A pizza delivery guy is suddenly shot in the head as he’s walking back to his motorbike in a London suburb. Military style. But before that, let me note that Carey Mulligan’s face has always been arresting— apart from her being a terrific actress. But her soft features initially feels wrong for the role of a detective inspector.
But it turns out, as the pilot episode of “Collateral” unravels, that the BAFTA Award-winning—and Oscar-nominated—actress’ face, both gentle and scrutinizing, is the only thing that will keep you moderately interested. Otherwise, your mind will tend to wander to random thoughts from time to time, like will your cat survive the unbearable summer heat?
“Collateral,” by renowned British playwright David Hare, is not a crime mystery. It’s a dull lecture on the European refugee crisis disguised as a crime-thriller. Mulligan’s Kip Glaspie takes the murder case and and is sucked into the world of illegal immigrants, and you immediately get it: a melodramatic education on their plight.
The pilot episode already provides you with the feel of the entire series. A politically driven narrative that paints its characters as caricatures— sketchy portraits of a politician, an immigrant, a military woman.
And, like most TV series these days, it clamors for a stamp of approval by forcefully incorporating an LGBTQ element— a woman priest with a migrant female lover, and a bishop with a boyfriend who works at a sauna.
The depiction of undocumented workers trying to survive in England begs for your sympathy in a somewhat cloying fashion, like the tearful pizza manager with an ill mother. It feels emotionally manipulative, and the characters, except for Mulligan, don’t provide enough impression to make you follow them to the second episode.
The killer is immediately revealed in the first episode, and you mildly get intrigued by the death of the pizza guy, which is clearly just the tip of an iceberg of a conspiracy. Will I stream the next episode? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe when I get bored. Because I prefer a crime mystery with a political discourse as backdrop— not the other way around.
Pilot episode: 2 out of 5 stars
Now streaming on Netflix
Now streaming on Netflix
Comments