Viewpoint: Episodes 2-5 (Series Review)

After a shaky opening episode that felt relatively safe, I was pleasantly surprised by this follow-up episodes. Initially I planned to review the noir thriller per episode, but my viewing experience was more rushed due to ITV pulling the series finale for a limited time on ITV Hub with an investigation into one of its leads currently underway. I wanted to conclude my review of the first UK COVID-filmed productions, looking at the work alone - therefore I will be reviewing the entire show after the first episode the same as my past TV reviews. The remaining four episodes delved more into the investigative aspects of the missing person's case.

As the case surrounding Gemma Hillman’s (Amy Wren) disappearance intensifies in ITV crime drama Viewpoint, DC Martin Young (Noel Clarke) finds himself in hot water when he blurs the line between professional and personal in his observations. The following episodes were stronger than its opener, but as stated in my first review - the plot and the characters are very formulaic and familiar to this genre.

The characters are slightly more complex than initially believed, but Martin's character kind of remains on the same wavelength he started on - despite solving the case, he concludes his arc just as wounded as he was at the start. As much ass you try, it's difficult not to compare Ed Whitmore and Harry Bradbeer's show as a modern twist on Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window with Clarke's Martin as a reimaging of James Stewart's L. B. "Jeff" Jefferies with Alexandra Roach 's Zoe Sterling subverting the Lisa Carol Fremont damsel/love interest trope.

With that in mind, the build-up between Zoe and Martin just felt so forced - both in the writing and acting, the spark between these characters was not there. As well as the pacing being rushed, the archetype of who Zoe was was shaky at best. Roach's character was in many ways just as vulnerable as Martin, but the writing felt noncommittal - Zoe's character failed to toe the line between the damsel and villain archetype. Therefore the final moments felt very anticlimactic. It felt like the writer wanted this character to be both sympathetic and calculating, but the balance was not found here at all.

Which brings us to the demise of Gemma - spoiler alert, she was dead the moment she went missing. I came to this conclusion quickly when none of the suspects made any attempts to check in on a potential hostage, I even guessed where she was - that predictability did not carry over into the murderer, I was surprised by that and then annoyed that the episode still tried to make the killer a tragic figure.

Aside from Fehinti Balogun - who gave uneven performances with a rather generic character, this had a pretty solid supporting cast. Catherine Tyldesley gave a truly moving and nuanced portrayal of her flawed character and Shannon Murray's DC character has all the makings of the next heroine detective of a crime drama.

Despite this show having its positives, there were moments that either felt plot convenient, throwaway or just underdelivered in the writing department. This was a show that should have been a good crime drama to binge, but I feel it barely scratched the surface. The ending of this show leaves it open for a second series, but I doubt they'll get a second run. The story was wrapped up and aside from going on different cases each season, I don't think these characters are developed enough to carry multiple seasons when you look at other shows within this genre.

For me, I find it a real shame that a show that visually looked stunning, was unable to deliver in the storytelling aspects when other shows have tackled this genre more successfully and tastefully.

Overall, Viewpoint Series One was a TWO AND A HALF STARS OUT OF FIVE rating.