These three volumes of Trial & Retribution Set 3 have three 138-minute two-part shows from 2005, 2006 and 2007.  They follow the format of the of the previous two sets: murder mysteries with disturbed killers pursued by detectives Mike Walker and Róisín Connor.  Both Walker and Connor have tumultuous personal lives, and while they are excellent at their jobs, they are disasters in their personal lives.  They fight with each other and show plenty of emotion.  They struggle with their failures and their loneliness.  In most of the cases, the show follows both the police search for the culprit and the criminal prosecution.  Sometimes it is not certain that the jury comes to the right decision.  As before, there’s a very distinct directorial style: frequent use of a split screen, and a moving camera showing the scene from unusual angles, often in motion. 

In the first case, “The Lovers,” a newly married man disappears while walking around Covent Garden, London with his wife.  His wife spends every waking moment searching for her missing husband Eventually, a suspect is found and when his murders are discovered, he goes on trial.  He tries the insanity defense, and there’s a fascinating trial where the jury has to decide if the defendant is sane or insane.  In the second case, “Sins of the Father,” a teenage-girl is found dead at home at the bottom of her cellar stairs, and it is clear there was foul play.  As the police investigate, they uncover many secrets, but it isn’t clear which of them are relevant to the murder.  The third piece, “Closure,” the darkest of them all, with an unsolved rape and murder coming back to haunt Walker when a similar murder happens again.  It becomes clear that a serial killer is on the loose, so Connor brings in an American profiler, against the advice of Walker.  The team is divided, and there is plenty of tension between them.  They follow different leads, and place one of their own at risk in trying to lay a trap for the killer. 

Trial & Retribution is a strange mixture.  On the one hand, writer Lynda La Plante prides herself on giving a true-to-life description of the police process and the legal details, as she explains on the making-of documentary on the DVD.  On the other hand, there are some very implausible leaps in the plots.  The directorial approach is partly that of a hard-hitting realistic drama with intense and powerful acting, and partly a very stylized gothic drama that feels like a comic book.  Stepping back from the episodes and judging them dispassionately, they can seem overwrought and clichéd.  However, when watching them for the first time, they are a real pleasure, and it is tempting to view all 400+ minutes of the drama in one mammoth sitting.

© 2009 Christian Perring         

Links:

Trial and Retribution Set 2

Trial and Retribution: Set 1

Christian Perring, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Dowling College, New York.