Criminal: UK Season 2 Review – Excellent thriller with unexpected twists!
Set within two rooms use for interrogation interviews and a corridor mostly being used out of investigation discussion, Criminal: UK has been one of the stellar crime dramas that you will ever see. Even within the confinements of the two rooms, each episode of the series gives you chills and thrills without any action or horrifying sequences.
The sensational use uniform setup with an impressive design to showcase the legal proceeding surely escalates the overall performance of the series. The only thing which out will see going out of promotion is the placement of the chairs or half-open door but even that brings up certain uncanny thrill to the final episode.
The series is a marvelous example of great writing and stellar performances by the lead cast, above all the guess starts, are the ones who bring the soul to overall episode that they are in. The true sense of the series is impeccable theatricality create through crime suspects which are inspired by real-life instances of kidnapping, assault, trafficking, and murder.
Truly led by the stellar ensemble, the series gives us a team of interrogators DI Natalie Hobbs aka Guv (Katherine Kelly), Tony Myerscough (Lee Ingleby), Vanessa Warren (Rochenda Sandall), and Kyle Petit (Shubham Saraf) playing with criminal minds to get the confession for their crimes. There are twists, clever investigations, cinematography that uses the space masterfully.
Above all, one thing you need to watch this show is for the captivating performances; Venessa gives a great performance as she portrays a talented but unambitious detective; Guv who is leading the team and some of the interrogations in the episodes. Tony certainly comes off as an underrated detective who uses his glass cleaning to impart the seriousness of his interview on the suspects and Kyle who is the new guy but far more capable of doing things but certainly needs a lot to learn.
Let’s go over this episode by episode
Criminal UK season 2 Episode 1
The series opens with a grieving wife Julia (Sophie Okonedo) of a murderer who is on procedural interview following her husband’s arrest on a lazy Sunday. No one from the team is available in the rooms except Kyle, as Venessa is going through routine questions for Julia, Kyle notices that there is some Julia is hiding or rather telling by mistake which could lead to the true murderer and possibly acquit her husband of all the charges. Kyle informs & asks the team to come in and they end up solving the case piece by piece to find the real murderer.
Criminal UK season 2 Episode 2
Then comes the Game of Thrones fame Kit Harrington, a businessman accused of rape, who is a perfect version of a spoiled misogynist. Kit performs at his best not just with his word but majorly the way he owns the place and acts around in the interview room. We end up being sure that he is the culprit and he has committed the crime; however, the way the story gets unfold later you end up thinking otherwise.
Criminal UK season 2 Episode 3
As you move to the third episode, you start to lose a grip from the series as it hosts a vigilante mother who tracks potential pedophiles online and makes sure that they pay far more than what they would go through the system. The episode surely can’t hold you with edge-of-seat thrill but surely, guv brings some interesting aspects from her performance.
Criminal UK season 2 Episode 4
This is something that you should be looking forward to watching the finale and to top your excitement you will see somethings which you never expected. Bringing the real star power to the series, episode 4 features Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar as Sandeep Singh in an outstanding performance. Nayyar, who is serving a life sentence for murder, grabs a chance to get his remaining sentence acquitted by providing evidence to a high-profile unsolved case of child abduction.
You will see Nayyar owning the screen and the interview room, outsmarting our well know intelligent detectives with his power of knowledge and business tactics. Once this is for sure, you won’t be able to keep your eyes off Nayyar’s every move within the room which brings up certain uncanny character to the Sandeep’s character. As many of the convict struggle sitting with their solicitors, Sandeep pulls his case easily from detectives and gives them some things which they never imagined.
The fourth episode is the epitome of the series that combines all the elements that make Criminal: UK a truly excellent, thriller with unexpected twists, stellar performances, and power changes between suspect and detective.