TV Review: Thirteen, Episode 3 (BBC3)

 

There is a very different feel to proceedings as we enter the half way stage in this glorious web of intrigue. However, it is a shame that the cliffhanger ending from last week now feels a bit soapy and redundant, resolved as it was within a minute. It turns out the perpetrator dragging Ivy away was the father of missing girl Phoebe, hellbent on answers from our protagonist. Luckily, little ‘sis Emma rushes out and the family follow. We now know that Phoebe is not Ivy’s child but naturally, as soon as we get one answer more questions follow.

The vibe is less dark drama and more a dysfunctional episode of Family Affairs. Here, everything including the kitchen sink is thrown into unsettling the domestic set up further. While Ivy and Emma are finally bonding again, Craig is taking exception to the disruption it’s causing his relationship. His nice guy persona decreases throughout as mild agitation becomes ultimatums and glimpses of aggression. Things truly spiral when the truth of Angus’ affair surface. It sends Ivy into a rage, the first time ever we see her break. He leaves with his tail (or a much ruder word) between his legs. Yet another man in her life is causing problems too, as gormless Tim’s attempts of reconciliation are rebuffed and his pictures torn down in the bedroom.

The Mark White storyline may seem like it’s taking a back seat to all the familial unrest but, perhaps purposefully his influence is always lurking. He sends a letter under the pseudonym of Leonard to the Moxam’s house that’s addressed to ‘Alison’, the name he called her in captivity. It reads “I know you didn’t leave me, I know you’ll be back” and his sinister boot print is stamped on the hour. As for good cop and bad cop, between withering looks of hate and bedroom escapades they still have time to discover Mr White has a half brother, Dylan whose prints were also at the red doored house. Sadly, as a team their pairing has all the unity of Madonna and Guy Ritchie, their different methods hindering the case big time. Perhaps this is why you should never mix a difficult kidnapping case with pleasure. That old saying, eh?

While episode three may have lacked the surprise and drive shown so far it feels like events are building up to some very big things indeed.  The slight dip in quality ends on the tantalising caveat: “I should never have left him. All I want is not to be alone any more.” With this, we are caught up in the web once again. 8/10

 

CASE NOTES:

– That chair really could have been pushed that yard rather than lifted. Integral plot hole there.

– Who does Mr headmaster man want to make it up to? Ivy? Christina?

– Is Craig showing unhealthy signs of control brimming to the surface? “You’re my girl” sounded very pointed.

– Did Ivy spot as such when talking about the photos of him and Emma together?

– Unsurprsingly, Ivy’s views on sex are conflicted. She seemed surprised when Emma declared she liked it and went off Elliott almost immediately when clocking that he had been sleeping with Merchant. It must be said, the moment Merchant tucked her clothes in at the crime scene was a tad silly.

– Tim really doesn’t seemed very arsed that his wife is pissed off. Is he preoccupied by love for Ivy or guilt? And for what?

– Eloise flitters between shifty and naive. We aren’t much closer to learning her big secret. What we have discovered is that she makes for an annoying flatmate.

– Who is in the bag?  All signals point to Dylan. Or worse – a load of rotten potatoes?

 

THEORIES:

– It seems increasingly likely that Ivy left of her own free will. What made her take that leap? Was it because Mark killed Dylan and then feared for her own life? Mark also offered forgiveness in his letter, did they have a massive falling out?

– When Ivy previously said “This was ours” was she referring to Dylan? Was he also a captive?

– On a bigger scale, there is a possibilty that Ivy killed Mark’s half brother.

 

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TV Review: Thirteen, Episode 2 (BBC3)

 

And so with a mixture of excitement and trepidation we return to the land of terraced houses full of mansion sized secrets. From baking cakes to detective based sexual chemistry, the first twenty five minutes has a strange aura that not much is happening, that the story has become static but in truth that’s all down to the subtle machinations at work. The motors are slowly revving into gear. All it takes is a little look here, a seemingly innocuous line there and  subconsciously what we thought to be true is turned on a six pence. The subtlety is at its most powerful with what it leaves to our imagination. All the power lies in what we don’t see. We are not granted any access into Ivy’s last thirteen years. It may be her story but we have only the family and detectives point of view.

The main thread running through this episode is Ivy’s, if not return to youth, but yearning to find the youth she never had. The scenes with Tim show she is just as smitten as her thirteen year old self was (running around fields, writing lovey dovey letters). Normally these scenes would be cute rays of light in other shows but we know all is not as she believes and it creates an uneasy edge to the sweetness. The world has moved on and while she is only just catching up with the concept of ipods, culture now thinks they’re old hat. She will always be playing catch up while also trying to live a past she never had. It’s a notion as conflicted as Ivy herself. Not only that but Tim is now married and this news shatters her hopes of a second chance of what Mark White stole from her.

