Desperate Measures

I really enjoyed this show. I work 12hr shifts and some of those shifts I need something decent to watch that kills the time. Desperate Measures helped assist me with this. If you want a Drama/Crime/Thriller based genre, that's what you'll get here. If you want Action or Horror, you'll be disappointed. However, I like the tensions and the pace of suspense - that's what kept me entertained throughout. I'm up to Episode 2 and am aiming to finish the entire series binge watching as this show is a good binge watch session. Do yourself a favour and give it a shot because I was almost going to skip past this one because I'm glad I didn't.

This series is very good, I enjoyed it.

The fact is 4 episodes long which is the perfect length for this storyline.

A good person, a mother of a son who made bad choices, is forced to take "desperate measures" to get her son back.

Screenplay is very good and the story progresses well.

It has twists and turns leaving the viewer keen to watch what happens next.

Very good casting who deliver good performances.

The actor playing the main villain is quite believable in his role.

Storyline also shows how banks can be so insensitive to their employees as they are obsessed with the financial side and profits.

Overall, a very good series !

When a plot requires unbelievable coincidences to drive it forward it risks breaking the viewers immersion, 'what's the chances of that happening!??', we wonder. Desperate Measures does this again and again, in fact I counted five consecutive major plot points all occurring in a single day within the story that included massively unlikely coincidences.

The plot then, is utter nonsense.

'So what?' some reviewers react...'it's not a documentary!'. No, it's not, but isn't a central reason we watch drama the desire to immerse ourselves in a fiction? If the writing pulls us out of this immersion, it's not working is it?

As for the acting, it's a mixed bag, the lead character, Rowan, is played by Abigail Abbington and she does a decent job, managing to just about keep a straight face and make the most of some pretty flat and uninspired dialogue. Sunetra Sarker is okay too, as Rowan's best friend and work colleague. The main 'baddy' looked like an emaciated Mr Bean and was about as intimidating, whilst the detective, played by Jonathan Nyati, might have been aiming for a 'strong, silent type' but was simply wooden and dull.

On the plus side, the whole thing rattles along at a reasonable pace and is entertaining. Whilst the lack of believability means an almost total lack of tension, I did still want to know how the story would resolve itself.

One of the reasons I write reviews is to keep track of what I watch and remind myself how I reacted to it. I have a suspicion that Desperate Measures is one of those mini-series that, in six months time, I will struggle to remember a single thing about. Maybe that's a reflection of my ailing memory but more likely this is symptomatic of a genre partially designed like fast food - don't think about it too much, just consume and enjoy in the moment.

Amanda Abbington did her best as a cashier who comes under suspicion when her bank is robbed but she had too little support to save the show.

Production values were poor, not sure where it was meant to be set, but it was shot in Hungary, for budget reasons I guess? Main problem was the cast, there were some awful actors in this, e.g. Her wooden boss and the HR woman, the baddies, her son and his friends etc.

The script was also weak and clunky, it was a potboiler plot full of improbablities with nothing original.

One you can safely give a swerve, it was terrible all round. Find something better and don't waste your time.

"Desperate Measures" suffers from having an illogical and, frankly, impossible plot. The villain is akin to a cartoon character while the bank manager and police officer are little different. That said, the principal characters do their best with what they've been given - ridiculous plot, a plethora of unlikely circumstances, and a fairly mundane script.

A less likely gang of bank robbers is not just hard to imagine, it's impossible to imagine. How a nervous bank cashier is transformed into their leader is a question better not even asked. However, if all of the impossibilities and other failings are put to one side, the series can be watched and even enjoyed. The story does move along at a decent pace and is interesting despite being so implausible. Rather oddly, I found myself reasonably gripped despite its deficiencies, and award it a 5, which somewhat surprises me.