Thoughts on "The Fixer" (2008)
Jan. 10th, 2009 03:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hawkwing_lbThis is easily one of the sharpest, smartest, and most ambiguous television series I've seen in years.
Andrew Buchan plays John Mercer, a former special forces soldier who spends five years in prison for murder. His early release is arranged by Lenny Douglas (Peter Mullan), a former police officer who now runs an extra-judicial task force aimed at combating organised crime. Mercer's continued freedom is contingent on his role as this group's hitman.
Jody Latham turns in a sharp performance as Calum, a cheeky chap who does 'this and that' for Lenny. His main interests are drugs, girls and music, but over the course of the six episodes we see an increasingly complex damaged young man underneath. Tamzin Outhwaite as Rose, a former copper who departed the force in scandal, gives an uncomfortably well-realised and complex portrayal.
Mercer's increasingly complicated and ambiguous relationship with both Rose and Lenny and the job they're doing is the heart of the thing. His relationship with his sister (Liz White) and her children is his sole tie to a normal life, and Mercer becomes less and less comfortable with the nature of his work and all the things Lenny holds back, especially after his encounter with Lenny's former hitman, now an uncontrollable spree murderer.
The series is an argument about the justifiability of vigilanteism, and flawed people doing morally questionable things in the conviction that they're necessary. It's beautifully shot and lit - one of the producers on the 'Making Of' DVD extra said that they were trying for an atmosphere of 'poetic realism', and that's actually a pretty apt description - and it doesn't take the easy way out of the hard questions.
Apparently, it's coming back for a second series. I hope it manages to keep up the tightrope-walk of ambiguity, complexity, and self-awareness while still keeping its characters both sympathetic and real: I have high hopes it might just manage to pull it off.
It's truly excellent television, and I seriously recommend it.
Andrew Buchan plays John Mercer, a former special forces soldier who spends five years in prison for murder. His early release is arranged by Lenny Douglas (Peter Mullan), a former police officer who now runs an extra-judicial task force aimed at combating organised crime. Mercer's continued freedom is contingent on his role as this group's hitman.
Jody Latham turns in a sharp performance as Calum, a cheeky chap who does 'this and that' for Lenny. His main interests are drugs, girls and music, but over the course of the six episodes we see an increasingly complex damaged young man underneath. Tamzin Outhwaite as Rose, a former copper who departed the force in scandal, gives an uncomfortably well-realised and complex portrayal.
Mercer's increasingly complicated and ambiguous relationship with both Rose and Lenny and the job they're doing is the heart of the thing. His relationship with his sister (Liz White) and her children is his sole tie to a normal life, and Mercer becomes less and less comfortable with the nature of his work and all the things Lenny holds back, especially after his encounter with Lenny's former hitman, now an uncontrollable spree murderer.
The series is an argument about the justifiability of vigilanteism, and flawed people doing morally questionable things in the conviction that they're necessary. It's beautifully shot and lit - one of the producers on the 'Making Of' DVD extra said that they were trying for an atmosphere of 'poetic realism', and that's actually a pretty apt description - and it doesn't take the easy way out of the hard questions.
Apparently, it's coming back for a second series. I hope it manages to keep up the tightrope-walk of ambiguity, complexity, and self-awareness while still keeping its characters both sympathetic and real: I have high hopes it might just manage to pull it off.
It's truly excellent television, and I seriously recommend it.
