The Nest: Scottish Noir and Bio-Ethics

The Nest concluded its 5-part mini-series Acorn run on Prime Video last night.  Top-notch Scottish noir, if there is such a thing, and there should be.

The story involves a wealthy couple who live in a gorgeous home in the Glasgow area on Loch Long, desperate to have a baby.  So desperate, they're down to their last egg, and are seeking someone, anyone, to carry their baby to term.   So desperate, they choose a young woman, barely of age, who (we learn in the course of the mini-series), when she was just a "wee lass” of eleven,  killed a pregnant woman and her baby.

The story veers from the couple deciding if they want to go ahead with this, to worrying when the surrogate mother gets drunk, to finding out just what happened when she was eleven, to ultimately dealing with the profound ethical issue of who should have the right to be the parent of this child, the producers of the embryo or the woman who brought the baby to term.

As such, The Nest is more than a noir drama, it is a narrative that portrays and grapples with one of the emerging bio-ethical issues of our age.  Martin Compston, who has been so good in Line of Duty, is equally good as the husband/father in The Nest.  Similarly Sophie Rundle from Peaky Blinders as wife/mother.  And Mirren Mack, whom I haven't seen before, was just perfect as the young woman carrying the baby.

The Scottish scenery, always a pleasure to see in person, was a sight for sore eyes in this time of COVID. But see The Nest for its winning mix of action and ethics.

 

Line of Duty: Brilliant Hunt for Bent Coppers

I watched the first season of Line of Duty a few years ago, and my wife and I just binge-watched the next four seasons (on Acorn TV via Amazon Prime).   It's an outstanding series, with pretty much everything you could want in a police series - twisted loyalties, unexpected turns, and lots of action.

The protagonists are in a special squad that investigates and attempts to root out "bent" coppers (the series is British).  The antagonists are a ruthless, vicious mafia-like gang, with people placed in the highest echelons of all kinds of police detective units.   The questioning of suspects is the most intense and best I've ever seen in any cop series.  What we get just a bit of in most series is often center-stage and brilliant in Line of Duty.

The action is breathtaking, with major characters often on the verge of getting killed, and indeed sometimes dying.  The three most major characters are Superintendent Ted Hastings (played by Adrian Dunbar), DS (I love those British titles) Steve Arnott (Martin Compston), and DI Kate Fleming (Vicky McLure).  Actually, some of those titles change as the series progresses, but the acting stays constant at superb.   There are also some notable guest stars, my favorite being Polly Walker who made such a good impression in Rome.

The series also has a unique way of telling new stories each season while weaving in unresolved elements from prior seasons.   In that sense, as well as the very fast pace and short time period in which each season takes place, Line of Duty has a lot in common with 24, one of my all-time favorite series.

This fifth season just started streaming and aired last month across the Atlantic.  There's a six season coming along.  It's at the very top of my wife's and my series to watch.   Kudos to creator Jed Mercurio - who also did another powerhouse series, Bodyguard - for a great piece of work!