Tight Police Drama Makes for a Quick Little Binge (THE TOWER Review)
When a pair of detectives from the Met’s Special Investigations Division—DS Sarah Collins and her partner, DC Steve Bradshaw—are called to take charge at the scene of a tragic accident, they know it means one thing: a police officer was involved in the incident.
Only after they’ve arrived on the scene do they fully comprehend the nature of the tragedy, which has left two crumpled bodies—that of middle-aged beat cop, PC Hadley Matthews, and a teenage girl, Farrah Mehenni—lying facedown, in spreading pools of their own blood, at the base of a multi-story building. Meanwhile, a rookie cop, PC Lizzie Adama, is still on the roof, in shock, holding the hand of a scared five-year-old boy.
In the ensuing hubbub—with paramedics scrambling, local cops attempting to maintain a semblance of order, reporters clamoring at the hastily-erected cordon, and area lookie-loos trying to catch a glimpse of the horrors—Collins and Bradshaw are able to ascertain only the barest bones of the story: that the dead girl, Farrah, had—for unknown reasons—abducted her little neighbor, then taken him to the top of the nearby tower building… where they were subsequently found by PC Matthews, and, a bit later, by his partner, PC Adama. As for how the cop and the teenager plunged to their deaths, though, Adama is too traumatized to tell Collins and Bradshaw anything more.
Protocol nonetheless calls for Adama to give her initial statement to the detectives in charge before leaving the scene… but when she begs her superior, DI Shaw, to let her go home, instead, he agrees… and neglects to clue Collins in.
Quietly furious when she learns that Shaw let the prime witness leave without being interviewed, Collins is positively incensed when Bradshaw goes to collect the young PC… only to discover that Adama has, in the meantime, done a runner.
Minus Adama and whatever light she—as the only actual witness [particularly since the little boy’s mother refuses to let the police talk to him]— can shed on things, Collins and her team are forced to focus on the preceding events that culminated in the deadly rooftop showdown. Conflict between little Ben’s mother and their neighbors, Farrah Mehenni and her father, led to confrontations between the beat cops and the Mehennis… and it seems that racial discrimination may have been a factor. But, as for how Matthews got to the Tower, once a call came in that two kids—one of whom had only just been reported missing—were spotted on the building’s roof, and what transpired both before and after his partner, Adama, arrived, remain murky.
The only thing that Collins knows is that none of the reports from the days leading up to the tragedy are in agreement; either someone is lying… or perhaps everyone is.
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The Tower is a taut, neatly-told tale—an easy one-night viewing, as its three parts clock in around 2 hours 15 minutes, total. [The fact that it’s divided into three parts is handy if you’re treating it like a movie, since convenient bathroom-and-snack breaks are basically built right in!]
I’m a big fan of shifting timelines, already, but I think it’s particularly effective here—and something that even those folks who don’t share my love of jumping around time-wise will probably appreciate, as it allows the viewer to gradually get a better handle on the background issues and key relationships (especially the one between Matthews and his protege, Adama).
Gemma Whelan (best known in the States for her work as Yara Greyjoy in Game of Thrones) gives a great performance as Collins, fighting against police dislike (in her job which is basically that of an internal affairs detective), distrust (the Muslim Mehennis have no reason to believe or put much faith in the authorities), and even problems with her own boss (who just wants her to wrap up the case quickly and move on to something else). She’s smart, determined, and professional… and always entirely believable.
Emmet J. Scanlan—as Matthews’ and Adama’s boss, Kieran Shaw—also does a fine job as a cop you can never quite decide is mostly a good guy, making some questionable calls… or a charming louse, who does good primarily by accident. It’s tough to play a character like this without leaning too far one way or the other… but Scanlan walks that tightrope really well.
While I’ll leave getting to the resolution up to you, I will say this: The Tower doesn’t give in to any cheap tricks or easy tropes; there are shades of grey—and multiple truths—throughout, which makes for a satisfying watch… and an equally-satisfying ending. I’m highly recommending this one.
~GlamKitty
[While—as of January 2022—there’s no word yet on a follow-up “season” of The Tower, there are two more books in the Kate London-penned book series on which it was based, so… fingers crossed we get to see more of DS Sarah Collins in future. :)]
Another Brit Box winner!
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