Inside Man delights in bad decisions galore
Including a big one by the show's own writer.
Kia ora and welcome back to Rec Room, The Spinoff’s pop culture and entertainment newsletter. This week I’ve been spinning Phoenix’s great new record Alpha Zulu, trying to get into The Watcher (I fear it’s just too bonkers for me), and doing my best not to curl up in a ball of anxiety over this week’s US midterms. Here’s what else I’ve been consuming over recent days, with a guest rec from fellow telly addict Stewart Sowman-Lund.
- Catherine McGregor
Inside Man delights in bad decisions galore
Stanley Tucci and David Tennant in Inside Man (Photo: BBC/Netflix)
In a leafy English village, a vicar and his son’s maths tutor have an altercation that spirals into a disaster for each of them. In a desert state somewhere in America, a convicted murderer fills his days solving crimes as he awaits his execution date. These two very different worlds collide when a British journalist visits the prison, prompting a trans-Atlantic investigation into her missing friend.
Written by Sherlock co-creator Stephen Moffat and starring Stanley Tucci, David Tennant and Dolly Wells, the four-episode Inside Man was made for the BBC and is screening on Netflix outside the UK.
Spoilers for episode one of Inside Man start here.
The good
Spare a thought for the bumbling kidnapper. As Disney+’s The Patient so artfully demonstrated just recently, a captive you don’t want to kill but don’t dare release poses a dilemma that inevitably leads to regrettable decisions and a violent end for at least one of you. For vicar Harry (Tennant), his spur-of-the-moment kidnapping of Janice (Wells) is a disaster that gets worse and worse; one of Inside Man’s great pleasures is the way Harry and his wife Mary (Lyndsey Marshall) struggle to hold it together as their pleasant middle-class life – seriously, are English vicarages really that palatial? – comes crashing down.
In that, it’s helped enormously by the presence of Tennant, with whom Moffat worked on Doctor Who. The Scottish actor can play genial and demonic equally well, and that skill is employed to great effect here. He’s got a woman shackled in his cellar – but he’s also a decent man desperate to keep his son safe. Inside Man asks: what would you do if you found yourself in the same situation? (Of course you’d go to the police immediately… but what if you didn’t?)
Stanely Tucci as Jefferson Grieff in Inside Man (Photo: BBC/Netflix)
The prison scenes with death row detective Jefferson Grieff (Tucci), meanwhile, are where Moffat gets to show off his Sherlockian bona fides, creating fun little mysteries for Grieff to solve with preternatural ease. Hannibal Lecter is the obvious inspiration here, though Grieff is no psychotic cannibal – that would be his right-hand man Dillon (Atkins Estimond), a serial killer who once dined on his own mother’s feet (she was already dead, he notes defensively) and gets most of Inside Man’s best lines.
The not-so-good
For all its enjoyable moments, Inside Man leaves a bad taste. The problem is the crime the entire miniseries hinges on: the sexual abuse of children. Other than a brief comment by Janice early on, the horrors contained on the pivotal flash drive are never spoken about in real terms: images showing actual children being actually raped. Instead, the material is a sword of Damocles hanging over Harry’s head, a MacGuffin to get the story moving and keep Janice locked in that cellar. Given how pop culture has successfully inured us to the concept of murder – just look how I delighted in that serial killer above – it doesn’t make much sense to feel so uncomfortable about child abuse being used in this way. Logical or not, it really made me queasy.
The verdict
A fast-paced thriller with moments of pitch-black comedy, Inside Man tells an energetic and unpredictable story helped along by a bevy of great performances, particularly Dolly Wells as the smart and sceptical Janice. If you can get past the crime at the heart of the story, it’s a fun – and refreshingly short – rollercoaster ride. If not, you may find Inside Man a bit harder to love. (Netflix)
TV, movies and pop culture of all kinds have been at the heart of The Spinoff since day one, and I’m so happy to be helming our weekly newsletter about great things to watch and listen to. So far on the new Rec Room I’ve sung the praises of excellent German costume drama The Empress, delightful medieval romp Catherine Called Birdy and stellar (sorry) Star Wars show Andor, and shared heaps more recommendations from me and the rest of the Spinoff team. We love being able to celebrate smart, funny, thought-provoking television and podcasts with our readers, and it’s the support of our members that helps us do it. Tautoko mai, join up here.
