Hi folks, sorry this took so long. I became too engrossed with some of the Hive games and also pre-occupied with my gardening that I totally forgot to write this post, which I believe I said I will publish right after the Easter weekend. This serves as my initial “review post” which will follow the format I mentioned in my earlier post. For this particular post, I will provide feedback to a whole series that I’ve recently watch – UNFORGOTTEN. This review post generally refers to the whole series.
I love watching police procedural TV series. I got hooked up on them when Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) series began airing in the early 2000s then other TV series with similar format - a crime was committed (mostly murder) and the investigations will follow the evidence to catch the perpetrator at the end – followed suit. It is satisfying to see how science and intuition are used to trace what happened in the past and in doing so, objectively testing their initial theories and figure out which of them was what really transpired when the crime happened.
THE SHOW
The series follows the lives of DCI Cassie Stuart (played by Nicola Walker) and DI Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) as they investigate and solve crimes against people whose cases seemed to be buried alongside their bodies, hence the title Unforgotten. The basic format of the show is a person will be discovered being buried with no identification available. Then a set of new characters will be introduced in first episode along with the lives their living at present day, then as the show progresses, it will be revealed how they become entangled with the crime. And like the rest of police shows, the very end will expose who the real perpetrator/s is/are and what are the events that happened before the crime took place.
THE GOOD
Having watched numerous TV shows that center on the lives of police and their day-to-day work, I believe this is the first time I’ve seen such format of storytelling, which I think is a very strong feature of the show. I love the way the plot evolves from the work of determining the identity of the victim, which has some degree of difficulty because the victim’s body left no or very little traces of clue of who he/she was, up to the introduction of various characters and how they got involved in the original crime. The main actors who played are superb with their acting, including the supporting cast. Another thing, there are some shows that seems to be a bit exaggerated or the scenes to sensationalized to capture audience’s attention. This show on the other hand has a much simpler approach. It’s more like having a camera rolling out to see how police do their job in real life. While there are background music and other sound effects, the overall approach in storytelling is very casual, which I think is another strong point of this show.
THE BAD
As for the elements of production of this show, I cannot really fault it at all. I am no expert in production design or casting and I cannot think of something that I really didn’t like. To be honest, I like the show that I hate it that it already ended. It lasted for four seasons. Wait?.... If I have a thing that I did not like, it is that they killed Cassie’s character in Season 4, which I think is some sort of saying… “this will be the last season of the series.”
THE WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN
This is related to what THE BAD is, as I keep on wondering if they haven’t killed Cassie’s character, the show might have been extended for a few more seasons, especially that the show gets positive reviews from critics and at the same time has a good number of global viewership. Another what could have been is I am thinking if one of the seasons’ perpetrators is a police officer in the same department where the main protagonists work, and the reason for the case being an “unforgotten” one is because a cover-up was made by the members of the police force who should be upholding the rule of law.
To sum it up, UNFORGOTTEN is an excellent series on its own. When watching TV shows, my main barometer for a show is “is it worth my time?”. For UNFORGOTTEN, it certainly is.
I loved that series and hate that it ended, too.