If the facts don’t fit a scene, she just gently pushes them aside to focus on the drama. This is the only time Morgan falls down, I think. They interview him without his lawyer present, which no police officer would ever do, not even a maverick one. The only clanging howler is River and Ira’s visit to the young murder suspect in prison. He’s a half-Jewish, half-Muslim detective constable with a nice line in hangdog expressions and dry one-liners. As if all of this wasn’t enough to take in, unassuming acting powerhouse Adeel Akhtar (you might remember him as the conspiracist Wilson Wilson from Utopia) arrives as River’s new partner Ira King. The ghost of Stevie isn’t pale or other-worldly: she sits in his passenger seat sucking milkshake through a straw, ruminating on the current case as though she is still alive.Īt the centre of it all is Skarsgård in the form of his life, internalising nearly everything and leaking just enough inner turmoil to utterly convince. River’s been reading about him and his rather unpleasant ideas, but I’m assuming that this is the last we’ll see of him after River decided to silence his angry ranting once and for all.īack on the balcony, River’s superior, played by Lesley Manville, tells him to get counselling, and we find out that Stevie’s murder happened only three weeks ago.įor a dour, Scandi-inspired detective drama, the world is actually quite colourful – and all the more believable for it. Then we meet the ghastly Thomas Neill Cream, the infamous Lambeth Poisoner, played with relish by Eddie Marsan. It’s nice to be left to work things out for yourself for once. And I like that it wasn’t all explained with exposition-heavy dialogue. When this week’s murder victim (who turned out not to have been murdered) sits at his dining table, telling him she needs to pack for university, I assumed it was his daughter. His other imaginary friends, temporary residents in that rather crowded mind palace, start to pop up. Once we know that Stevie is dead (but not a ghost, River is clear about that) River’s internal world is unleashed on to the screen. I like the way it’s branded like a traditional cop show but then pulls the rug out from under you quite suddenly. The shot of the Thames at night and the River logo over the top gives no hint of the emotional wrench that is to come.
She must have done, because I wanted to yell when she killed Stevie off. Even the singing in the car and the later throwback to it in the karaoke booth had me grinning from ear to ear.Īnother writer could have overdone it, made it syrupy, but I think Morgan judges their friendship beautifully. She annoys him but he loves her, loves to be annoyed by her. It gave no hint of the reveal to come and allowed us (perhaps rather cruelly) to invest in their relationship: the stern, undemonstrative Swede and his clever, funny sidekick. I also loved the completely unassuming set-up of their relationship in that visit to the drive-through burger bar. The man in his sights is, he thinks, responsible for ripping out his soul. As soon as he spots the car you can see from Stellan Skarsgård’s insanely expressive eyes this is more than just a pursuit of a murder suspect.