Case Histories (TV Series) One Good Turn, Part 1 (2011) User Reviews

Interesting, complex story, but what's he saying?

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 13 July 2021]

Jackson witnesses a body in the water, and tries to force The Police to investigate. He also witnesses an assault at a car park, where a man intervenes, but wishes he hadn't.

It's a real mix, it's funny, it's macabre and it's very intriguing. There are so many things happening here all at once, it could almost be difficult to follow, as there are so many strands.

Some very fine characters here, the victim's wife is a scream, absolutely loved the beautiful Tatiana.

Some seriously good acting here, I thought Keith Allen was first class as Richard Moat, he's a damn good actor, and here shows how versatile he really is.

I had a bearing test today, and had flying colours, however, I can't ascertain what on Earth Jason Isaacs is saying half the time, is he mumbling deliberately, or is my hearing just a little off.

Keen to know the various outcome, this was fun, 7/10.

Decent; not a terribly faithful adaptation of the book

[bplayfuli · 7/10 · 30 June 2021]

The basic plot elements are the same as the novel but I don't like how they changed Jackson's character. They took what was a rather refreshing take on your typical ex cop turned detective and made him into yet another cliche of the detached, forgetful male who puts his career above anything else. This is the major issue I have with this adaptation.

There were quite a few changes to how the events unfolded as well, but those were necessary to make Jackson more of a central and involved character. In the novel he's basically one of an ensemble rather than the lead character. He does a bit of sleuthing but the plot basically hinges on a series of unlikely coincidences that all come to a head at the end. It makes a lot more sense for the series to rearrange things the way they did.

Over all, a rather enjoyable watch.

Dark, intense, depressing, lurid and Superb Investigative Series!

[paul vincent zecchino · 23 October 2011]

Caught first episode of this riveting investigative series on local PBS outlet last Sunday eve, 17 October, 2011.

Scotland's breathtaking vistas of verdant green lands are bounded by bottomless, troubling, indigo waters over which skies streaked by wet, grey, slabs of Cold War Fear stand unsettling watch.

Jason Isaacs is a lawyer by education which makes him a gifted actor, as he well demonstrated with his luciferian character in "Patriot", Col. Tavington. What was it about Colonel Tavington - his smirk? His sadism? - which made you want to bash his face?*

No matter. Mr. Isaacs has a gift for drawing you in to his character and the dark, subtly menacing world in which he always gets his quarry.

Mr. Isaacs' character, 'Jackson Brodie' presents as a brooding, prescient, cautious investigator. He's a man indelibly haunted by traumatic events which bored holes thru his heart, scarring it with the priceless gift of insight into human weakness - for those who wish to see it.

Investigator Brodie bears his leaden cross in silence. The pain is always there just beneath the surface. It binds him to his audience which uses its gift of insight borne of pain to wrest reality from illusion, no small task in a world riddled with the cancer of deception, the designer disease of the Elites.

Wry, understated humor punctuates throughout as corpses surface, weaving threads of intrigue throughout a tapestry of rain, oblique motives, and ultimately, arrest.

Though many of us love life in the warmth, there's something enticing about the dank, rainy, vistas which frame so many scenes. And why not? After all, why would one hang oneself in the glorious heat of the sunny Caribbean? Wouldn't it be more fitting to gas oneself off in the dark, bone-chilling, North Sea cold? You bet it would, nothing quite like it, frankly, is there?

Mr. Isaacs 'Jackson Brodie' peels back the layers of the human psyche for our enjoyment and edification. One can only hope to see more episodes which fathom the depths of corrosion to the human soul.

Delightful, joyous, cheery, intriguing. Don't miss it.

Paul Vincent Zecchino

Manasota Key, Florida

[e-mail]

24 October, 2011

* - 'something about him which makes you want to bash his face.'

c. Ingmar Bergman, "The Magician"