Writer: Neil Cross
Director: John Strickland
Cast: Andrew Buchan (John Mercer), Jody Latham (Calum McKenzie), Saskia Reeves (Andrea Greene), Ciaran McMenamin (Scott Glover), Sebastian Abineri (George Rickard), Peter Mullan (Lenny Douglas), Barnaby Kay (Danny Spader), Francesca Fowler (Marie Greene), Tamzin Outhwaite (Rose Chamberlain), Liz White (Jess) & Sarah Ball (Patsy)
Lenny wants Mercer to eliminate a man who murdered a young woman, but escaped conviction...
Amusingly scheduled against BBC1's Crimewatch last night, The Fixer's unique brand of justice is proving to be an enjoyable cocktail of grit, grins and grimaces. I'm still not very interested in John Mercer's (Andrew Buchan) relationship with sister Jess (Liz White) at the moment, and the presence of Rose (Tamzin Outhwaite) is mostly extraneous, but the plots are compelling and sparks fly whenever Buchan, Jody Latham and Peter Mullan lock horns...
Episode 4 concerns grieving mother Andrea (Saskia Reeves), whose daughter Marie (Francesca Fowler) was allegedly killed by a criminal called Scott Glover (Ciaran McMenamin), who walked free from court because of an inept prosecution. Lenny (Mullan) tasks Mercer with eliminating Glover, but while Mercer waits in a toilet cubicle to carry out the deed, he overhears Glover and a reporter called Danny Spader (Barnaby Kay), who apparently has incriminating surveillance footage of Glover and Marie. After a scuffle in the loos, Danny accidentally discovers Mercer's hiding place and flees the scene – but not before taking a photo of Mercer on his camera-phone.
As Danny tries to uncover the identity of the toilet hitman for his upcoming expose on the Glover case, Mercer relocates Irishman Glover in a hotel room, but decides to spare his life when Glover persuades him he might be innocent – and just a pawn in a more elaborate plot. Mercer goes against Lenny's wishes by keeping Glover alive, tying him to a chair and blindfolding him in an abandoned building, while he tries to uncover the truth himself.
After confiding in Rose, who manages to trace Danny's address, Mercer and Calum arrive to find the journo has been shot in the head. It transpires that Lenny is actually acting on behalf of a cop called George Rickard (Sebastian Abineri), who used Marie as a bait to reel in her villainous boyfriend, a dangerous man called Dave Paling, who was acquainted with Glover (a known police informant). Paling grew paranoid and suspicious of his girlfriend Marie and -- wrongfully suspecting she was being unfaithful – had her raped and had accomplice Glover kill her; a deed he claims he was forced to do to maintain his cover as an informant.
Once Mercer realizes killing Glover is really about preventing the truth getting out and muddying the reputation of the police, he's upset to hear that Marie's mother Andrea has attempted suicide – so kills Glover, and goes to Andrea's hospital bedside to tell her the awful truth. Off the record.
It's another rock solid instalment (even if it relies on a common plot-device these days -- of putting the most likely suspect in the frame immediately, trying to convince you they might be innocent for most of the episode, before admitting your first impressions were right.) But I like the way The Fixer keeps its plot motoring along (with some punchy climaxes for the ad breaks), and the lack of "red tape" in a crime drama is very refreshing. The morals of the show are in a grey area, and tension is nicely built between Buchan, Mullan, Outhwaite and Latham.
This episode was especially notable for its thematic link with mothers, as Calum mused over his own estranged mother in a subplot --revealing to Mercer that he knows she works in a pub. At the end of the episode, Calum arrives in a pub and talks to middle-aged barmaid Patsy (Sarah Ball), who I thought was one of many pub workers Calum speaks to (in a desperate pub-to-pub search to find his mum), but was I right in thinking she actually was his mother, but just didn't know? He mentioned his "friend Calum" and where they grew up, but it didn't seem to inspire much recognition from her. Maybe the exact circumstances of Calum leaving home have yet to be revealed – and will give us a reason for why she wouldn't recognize him. If Patsy was his mother. It was all rather ambivalent.
It was also fun to see Mercer teaching Calum how to cook and get domesticated around the house, as the show benefits from a sense of growing friendship. Teams that don't trust or like each other are certainly complex and unpredictable beasts, but also difficult to care about. Am I alone in wishing Lenny and Mercer would reach a more easygoing alliance, too? I know drama is conflict, but dysfunctional teams are also a bit distancing. A balance would be nice.
Overall, I really liked this episode. The plot was simple to follow, but not empty-headed, and it sustained its hour very well. But, perhaps more importantly for The Fixer as a whole, the characters are beginning to connect better. Liz White even came to life as Mercer's milquetoast sister Jess, despite it looking like she'd had a sudden personality transplant. Where has Jess' emotions about her brother killing the family who raped her been hiding till now? She was so unassuming just last week! Mind you, a later scene finds Jess embracing Mercer and becoming the forgiving little sister again.
Oh, and I hope the writers can settle on a proper role for Tamzin Outhwaite's character (who spends most of this episode naked in a towel -- for no particular reason). Rose has a police background, so shouldn't she be employing some of that training and inside knowledge to help Mercer's missions?
