Harry and Jack Williams have created a penetrating mystery drama. This series has formidable direction, writing, cinematography, settings, score and acting. The score adds to the intensity of certain scenes and the overall tone of the series. All of the actors involved deliver superlative performances. In particular Dance, Olusanmokun, Ido and Fouche stand out. Beckinsale commands the series with an emotive performance. The plot revolves around the disappearance of Georgia Wells' husband Will during a plane crash that occurs in the jungles of the Congo. There was only one reported survivor who was a nurse that died later on during recovery. Georgia has been living peacefully on a Welsh farm, but still suffers inside from Will's death, until one day she sees footage of rioting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the DRC. She sees a man being pulled through the fighting wearing an orange baseball cap that is identical to what Will was wearing when he embarked on the fatal flight. This ignites an investigation into the possibility that Will is still alive. She travels to Kinshasa to start to investigate and soon a web of storylines begins which, in this viewer's opinion, is symbolic of a widow's web. Georgia starts by hunting down Pieter Bello who was the last man seen with Will in the footage. She does this with the assistance of her friend Martin Benson. Throughout the series we learn there was more than one survivor and that the plane crash was no accident. We learn this through a man who is now blind, Ariel who witnessed events that occurred leading up to the plane crash. Ariel has been hiding out of fear for his life, but eventually decides to come forward which could cause serious problems for General Azikiwe of the DRC and Pieter. We learn that Azikiwe, Pieter and Judith Gray are involved in illegal mining of coltan which is an extremely valuable element used in the technology of computers and cell phones. During Georgia's investigation she rescues a young girl, Adidja who was stolen from her village to fight for a militant group in the DRC. As the series continues Georgia solves the mystery of Will, but more importantly, in this viewer's opinion, uncovers the reason for the plane crash and who was behind it. The series has sort of a, "Babel" feel to it as it takes place in a few different countries and there is a language barrier at times. It also has a sort of, "Blood Diamond" feel to it because of the mining of coltan. Throughout the series we learn of the backstories behind most of the main characters including the fact that Georgia has a military background. The series does a considerable job examining the politics and corruption in the DRC. It also touches slightly on the horrendous acts of forcing children to kill for the merciless militant groups. The same goes for the human rights violations and vile child labor when it comes to the mining. It is understandable that the series does not go in to extreme depth on certain themes as the series tries to scrutinize a lot of controversial subject matter in only eight episodes, but again we at least learn of such goings on. The mystery is captivating but for this viewer I was more mesmerized by the inner turmoil and slowly developing insanity of General Azikiwe. The plot is gritty, violent, insightful, duplicitous, thrilling, sterling, intelligent and has a cathartic ending. This is a well rounded and exceptional series in the mystery drama genre.
