Robert P. Laurence

San Diego Television

A couple of bloody good thrillers

By Robert P. Laurence
Posted on Tue, Jun 17th, 2008
Last updated Tue, Jun 17th, 2008

Americans and Brits seem to have different tastes in murder.

The English like to savor homicide at a polite distance, standing back a little so as not to intrude, like bank patrons online at an ATM. Their mysteries are short on explicit gore and violence, long on conversation.

Americans like to get right down into the mess; they want to savor the bloody closeups of sprawling entrails and smashed skulls. Thus the success of the "CSI" franchise, where views of criminal carnage are literally microscopic.

Both factions should find something to please in the next few days. Thursday, NBC airs a new episode of its summer thrill series, "Fear Itself." (10 p.m. on KNSD/Cable 7) On Sunday, PBS kicks off a new cycle in the long-running "Mystery" series (now a subsidiary of what used to be called "Masterpiece Theatre"), with Kevin Whately returning as Detective Inspector Robbie Lewis. (9 p.m. on KPBS/Cable 11)

"Fear Itself" represents the most recent reincarnation of that programming species that has been declared dead countless times but now and again sits up to peer out of the grave and wave its boney hand once more - the anthology series.

NBC is offering 13 episodes over the summer, and the results so far are promising, thanks to consistently excellent actors, skilled directors and nicely polished productions. Last week, Eric Roberts starred as a rogue cop whose brutal tactics came back to haunt him in his later career as a private detective. Next week, John Landis directs an episode called "In Sickness and In Health."

"Family Man," this week's entry, revisits that old oh-no-I've-switched-bodies-with-a-serial-killer-and-I-can't-get-out routine. Directed by Ronny Yu ("Freddy vs. Jason," "Bride of Chucky"), it stars Colin Ferguson as Dennis Mahoney, whose blessings include a beautiful wife, a couple of nice kids, a good job, a luxurious home.

Then his car gets hit by another driven by Richard Bradigan (Clifton Collins), and both are nearly killed. But not quite. When Mahoney awakens in a hospital bed, he finds himself handcuffed to the side railing. He is in Bradigan's body, and Bradigan is the "family man" killer - whole families are his specialty - police have been seeking.

“No, no, I'm not this man,” Mahoney tells his pro bono lawyer. “I must have died, and when I woke up, I wasn't in my body. I was in this body.”

“Spiritual transmigration is a stunningly crappy defense,” opines the skeptical lawyer.

Things go downhill from there, as the family killer, occupying Mahoney's body, takes over his life and family, while Mahoney, in the killer’s body, is subjected to some nasty abuse at the hands of prison guards.

We won’t give away the end here, except to say there’s a satisfyingly nasty twist.

Now to “Masterpiece Mystery,” as it’s presently called. Alan Cumming (Tony winner for "Cabaret") this week takes over as host, the slot first filled by Vincent Price and later Diana Rigg.

The first series out of the box is “Inspector Lewis.” Veteran “Mystery!” fans will remember that Lewis was once younger sidekick to Inspector Morse, played by John Thaw, who died in 2002. One or two mentions of Morse are tossed into Daniel Boyle’s script, just to remind us of Lewis’ beginnings.

And where Whately once played the young assistant to Thaw’s master investigator, Laurence Fox is now the youthful sidekick, James Hathaway. But Lewis remains the methodical working-class stiff, and Hathaway is the partner who clues him in on references to Greek mythology and other such less-obvious information.

Lewis’ case starts when an artist is killed on his small boat, but it really gets rolling with the finding of one of those anonymous notes so beloved of British mystery writers: “His best friends killed him because of a boast.”

One suspect is an embittered alcoholic who gets about in a wheelchair, while another is a sophisticated professor and another a frustrated would-be doctor working in his mother’s bicycle shop. All once belonged to a circle of college friends who called themselves “Sons of the Twice-Born,” and all, naturally, are protecting some deep, old secrets.

The ending came as a complete surprise to me and left me wondering – who’s really guilty here?

About the author: Robert P. Laurence was television critic at the San Diego Union-Tribune for 21 years. He previously wrote about politics, jazz, rock 'n' roll and all manner of news. He graduated in journalism from San Francisco State University, and earned an M.A. in political science at San Jose State. He's lived in San Diego since 1971.
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Posted by Jere	Thu, Jun 19th, 2008
Poster of this message also appears(2) to post as: Jere & CyndiJere and Cyndi
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