Seesaw

Mawkish, stilted, amateurish. Acting was good but the parents were poorly cast. The premise and the outcomes were foolish. Altogether a silly portrayal of a serious subject.

This miniseries was a surprise. Quiet, intense, unpredictable. What I have been conditioned to "expect next" didn't come; what I predicted would bring about the conclusion, did not. I enjoyed it quite a lot. And with some good acting along the way. And David Suchet, always enjoyable.

This was the main thought that ran through my mind as I laboured through this movie. And indeed it held true, for although the movie as a whole was quite slow, it was a solid story and held a few twists which came as a pleasant but not stunning surprise. A family win a car in a raffle, are featured on the front page of the local newspaper and unwittingly this sets them up for a couple who "have nothing" to strike at the family that "has everything" by kidnapping and ransom. The "good" and "bad" guys here were a real mix of greys, so you couldn't quite decide which way to let your loyalties flow. All up it was an interesting few hours spent watching people dealing with a traumatic event and financial and emotional losses and there after effects.

This carefully narrated TV film offers a reasonably coherent insight into people's feelings and reactions when a member of the household is kidnapped for ransom. For this reason `disquieting' is an apt term to use. Too often we hear on the news how children have disappeared: anger swells, especially when the kids are found murdered. And one cannot help thinking `how can such terrible people exist? Why isn't there a prison on some remote island without water or electricity where these drop-outs can be put away forever?

Especially in the first hour the story is gripping. Good playing here by the young Joanna Potts in an evidently difficult part, more or less ably supported by the rest of the cast.

Entering into the second hour the story seems to take on a long-winded detour which at times is unnecessary, and the third hour turns up some highly unlikely coincidences. However, bear with it, as the exploration of the family's agonizing feelings is well carried out. This TV production makes every decent person feel very very strongly about child abductions, pedophile activity and so on.

My main complaint is that as this is a Scottish TV production, I would have preferred it to have been made in Scotland – NOT in London!

This was pretty stupid, all the way around. Poor screenplay, direction, acting, a familiar kidnapping story, and more.

The tone was frequently off, such as the wife and husband having a nostalgic conversation WHILE their daughter's missing, having been kidnapped, and the wife tells the husband fondly, "You're a mensch." Um, what the heck with this inane dialogue in this context?!

In goes on in this very strange vein: Something terrible's just happened, and one family member is clearly traumatized, but the 3/4 of her family are all smiles and giggles, fawning at/on her?! The reaction should've been concern and relief, not grins and bubbly excitement. IT'S WEIRD! The youngest of them is standing right behind her and says, as if she isn't right there, "I knew she'd come back." ?!?

They're at the table discussing the paid ransom when both of the siblings have full personality reversals and the youngest angrily snarls to her, "You'd better be worth it." ?!?!?!

I stopped watching at Ep2, it was so dumb.