Public Enemies

Characters are the important thing here; everything else is sidelined. None of them will be indifferent to you, some you won’t agree with, but you will always understand why they do what they do. Be it the victim’s family, someone made redundant after years of service, or a social worker. The emotions suppressed for years, that clash between saving the public good versus helping a specific person or that everyday struggle about balancing potential risks and trust... The characters will simply become truly important for you; and they are so wonderfully played too. And this makes the final approx. fifteen seconds even more of an undignified spit in the face of the viewer. Too bad, or I would have given it higher marks. And I say this even despite episode one, which was by far the best (not that the other two were actually bad), despite the crime storyline which, despite not being the most important thing here, didn’t have to be so transparent. (09.01.2012)