31 March 2008
ITV1, 9.00 pm
Director: John Strickland
Cast: Andrew Buchan (John Mercer), Jody Latham (Calum McKenzie), Saskia Reeves (Andrea Greene), Ciaran McMenamin (Scott Glover), Sebastian Abineri (George Rickard), Peter Mullan (Lenny Douglas), Barnaby Kay (Danny Spader), Francesca Fowler (Marie Greene), Tamzin Outhwaite (Rose Chamberlain), Liz White (Jess) & Sarah Ball (Patsy)
Lenny wants Mercer to eliminate a man who murdered a young woman, but escaped conviction...Amusingly scheduled against BBC1's Crimewatch last night, The Fixer's unique brand of justice is proving to be an enjoyable cocktail of grit, grins and grimaces. I'm still not very interested in John Mercer's (Andrew Buchan) relationship with sister Jess (Liz White) at the moment, and the presence of Rose (Tamzin Outhwaite) is mostly extraneous, but the plots are compelling and sparks fly whenever Buchan, Jody Latham and Peter Mullan lock horns...
Episode 4 concerns grieving mother Andrea (Saskia Reeves), whose daughter Marie (Francesca Fowler) was allegedly killed by a criminal called Scott Glover (Ciaran McMenamin), who walked free from court because of an inept prosecution. Lenny (Mullan) tasks Mercer with eliminating Glover, but while Mercer waits in a toilet cubicle to carry out the deed, he overhears Glover and a reporter called Danny Spader (Barnaby Kay), who apparently has incriminating surveillance footage of Glover and Marie. After a scuffle in the loos, Danny accidentally discovers Mercer's hiding place and flees the scene – but not before taking a photo of Mercer on his camera-phone.
As Danny tries to uncover the identity of the toilet hitman for his upcoming expose on the Glover case, Mercer relocates Irishman Glover in a hotel room, but decides to spare his life when Glover persuades him he might be innocent – and just a pawn in a more elaborate plot. Mercer goes against Lenny's wishes by keeping Glover alive, tying him to a chair and blindfolding him in an abandoned building, while he tries to uncover the truth himself.
After confiding in Rose, who manages to trace Danny's address, Mercer and Calum arrive to find the journo has been shot in the head. It transpires that Lenny is actually acting on behalf of a cop called George Rickard (Sebastian Abineri), who used Marie as a bait to reel in her villainous boyfriend, a dangerous man called Dave Paling, who was acquainted with Glover (a known police informant). Paling grew paranoid and suspicious of his girlfriend Marie and -- wrongfully suspecting she was being unfaithful – had her raped and had accomplice Glover kill her; a deed he claims he was forced to do to maintain his cover as an informant.
Once Mercer realizes killing Glover is really about preventing the truth getting out and muddying the reputation of the police, he's upset to hear that Marie's mother Andrea has attempted suicide – so kills Glover, and goes to Andrea's hospital bedside to tell her the awful truth. Off the record.
It's another rock solid instalment (even if it relies on a common plot-device these days -- of putting the most likely suspect in the frame immediately, trying to convince you they might be innocent for most of the episode, before admitting your first impressions were right.) But I like the way The Fixer keeps its plot motoring along (with some punchy climaxes for the ad breaks), and the lack of "red tape" in a crime drama is very refreshing. The morals of the show are in a grey area, and tension is nicely built between Buchan, Mullan, Outhwaite and Latham.
This episode was especially notable for its thematic link with mothers, as Calum mused over his own estranged mother in a subplot --revealing to Mercer that he knows she works in a pub. At the end of the episode, Calum arrives in a pub and talks to middle-aged barmaid Patsy (Sarah Ball), who I thought was one of many pub workers Calum speaks to (in a desperate pub-to-pub search to find his mum), but was I right in thinking she actually was his mother, but just didn't know? He mentioned his "friend Calum" and where they grew up, but it didn't seem to inspire much recognition from her. Maybe the exact circumstances of Calum leaving home have yet to be revealed – and will give us a reason for why she wouldn't recognize him. If Patsy was his mother. It was all rather ambivalent.
It was also fun to see Mercer teaching Calum how to cook and get domesticated around the house, as the show benefits from a sense of growing friendship. Teams that don't trust or like each other are certainly complex and unpredictable beasts, but also difficult to care about. Am I alone in wishing Lenny and Mercer would reach a more easygoing alliance, too? I know drama is conflict, but dysfunctional teams are also a bit distancing. A balance would be nice.
Overall, I really liked this episode. The plot was simple to follow, but not empty-headed, and it sustained its hour very well. But, perhaps more importantly for The Fixer as a whole, the characters are beginning to connect better. Liz White even came to life as Mercer's milquetoast sister Jess, despite it looking like she'd had a sudden personality transplant. Where has Jess' emotions about her brother killing the family who raped her been hiding till now? She was so unassuming just last week! Mind you, a later scene finds Jess embracing Mercer and becoming the forgiving little sister again.
Oh, and I hope the writers can settle on a proper role for Tamzin Outhwaite's character (who spends most of this episode naked in a towel -- for no particular reason). Rose has a police background, so shouldn't she be employing some of that training and inside knowledge to help Mercer's missions?
31 March 2008
ITV1, 9.00 pm