Drama rec: The White Lotus
My colleague Sam Brooks has already reviewed The White Lotus for us, and while I may not agree with him that it’s the best show on TV right now – my pick is Andor, no contest – he’s right that season two has lost none of its crackle. A new group of rich and unhappy Americans – plus returning guests Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge) and Greg Hunt (Jon Gries), now married – arrive at the White Lotus Sicily, setting in motion more inter-guest squabbles, more unwise sexual encounters and yet more unexpected deaths. While it’s too early to pick a standout character (I’m keeping my eye on Aubrey Plaza as neurotic lawyer Harper), no doubt every one of them will be revealed to be absolutely awful in their own unique way. I can’t wait. (Neon)
Comedy rec: Avenue 5
Reading the synopsis to Avenue 5 doesn’t make it sound like a particularly amusing watch. It’s about an interplanetary cruise ship in the future that gets knocked off course, forcing its crew and guests to remain onboard for – to begin with – an additional three years. But it’s the talent on and off screen that make Avenue 5, which is part way through its second season, worth it. The show’s creator Armando Iannucci is the man behind some of the best comedy series ever made: I’m Alan Partridge, The Thick of It and Veep. Then there’s the cast, with Hugh Laurie at the helm of a sprawling ensemble of recognisable British and American faces. And like the best episodes of Iannucci’s former shows, Avenue 5 is at its best when the cast are interacting, forced to deal with some unimaginable moment of chaos and employ an inventive lexicon of insults. It’s less nuanced than Veep, but for fans of Iannucci’s distinct style, Avenue 5 is well worth tuning in for.
- Stewart Sowman-Lund
On The Spinoff now: Chris & Eli’s Porn Revolution
Comedians Chris Parker and Eli Matthewson are embarking on a mission to shed the stigma around porn, with the help of experts, creators and consumers across the country. In episode one, they begin with a whistle-stop tour of what porn in Aotearoa looked like in the past, and what it looks like now. Watch it here.
Podcast rec: Hard Fork
It’s been a surreal week on Twitter, as power users of the site (I count myself among them, despite having taken to heart the vital axiom “Never Tweet”) reckon with its apparent destruction at the hands of new owner Elon Musk. What’s happening to Twitter is a media cataclysm with ramifications for all of us, whether we have an account or not. It’s also a really juicy business story that encapsulates Silicon Valley hubris like nothing since Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos – the difference is, we’re experiencing this one in real time. Every current affairs podcast is covering the Twitter meltdown, but few are doing it as well as Hard Fork, the new New York Times pod co-hosted by leading tech journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton. Their interviews with Twitter staff this week – using AI speech generation to hide the staffers’ identity – were absolutely fascinating. Roose and Newton have a delightful rapport: their bickering over which of them Twitter insiders should be leaking to made me laugh through the tears. I’ll miss you, old Twitter!
Random links
All the big franchises have their own canon, and fans increasingly see themselves as its militant enforcers. That’s a big problem for screenwriters.
The great Girls5Eva is coming back, thanks to a lucky save from Netflix.
David Farrier on how making his new documentary Mister Organ utterly broke him.
Vodafone TV (RIP) was the best way to stream television, says Chris Schulz. With that device going away, what are your best streaming options?
Did I mention Phoenix have a new album out? Here’s a good interview with my favourite French band.
Watching Somewhere Boy made me nostalgic for video tapes, and what do you know: there’s a “growing cult” of VHS survivalists.
Crown hive unite! The new season is out on Wednesday, with a whole new cast playing the Windsors in the ‘90s.
These are the top 10 New Zealand tweets of all time.
The Spinoff’s Duncan Greive and Stewart Sowman-Lund went to Dua Lipa at Spark Arena and guess what? They bloody loved it.
That’s it for Rec Room for this week. If you liked what you read, why not share Rec Room with your friends and whānau.