season is something you should consider checking out.

Extras:
Life Begins
Fruits of Life
Still Life
Life's Questions Answered
Deleted Scenes
Blooper Reel
Audio Commentary with Cast and Crew

Details:
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:!
Rating: 15
Regions: 2, 4 & 5 PAL
Run time: 7 Hours 36 Mins approx (Extras: 22 mins)
Soundtrack: 5.1 English
Subtitles: None
PPM: 4.4
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