Fool Me Once: Episode 6

 "You keep sytumbling over dead bodies, don't you, Maya?"

A grumble, before the praise begins. I know I've whinged a lot about Kierce getting called "Detective Kierce" rather than "Detective Inspector", but this time his boss gets called "Captain Proctor" rather than Detective Chief Inspector Proctor". I don't mind a bit of adaptation to a largely American audience- this is Netflix- but things like that really take away the realism.

That aside, this episode is superb. The plot twists and turns like a twisty-turny thing yet again, and in a hugely entertaining manner. There are shocks and bombshells all the time, not least at the very end- did Joe really kill Andrew? But that's not all. What's Corey really after? Did he kill Tommy Dark? Is Judith, as I now suspect, a red herring?  Is Joe alive after all? There's a lot to uncover, I have no idea whats happening, yet we're really quite close to the end.

Yet, despite all this, this is all about Sami Kierce and his coming to terms with things, along with the help of his loving, lovely fiancee. Adeel Akhtar is once again sublime in a role that really showcases his talents. This is all about the shocks and the plot equivalent of jump scares, it's got no deeper subtext I can discern, but I'm loving the ride... and the characters feel very real.

Fool Me Once: Episode 5

 "The rich protect each other..."

The plot continues to be splendidly convoluted. Corey knows the Burketts are mixed up in some seriously bad criminal stuff, possibly involving Joe. The plot thickens, too, around his late brother Andrew andthat sinister public school. Another kid, a working class outsider turned popular achiever, dies of "alcohol poisoning" shortly before Andrew's apparent suicide. And yeah, the headmaster is definitely hiding something. 

In support of the "evil Burketts" theory is Judith's continued creepiness. She's a psychiatrist, making veiled threats to institutionalise Maya, having altready renfdered her daiughter Caroline a madwoman in the attic. Brr. Meanwhile, Eddie continues to be decent and his daughter has her own fascinating plot thread.

Oh, and there's a storage place. With at least one frozen body in it. Literal Brr.

But the real emotional core here, of course, is with Inspector Kierce and the sublime performance of Adeel Akhtar who, cruelly, as he's about to become a husband and father, faces a truly horrible fate. 

Again, this is perhaps not exactly oozing with subtext. It's a whodunit-cum-melodrama.But it's bloody good melodrama.