The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: The Ties That Bind

I am so happy to have stumbled onto these on Primo. Thank you Amazon!

I know its weird but I can tell pretty much right away if I am going to like something or not, and lately I have been dialing out of more things than ever.

But for some reason this caught my attention and the lead actor (who is in nearly every scene of every one of these movies) is simply fabulous.

All four movies are good mysteries and do not shirk from showing how flawed our protagonist is. But while flawed, he is endearing (mostly).

Beyond the good acting and the decent stories, it looks to me like these are made really well and especially in the final movie (The Ties that Bind) there are some beautiful shots.

Anyway, all this just to say give them a go and do watch them in the correct order. It is important for the development of the main character.

I wish they would make more of them but I guess this is it.

Finally, there's a happy ending. Hooray! I do love a happy ending.

Mr. Whicher sure does get kicked around a lot, and by such despicable people, too.

I simply can't find a flaw. I believe the music is some of the best I have EVER heard. Kudos to Mr. Edmund Butt for his masterful and intensely soulful compositions.

The acting, the stories, the sets, costumes.... so authentic to the period. This is the best period mystery/drama ever. Wish that it had continued.

Despite my disappointment at the shortness of this series one must reserve one's deep admiration for the quality of the writing, acting, stage setting and all the rest of the production effort that raises this brief series up firmly into the Golden Standard of film for television.

The layers of plot development were not forced by anything more than Wicher's own admission that his search for the Truth is his driving force alone. Paddy Considine achieves a remarkable sincerity in his delivery and non-speaking reactions that truly hit home in so many subtle ways other histrionics could never touch. A careful application of the less-is-more style works beautifully here.

The ending is very satisfying too.

A quiet contentment for a finale.