Kid/Nap

Kid/Nap (Inside No.9 S7 E4, 2022) follows a woman who gets kidnapped in order to receive ransom money from her wealthy husband. I loved this episode! It's of my favourites from the series and such a fun and tense one! I never wanted it to end.

I absolutely adored the cinematography and visuals in this one! The split screen effect gave it an artistic flare and made for some brilliant parallel shots. The colour palettes were dark and ominous which really fit the tone.

The actors did a great job, and it was so awesome to see Jason Isaacs in an episode of No.9! He was intimidating and really gave it his all. Also, Daisy Haggard was great as Lara, I loved her!

This was yet another funny episode, partly thanks to Reece and Steve's characters which had a lot of funny one-liners. The humour juxtaposed very well with the ominous atmosphere and added a fairly light-hearted tone.

Lastly, this episode was structured so well! I loved the twists in this one and it took multiple twists and turns along the way, helping the plot unravel and telling a lot about the characters.

The consensus I saw online was this episode was a bit of a return to form after a mini slump that season seven has proved to be. I'm not sure I really agree with either half of the sentiment. I'll accept that this season hasn't really had a standout classic yet, but I'm also not convinced that this is better than what's come before.

Shane (Daniel Mays) kidnaps Lara (Daisy Haggard), the wife of banking executive Dominic (Reece Shearsmith). With Detective Inspector Ellis (Steve Pemberton) working the case, Dominic tries to negotiate the ransom demands. Shane doesn't seem bright enough to have come up with this scheme on his own, and that proves to be the case when Clifford (Jason Isaacs), the mastermind behind the crime appears - he though, has a grander plan.

Again, for me, the problem with this episode is the ending. With the twist revealed fairly early on - and fairly well signposted. So much so that you expect another one, I found the resolution to be disappointing, and to make less sense the more you thought about it. Much more successful was the look of the episode, the splicing of contrasting images to form reflecting wholes was really well done.

I do think this was the funniest episode of the run so far though and the guest performers were really impressive. Haggard and Mays are good in everything and the surprise of Isaacs, who was not featured in the advertising very heavily was also nice.

Again though, I just came away wishing that the resolution had been sharper or cleverer than it was.

This is an astounding return to form by Steve and Reece, a tour de force in writing, acting and film making from all involved.

The story is a good one, and gets better and better as time goes on, it's a story where you know what's about to happen but you're ever so glad it is going the way you think it is. Each character isn't wasted, they all leave their fingerprints on the story, just watch it.

I also loved the editing choices in this film, really set up things, foreshadowed etc etc.

Daniel Mays by the way - what an actor, as soon as he flashed on my screen I knew I was in for a treat, he's just very good.

There were a few dodgy lines but delivered excellently.

A seriously good episode and it's exactly what I've missed from inside number 9.

Inside No. 9 - S7E4 - Kid/Nap

The wife of a rich businessman has been kidnapped and a ransom request arrives. The kidnappers make it clear how serious they are, but who is actually pulling the strings in this darkly humorous thriller...

A premise with potential, a great first twist, and a totally unconvincing ending, which seems like the writers got tangled and, not knowing how to continue the story, rushed the ending in the hope that it would be shocking enough so that the audience would not notice how hollow it is. On the other hand, the acting is excellent and the editing is interesting.

7/10.

Granola, Granola.

A wealthy woman is abducted by The Postman, but not all is as it seems.

Wow, this was an absolute marvel of writing, acting and production, this was an insanely good episode, one that simply got better and better.

Talk about twist after twist, this truly was thirty minutes of the most marvellous writing, plot twists galore. The writing here, was just outstanding, how on Earth they managed to put this together, so complex, but it unravelled in such a satisfying way.

Awesome acting, Mays and Haggard were both tremendous, one face I was never expecting to see on this show also popped up, and of course added a lot.

TV at its best, 9/10.