Given the nature of the show, such a claustrophobic style echos its dark heart perfectly. It’s most captivating when Ivy agrees to help Carne and Merchant by returning to the house of the red door. It is the hope that any reinvigorated memories may hold some clues in the search for Phoebe.  From the pathway and into the living room she is riddled with fear yet she looked more at home in the cellar than in her family home.

The revelations come thick and fast in the closing stages. CCTV footage from 2013 arises of Ivy and Mark in a shopping centre where she not only leaves his side for a few minutes but actively seeks him out when she can’t find him, taking his hand when reunited. It is a complete contradiction to previous statements and it blurs the lines between the sympathy viewers wants to feel and suspicion of her motives. There’s a lot of curious motives going around truth be told. Mr headmaster man is clearly not innocent about something, especially given the constant paranoia of his secretary. Then we have Eloise who turned up in town wih something big to tell Ivy but is scared of doing so and Tim is in on the mystery too.

The pacing may be slow and brooding but once again Thirteen managed to fly by in a haze of suspense and intensity. THAT cliffhanger alone turns the previous sixty minutes on its head and looks set to take proceedings to a very unexpected place. Where are Mark White and Phoebe? Where is Ivy now? Where is a new list of superlatives because we’re fast running out already.  9/10

 

CASE NOTES:

– Cliche moment alert! – Detectives kissing each other passionately during big argument

– What does Mr headmaster man (registered trademark) hope to achieve (or hide) from his own one man investigation? Surely he had an affair with Christina? That’s got to be it, right?

– Were the paps tipped off by someone close to the Moxams?

– Who did Ivy want to call IF it wasn’t Tim? Is this significant? Probably not.

– It’s all very well telling her what an ipod does, Tim but at least explain the temperamental circle control bit too.

– Ivy declared “I’m not a child, I’ve had sex” to the horror of her mum. What with new developments are we to assume this was consensual?

– The opening credits are all very Marvel-like and marvellous aren’t they?

 

THEORIES:

– Towards the end of last week I was of the conclusion that Mark White might have set her free on purpose and now the implication by Merchant that he’s kidnapped a little girl for Ivy’s attention certainly fits in with that. Is it all part of his game?

– Looking at the public response a few days after I watched episode one I was surprised at how many people seemed to immediately question how genuine Ivy was as the credits rolled. Myself, I was going with the explanation that all the trauma she has experienced, mixed with trying to fit into a new life was responsible for the erratic behaviour. Despite the revelations of this week, I’m still holding aloft my sympathy card. Let’s not forget she would have been subjected to extreme forms of control, manipulation and.. God knows what. Add to that fear and confusion and you have a potent mix. Yes, she could have escaped from the shopping centre but it’s likely that he made her reliant on him, made life without him a scarier proposition than her cage. Why would she lie to the police? Denial? Because she doesn’t want him arrested? Possibly both. Does she love him? Almost certainly.

– Let’s put this one out there: What if Phoebe is Ivy’s child? What if she was given a new surname ? There it’s been said.

 

 

 

 

TV Review: Thirteen, Episode 1 (BBC3)

 

Thirteen years is a very long time indeed. If you were to be cut off from the world in 2003 and re-emerge now you’d be shocked to find a world where Girls Aloud have split and flip phones with 2 megapixel cameras are extinct as Dinosaurs. Thirteen, BBC3’s first major drama in its online form has more pressing matters at its heart. Ivy Moxam’s escape from her captor in the opening scene sets in motion a series of suspicion, family dysfunction and reunions with former friends who have moved on since she went missing.

It comes as a great compliment to say that despite being a work of fiction from upcoming writer Marnie Dickens, if it wasn’t known otherwise you’d be convinced you were watching a biopic. In style it has clear influences of nordic noir in its slow, sweeping shots,  tinkling piano and bass that rattles the ear during the especially tense moments à la Broadchurch. Despite this it does not fall into caricature because tonally it feels in keeping with the story being told.

Jody Comer plays Ivy’s fragility and distance to great effect, never letting the viewer in, in just the same way she keeps her family at arm’s length. She doesn’t feel wonderment at the outside world but fear and confusion and Jody’s jittery performance shows all this laid bare. DI Elliot Carne (Richard Rankin) may be a man caught up in her headlights. He is clearly affected by her situation while she might be offering a different form of affection in return.  There are strong hints this could take a very bad turn in time. When he tells Ivy to stop “living on pause” we see the first glimmer of a spark in her eyes but this most unexpected of returns has had a very different effect on her family. They’ve all pressed rewind, including her dad whose left his lover and moved back in to portray the illusion that nothing has changed.

This being a drama there will be many threads to keep us occupied. Tim (Aneurin Barnard) her childhood sweetheart is in a relationship, the headmaster of the school has been tangled up in the investigation and we have plenty more to discover about best friend Eloise. On top of all that there’s a kidnapper on the loose too. The next four episodes look set to be a double handed adventure of crime drama and a young women’s recovery from the abyss.  Thank goodness we don’t have to wait thirteen years until episode two. 9/10