Review of Episode #5.1

The discovery of a human arm on the beach leads Perez and his team into a case involving a missing African girl and ruthless people-traffickers. The overall look of the show and Douglas Henshall's portrayal of D. I. Jimmy Perez remain impressive but otherwise this 6-parter is pretty weak. A couple of key plot-points require unbelievable incompetence on the part of Steven Robertson's character (D. C. Sandy Wilson) that could have easily been avoided if a bit more thought had gone into the script; but, by far the worst part of the series is the incredibly irritating character of Olivia Lennox (Rakie Ayola) and her interactions with Perez. Scenes with her telling Perez that 'No, he can't understand her pain' or how 'Perez doesn't really care about her problems' are repeated several times (just in case we don't recognise it's all a topical allegory the first time we hear them), the scene with her in the tub is painfully predictable despite being painfully ludicrous, and the final message - that since she was a victim at some point, she apparently won't be punished for lying to the police, interfering in a murder investigation, assault, kidnapping, torture, and uttering threats seems to reflect the prevailing liberal acceptance of 'victimhood as an all-purpose excuse'. Embedding social commentary in entertainment programming is fine, maybe laudable, but if you are going to do it, try not to be so ham-fisted that the effort comes off more irritating than inspiring (the producers were so intent on making sure that viewers understand the story's underlying message that they decorated a pickup truck on a wee, remote Scottish Island with a Confederate flag).