Sun 27 Sep 2015
TV Mini-Series Review: THE GRID “Hour One/Hour Two” (2004)
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV Espionage & Spies[6] Comments
THE GRID. “Hour One/Hour Two.” TNT, US, 19 July 2004 as the first two episodes of a six-part mini-series. First shown on BBC Two, UK, 2004. Dylan McDermott, Julianna Margulies, Bernard Hill, Jemma Redgrave, James Remar, Piter Marek, Silas Carson, Olek Krupa, Barna Moricz, Emil Marwa, Robert Forster, Tom Skerritt. Director: Mikael Salomon.
A failed poison Sarin attack in London post 9/11 leads to the creation of a international counter-terrorism team in the US led by Maren Jackson (Julianna Margulies) of the National Security Council. Others are members of the FBI (Dylan McDermott) and the CIA (Piter Marek). Characters on the British end of things are played by Bernard Hill (MI5) and Jemma Redgrave (MI6).
In spite of the stated spirit of cooperation between the various agency involved, not-so-hidden rivalries between agencies break out almost immediately, not to mention the squabbles between MI5 and MI6 in the UK, the latter which also resents the US team’s “know it all” involvement, which by the end of episode two has proven quite wrong.
They must have spent a lot of money putting this mini-series together. It shows, but the dazzling switches from scene to scene and country to country is just that, dazzling, and there are a lot of characters to keep straight at the same time. By the end of Hour Two, I think I was doing well, but I had better keep watching, or I am afraid all I have put together so far will be lost.
But I say this with an ulterior motive: as a bit of persuasion to make sure I do so. The story, while very dramatically done, does not seem to break any ground that hasn’t been plowed over many times before, and I am not talking about the threat of Islamic terrorism in specifics, but anti-espionage efforts in general.
The inclusion of intimate details in terms of personal backgrounds and animosities as well as inter-agency squabbling falls into the same category. It’s nice on the eyes so far, but while I’m sure I will continue, there’s no sense of urgency about it either, which is too bad on many levels, including the amount of time and energy that was put into this.
September 27th, 2015 at 7:47 pm
Well my plan didn’t work. I wrote this review back in April and I never did get back to watching the rest of the story. I found the DVD set this evening sitting toward the bottom of a pile stacked next to the TV.
I’ll probably have to start over again. If I do. Anyone else watched this?
September 27th, 2015 at 8:00 pm
This one got past me. I’ll have to find it and try to catch up. See if it is on Hulu or one of the other services. Sounds interesting but complex.
September 28th, 2015 at 7:01 pm
Steve,
Since you quit watching, you can claim you are “Off The Grid”!
(Bad pun alert.)
September 28th, 2015 at 7:08 pm
Not bad, Mike. Not bad at all!
September 15th, 2019 at 8:34 pm
I liked the series though admittedly there were a few things I had difficulty with. The young actresses re their positions of hierarchy in major institutions, too PC ( women in power) and too much for eye candy. Just abit predictable. And much of it was actually predictable in the story line, content. Though not in an obvious way and good predictable rather than bad predictable, and it had a flashy pace, enough substance to feel engaging. Diverse visuals. A certain sharpness, serious scary fatalities, an attempt at broad character, etc. I watched it twice, as I often do with shows that have an intelligent and provocative story line. I would rate it around 72%
September 15th, 2019 at 8:58 pm
Thanks for another point of view on this, Iva. By some sort of strange coincidence, I came across the DVD set once again only yesterday, looked at it and said to myself, I have to go look up my review and see if I liked this or not.
And yes, if I start watching it again, I will have to start all the way back at the beginning.