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In a fictional town somewhere in England, Mark, Danny, Pru, and Slade go playing in the woods. Mark’s 5-year-old brother, Jesse, tags along. The friends decide that he is too young to come along and ask the little boy to go home. The cherubic boy implores his brother with tear-stained eyes, but his brother walks on guiltily. Jesse runs away into the woods and never seen again.
Twenty years later, a woman is found brutally murdered, and Jesse’s DNA turns up at the crime scene.
Pretty gripping, huh? I thought so too. The Five is a ten-part crime series created by famous American novelist Harlan Coben. He is famous for writing novels centered on unsolved cases, misunderstandings, and multiple plot twists. The Five is faithful to that format has enough surprises to keep you hooked thru the series run. I binge-watched the show in 3 days (while working full time and taking care of my child). So not bad.
The Plot
At the heart of the series is the friendship between these four friends carry this tremendous guilt of Jesse’s disappearance. They are in an endless cycle of trying to fix the past, and this reflects in their career choices. Danny becomes a police detective, following in his father’s footsteps, who was incidentally the main detective over Jesse’s investigation. Mark becomes a lawyer and also specializes in finding missing people. Pru becomes a doctor, and Slade provides shelter to homeless teenagers.
On the surface, these four children have grown up to be responsible, mature adults. But as the first dead body appears, and the possibility of Jesse being alive (and being a murderer!) comes up, some of these appearances come falling apart.As Danny and Mark look into the past, they uncover secrets about the day of the Jesse’s disappearance, adding more confusion to the plot. Meanwhile, another murder happens where again Jesse’s DNA is found on the murder scene. Only this time, it ties the victim to girls in Slade’s shelter.Meanwhile, the husband of Mark’s ex-lover seems to have gone missing and somehow it’s all related.By now we are half-way through the season and there is a lot going on which starts dragging the pace down. Danny and his partner, Ally, are chasing down the murder investigation leads. Mark is busy playing sleuth to determine if his brother is alive. Slade is brandishing his own version of vigilante justice. Pru is trying to simply find her place in the circle of friends.
Just when the show seems to lose its plot, a few twists save the day and the last 3 episodes are a roller-coaster.
Is The Five worth your time?
The multi-threaded mystery can confuse and some plot twists appear contrived. The mood of the show is dark and contemplative. Each frame is heavy with guilt and secrets — much in the tradition of British crime series like The Fall, Broadchurch, etc. This attempt to be brooding and profound fails sometimes because of the soundtrack that sounds twenty years younger than the characters.
What really works is how it brings alive the suffering of a close group of people who lost someone they loved. Justice and redemption are also other strong underlying themes.
The acting also elevated the script. Tom Cullen does a great job of playing the troubled, older brother who is trying to overcome his past. My favorite is O-T Fagbenle whose role is the most interesting on the show. He plays the police officer leading these multiple investigations, caught between his duties towards his job and his love for his hurting friend. He also bears the cross of his father’s failed investigation into Jesse’s disappearance. His domestic life is in jeopardy as his senile father adds stress to his marriage. Fagbenle does such an amazing job in this role. I am looking forward to catching up on his work.
‘The Five’ is available on Netflix for streaming in the US.
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This review was originally published in Pop Off on Medium.com. For more Movies & TV reviews, go here.
