Wire in the Blood (TV Series) Prayer of the Bone (2008) User Reviews

Tony in Texas

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 20 June 2016]

Dr. Tony Hill travels to Texas to be an expert witness in "Prayer of the Bone," a special episode of "Wire in the Blood."

Tony is there to assist the local district attorney in the case of Darius Grady, who has confessed to murdering his wife and two young children. Tony knows Grady from a time when Grady was stationed at a U.S. military base near Bradfield and was charged with the rape of a 15-year-old. The military spirited him out of the U.S. before he could be prosecuted. However, Grady's defense is the same one he used in England: he has PTSD from his service in Iraq.

Tony does not think Grady suffers from PTSD. He's also not sure Grady is guilty.

Tony wanted to stay in a place like Linda Hamilton did in "Terminator," so he's at some awful motel. And it's hot.

This is a strange episode with too many characters who came and went before we got to know them, and people acting strangely for no reason. Tony is much funnier in this episode than he usually is, and the atmosphere certainly is Texan. One feels the heat. (It was filmed in Austin.)

I think I prefer the handsome Tony at home among his people, but this was a nice change. I especially liked the female judge (Jennifer Griffin) - she was excellent.

Tartan Noir Transplanted to Texas?

[gpeevers · 7/10 · 24 April 2009]

Psychologist Tony Hill (Robson Green) has been brought in from England to testify for the prosecution as to the mental state of a former soldier accused of murdering his wife and children in Texas. While stationed in England the man had been charged with statutory rape and interviewed by Tony but before he could be prosecuted, the military had him transferred back home to Texas.

This one off 90 minute episode is still an entertaining story but it's not as good as the regular series.

The changes apart from the locale include a different role for Tony in this case that of an expert witness, which I feel comes across as a less interesting view of the proceedings than that of assisting in the investigation. Also there are no regular supporting characters, although Tony does call DI Alex Fielding (Simone Lahbib) and get her voice mail, which just served to point out for me how much I missed her character. There are also a few Hollywood contrivances that take away from the story structure.

Maybe British audiences like the change to an American locale but it doesn't seem as appealing to me. The sweltering Texas heat and arid sun drenched vistas are certainly a change from the English landscape but they don't appreciably improve the presentation in my opinion.

The supporting cast is competent but none of the characters stand out particularly, perhaps because they are a little too thinly drawn and possibly somewhat caricatured.

A very similar approach by another British series Kavangh QC in which the primary character journeyed to the American South to lend his expertise. The biggest problem with that episode was its condescending attitude towards America and while it's by and large avoided here there are still some traces of that attitude in the production. The series Cracker also did a one off episode in Hong Kong with only one supporting character, and my conclusion from all three is that the supporting cast is integral to these series.

Very good but also cartoonish

[HMVincent · 8/10 · 16 August 2008]

While watching "Prayer of the Bone" I thought of "No Country for Old Men". This episode is very good but could have been VERY good, on a par with "Space: Above & Beyond" episodes "River of Stars" and "Who Monitors the Birds?" The story takes place in Austin, Texas, which is in the Texas Hill Country. Tony refers to the landscape as "flat," but it is not flat there, and "hot" which it is.

Tony Hill, as a hired expert, is asked to determine if a murder suspect, Grady, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder when he killed his wife and children. No one questions that Grady killed them, only his motive for doing so.

There are not that many main characters, but they are not well-developed. A woman who belongs to some organization (I couldn't catch the name or its purpose) comes to Tony's motel room twice, uninvited, to rail at him. The defense attorney never seems to act in Grady's defense. The sheriff's character is paper-thin; so is that of his son, with a dollop of weird and hostile that is over-acted, I think. And then the fellow with the pet rattlesnakes is entertaining, but huh? That last died from multiple rattlesnake bites after an enemy sets the snakes loose from their cages by BREAKING the GLASS walls of the cages - surely he could have just lifted the lids??? And the sheriff's officers never said a word about the smashed glass - "Well, a man who keeps snakes should expect to get bitten." That's my take, it's not a quote.

A storyline is introduced involving drug dealers, a lot of money, corruption, and politics, but it's just to move the main story along. But then, what is this? The real murderer's motive is lust for Grady's wife, not money or power? There is some silly editing here and there, compressing some action into a second or two: Tony's rented car bounces in a vaudeville way on an uneven road; the mysterious woman scoots from one area of a prison yard to another. What is the purpose of that? If the story were stronger without the side trips, if the characters were developed a little more, if the silliness were removed, this episode could have been as good as a standalone movie.

Good Acting, Lousy Plot

[ivanpour · 6/10 · 2 June 2022]

Despite very solid acting by Robson and all the other actors, the plot follows the typical crooked-small-town trope, burdened further by stereotypical images of Texas as being nothing but hot and full of rattlesnakes.

Cliché

[dinglet · 7/10 · 2 June 2020]

I guess if you set a UK show's episode in Texas, you have to use every tired cliché in the book. It's expected, what?

I gave the episode a seven out of ten because it was OK, even a little fun.

Am I partial to this episode? Perhaps. I was an extra; one of the jury members.

Something different..

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 26 September 2017]

I wonder if Prayer of the Bone was an attempt to crack the U. S. market, or simply an attempt to reignite a spark that the show had a few years prior.

For the most part it's a success, a solid story line, well drawn characters, and Doctor Hill on fine form, witty, intelligent and a tad flippant.

Well acted on the whole, Brad Hawkins did a fine job as villain of the piece Darius, as did Tom Nowicki, who was in it all to briefly as Lee Burrill. The show was stolen by Jennifer Griffin, who was excellent as the Judge, she played off Robson Green really well.

The trouble is it feels a little too detached from the regular series, some of the core quality just isn't there. Tony perhaps not able to be quirky enough. Perhaps I'm being too harsh, it's definitely watchable.

A shame that maybe The American angle didn't take off, but the show would come back for one last hurrah, a sixth and final series.

7/10.

Justice League of America

[frukuk · 1/10 · 29 April 2023]

Is this the very worst episode of this generally wonderful series? I've been re-watching this series from the start and, so far, it is clearly the worst episode.

There's nothing wrong with having a foreign setting -- though Cracker's (sic) sojourn in Hong Kong was a low point of that related series -- but this just feels like Dr Tony Hill is written as a caricature of the character we have seen in the preceding episodes.

I didn't think Tony Hill's use of the term "tits" was at all in character, and the repeated "joke" about one of the female characters being attracted to him, also felt wrong. Perhaps the screenplay was written in a hurry?

The only interesting thing here is the discussion of PTSD and the events that could cause it. And that is not of great interest. Please give this episode a miss as I do think it tarnishes this otherwise excellent series.