gilleliath

Slightly above average, but still an example of what is fast becoming a too-familiar formula from Netflix. And, people, are we not yet getting tired of the toxic masculinity stuff? Stereotyping people is not only offensive and wrong - yes, even when it's white men - it quickly becomes tedious.

IMDB seem to approve of this kind of stereotyping, they've removed other reviews of mine where I've criticised it. So I guess we'll see how this one does.

Though I'm irritated by time-shift gimmickry (another consistent ingredient in these shows), and though I liked Clare Danes in Homeland, I was surprised to find that when she didn't appear in the seventh ep it was something of a relief. I guess her brittle, neurotic performance is not the less wearing because it is convincing.

Everybody talks about 'peak TV these days, but I don't believe there's another show ancient or modern that matches this. I genuinely think it is the best unlimited drama ever (in the sense of a show that does not have a pre-determined story arc right from the start, usually in the form of a source novel). And the source of its greatness - something quite uncharacteristic of American TV - is that it doesn't try too hard.

You know from the start who did what, to whom, and why. You also know that Columbo will crack the case. So you get the satisfaction of seeing things cleared up without the frustrating sense - which you often get in the true whodunnit - of being duped by the author's sleight of hand. Having no surprises up its sleeve - and the few occasions they depart from this rule are always the worst episodes - it has to rely on the quality of characterisation and dialogue, the dynamic between Dick and Perp. That is what the best shows are always made of; and it's helped along by a really outstanding cast of villains, several of them (like William Shatner and Patrick McGoohan) appearing in multiple shows.

There's also a pleasing, understated humour about the show, never overdone, and again witty in a way that American TV - even the avowed comedies - rarely was in that era. It must have been one of the first shows intentionally to build up ongoing in-jokes with the audience - Columbo's car, his wife whom you never see, and brother-in-law ditto. And Peter Falk, with his rumpled charm, handles these moments if anything even better than the sleuthing.

And two final marks of a great show: relying so little on surprise, it has a very high re-watch value. And - the clincher - it is equally enjoyable actually to watch, or to fall asleep to.

It's very obvious that a lot of this show is stage-managed. 'New associates' (aka total strangers) mysteriously pull up and offer the fugitives lifts, even give them refuge in their homes. The hunters know all sorts of stuff that they could not logically know - or, then again, suddenly don't know stuff that you would think they would. The hunted make moves that appear completely random. And, most mysterious and improbable of all, everybody seems to want to go to Birmingham. There's a pretty big product placement angle and, just as they make a point of featuring certain hotels, it looks as though Birmingham council are paying people to go there. After all, it's the only way anybody would...

It's this close to being a completely pointless fake. The only thing that vouches for the show's authenticity is the obviously genuine reactions of both hunters and hunted. But that doesn't mean that situations are not being set up between them by the producers, they clearly are. And I'm 99% certain that the winner is picked beforehand. In fact, we had them picked out at an early stage - not because they were particularly smart or anything, but because they were the type of person that the show obviously wants to win.