Netflix’s new binge-worthy crime drama
After first hearing about Netflix’s new Criminal series I thought that it was a bold choice for a new series. TV has evolved into being as high budget as films, Criminal brings everything back down to basics and shows why sometimes simple is best.
The premise of Criminal is simple, each episode consists of the detective team interviewing people they believe are guilty of a recent crime. The same team across all three episodes but different crimes each time, the story of the team evolves from episode to episode, that’s what makes the series a little different than simply being an anthology series like Black Mirror.
There are only two issues I have with the new series so I’ll get one out of the way with now, there isn’t enough of it yet. Yes, there are four different versions of the shows, UK, Germany, France and Spain, but there are only three episodes of each version. That aside the main aspect of the show is the fact that it’s simply set in two rooms, the interview room and the room behind the glass, this allows the show to end up building up in pressure as the episodes get further and further in.
The first episode in the series, starring the brilliant David Tennant, is the best of them all. Stick a few good actors in one room and just let them act and what they’ve managed to do is get forty minutes of high-intensity conversations. Conversations doesn’t sound like an exciting enough word for what happens but really that is just it, forty minutes of pure edge of your seat dialogue.
The second downfall of the series is that after the first episode you can kind of get a feel for how the episodes will pan out. Without stating the obvious or spoiling let’s say that the series, like most crime shows, could get easier to solve as further episodes are made. If they’re made, which I very much hope they are. This is a similar issue that Black Mirror is dealing with, we expect the series to be shocking so that element isn’t as surprising anymore. Going into Criminal with a fresh mind and having not watched a crime series like it recently, I felt a little better than others might feel towards the series.
Criminal might just be another hit series for Netflix if the Netflix algorithm gods allow it to be that is. It has the making of a series that is easy to make, easy to binge and fantastic to watch unfold. Criminal might not be a show focusing on showing you all the gruesome evidence or police chasing down suspects but its simple approach makes it a unique show in the crime drama genre. Criminal’s commentary of people watching from the other side of the glass trying to judge and figure out who is innocent or not is even better portrayed by the fact we too are looking through the one way glass trying to figure it out too and that is why it is so damningly addictive.