Premieres are streaming year-round, finally fulfilling what broadcast television was never able to do. By no means am I able to watch everything but when something catches my eye or captures my imagination, I try to let you know. Rarely are there new ideas, but when a tried and true (or sometimes trite and true) genre finds a new angle or twist, it’s definitely worth a glance. The following series are based on the tried and true but are entertaining and keep you on the edge of your seat. Some are slow to get started and others find their footing right off the block, but either way, I think you’ll enjoy them.
“Steal”
Yes, it’s another heist film, an audacious one at that, presenting this mystery thriller in six exciting episodes with an actual end without the hint of a sequel.
Black-masked and armed to the teeth, the bad guys invade the inner sanctum of one of Britain’s leading investment companies. Holding everyone at bay, they are suspiciously aware of how the system works and how many confirming sign-ins are necessary to access the accounts. Targeting one employee, they gain access to part of the login, but another is necessary to confirm the financial transfer with the home office and that person is having a panic attack, as would you if an AK-47 were pointed at your temple. Coming to the rescue of her colleague, Zara finalizes the transaction and billions in pension fund holdings are transferred to an offshore account owned by a person or persons as yet unknown.
The police arrive after the fact and begin a debrief of all the employees. DCI Rhys is immediately suspicious of two employees but proving anything will be difficult. Rhys isn’t just battling his suspects, he’s also up against MI5, who, for some reason, is more than a little interested in taking over this case. Is national security involved? Who, besides the masked bandits, has skin in this game? Rhys is immediately on the defensive.
It’s not really giving anything away to say that insiders at the investment firm were involved and two of them were the aforementioned Zara and her colleague Luke, both back office employees passed over innumerable times for promotion because they didn’t have the right family backgrounds. Zara, aware of the scrutiny, is two steps ahead and one step behind Rhys, but definitely a step behind the robbers who will “disappear” her at the earliest available opportunity and MI5, eager to bury the case and recoup the monies, including the sums sent to Zara and Luke in crypto. Zara’s estranged, slovenly mother knows something is afoot and schemes to be cut in.
Each fast-paced episode reveals more of the plot and players and increases the danger Zara faces. Certain she can outsmart them all and keep her cash, she gets more and more tangled in the web she has woven. Sophie Turner as Zara is both tough as nails and vulnerable; Archie Madekwe, Luke, is the definition of a clenched nerve; and Jacob Fortune-Lloyd is very effective as Rhys, a man with more at stake than just this case.
So sit back, but you won’t relax as you binge this series.
Now streaming on Amazon Prime.
“His and Hers”
A dark and rainy night; a dead body on the hood of a car; an unknown person in a dripping hoodie in the adjacent cemetery as a voiceover states, “There are two sides to every story: yours and mine, theirs and ours, his and hers; and someone is always lying.”
In this juicy mystery/thriller, he (His) is Detective Jack Harper, recently relocated from Atlanta to the small town of Dahlonega. She (Her) is Anna, his estranged wife, formerly the lead anchor on an Atlanta TV station. She disappeared into grieving for a year and has now returned and wants her job back. “Not possible,” says her boss. They hired her replacement, the blonde, blue-eyed Lexi, when Anna was unreachable. The dead body in Dahlonega is big news and she wants to cover it. She’s from that town and knows the players. And so it starts because Jack and Anna become prime suspects, along with others. She isn’t just covering the news; she is the news.
Jack continues to try to cover his tracks, realizing that he was the last person to see Rachel, the dead woman on the car, alive. Actually, his DNA is all over the scene because they were having their weekly tryst. His assistant detective, whom he dismissively calls “Boston,” is eagle-eyed and picks up on his shady behavior and the clues he is destroying. Soon another dead body turns up, someone, like the first, whom Anna knew and went to high school with. It may lead back to a high-school clique and something that happened long ago as revealed by well-integrated flashbacks interspersed with the current-day investigations. Like most small towns, everyone has history and at least one secret.
“His and Hers” is that delicious murder mystery where the solution seemingly comes out of left field but works very well and believably. Jon Bernthal is Detective Harper, empathetic, deceitful and protective of those close to him. Tessa Thompson, Anna, is serene but ambitious with a covert agenda. There are real rooting interests in these two, and at only six episodes, “His and Hers” will fly by.
Now streaming on Netflix.
“Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials”
This is a lovely addition to the Agatha Christie mysteries, most of which feature either Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot. In this delightful three-episode series, a new investigator is born. Young Lady Bundle Brent, the daughter of Lady Caterham, is overseeing the evening festivities at her family estate. Land rich and estate poor, Lady Caterham has sponsored a masquerade ball for paying guests like the nouveau riche Lord and Lady Coote. Gerry Wade, part of a security contingent and a long-time family friend, is teasing Bundle with a future proposal, one that is put on indefinite hold when he is found dead the next morning. The police would like to wrap this up as a suicide, but Bundle knows this can’t be true and starts on a journey to prove he was murdered. Because this is an Agatha Christie, more murders will follow.
The intrepid Lady Bundle will stop at nothing, ensnaring others into her investigations; her probes will prove fatal to some of them. Crawling along at a leisurely pace through the first two episodes, the viewer is treated to a well-worn period piece with beautiful costumes, gorgeous scenery, a subtle portrait of noblesse oblige and the striving of social climbers. Along the way, Inspector Battle from Scotland Yard appears, shadowing Bundle for mysterious reasons. Stay with the slow pace because things definitely pick up in the third episode, full of funny moments, sly dialogue and a very unexpected solution. Well, perhaps not entirely unexpected, because there are a limited number of choices for the bad guys, but the reasoning and rationales can only be ascribed to a soft satire of the so-called ruling class.
Mia McKenna-Bruce plays the pint-sized Bundle to perfection. She’s a good enough rooting interest that you will follow her anywhere. Her anguish over her dear Gerry (a handsome Corey Mylchreest) seems very real indeed. Edward Bluemel as Jimmy is the very tousled embodiment of spoiled but charming youth, always on the lookout for the next game to play. Helena Bonham Carter plays Lady Caterham, Bundle’s scattered mother. Like almost everyone else, her best moments are in the third episode. Serving as the necessary glue to hold this fluff together is Martin Freeman as Superintendent Battle, shadowing Bundle, trying to protect her but also needing her to stay out of his way. Almost always in support, Freeman somehow always manages to come to the front. His character is able to wrap up the troublesome details without seeming expositional.
This delightful period mystery is for fun and a rainy night. Enjoy.
Now streaming on Netflix.
Stay tuned for Part II of “Too much of a good thing.”
Neely Swanson spent most of her professional career in the television industry, almost all of it working for David E. Kelley. In her last full-time position as Executive Vice President of Development, she reviewed writer submissions and targeted content for adaptation. As she has often said, she did book reports for a living. For several years she was a freelance writer for “Written By,” the magazine of the WGA West, and was adjunct faculty at USC in the writing division of the School of Cinematic Arts. Neely has been writing film and television reviews for the “Easy Reader” for more than 10 years. Her past reviews can be read on Rotten Tomatoes where she is a tomatometer-approved critic.
