Jasmine Sahu is well suited with this new American drama exclusive to Dave.
Lois Cameron explains why this series is much more than your average cosy period drama.
The last episode of this series sees Sherlock and Moriarty attempt to solve the final problem with devastating consequences.
With major cast changes afoot, Jacob Martin ponders whether Being Human can live up to its own scarily high standard.
Rubicon is the latest in an increasingly long line of US imports to hit our screens, with the first episode airing on Thursday night on BBC4. It’s a serial drama series that follows Will Travers (James Badge Dale), who uncovers a huge government conspiracy. It’s a concept so good it makes you wonder why they’ve not done it… well, in the last three months.
At this point in a review, I would normally go over the episode’s plot; but, if you have a checklist of all the conventions of the conspiracy series genre, you have the plot of Rubicon. The main character, who works for a secret government department and has lost people close to him, notices something that he shouldn’t – tick. Said character’s friend, who is higher up in the department, then arranges to meet with him, intending to reveal exactly what’s going on, only to be killed before he gets a chance to spill the beans – tick. Lead character then begins to question whether the death of his friend was an accident – tick. We finally get a glimpse of the people behind everything in the very last scene of the episode, and they are balding men in their late fifties – tick. I think you can fill in the rest yourself.
If you can say nothing else for Rubicon, you can say that few shows stick to a formula so ardently. However, it does instantly make you wonder whether you can be bothered to sit through it for 13 weeks only for it to end on a cliffhanger. (The fact that the show has already been cancelled also makes commitment more unlikely.)
The formulaic plot could almost be excused if it weren’t for the other errors that litter the show. Take for instance the sluggish pacing that would have been enough for many viewers to switch off 10 minutes in; it wasn’t helped by the fact that the plot gained little momentum until 10 minutes from the end. In addition, it’s never made clear what Will’s job actually involves and, at the moment, it just seems to be a way of the writers cutting a few corners to get across to the audience that he’s good at solving puzzles.
Moreover it’s worrying that the most exciting thing about the programme is the opening credits sequence, and the most reaction the episode elicited from me was when Will went to visit Ed Bancroft (Roger Robinson), a former employee of the department: Ed asked Will what he knew about him, and Will told him that he knew he had “cracked like an egg” before saying “not my metaphor”. This left me with a nice moment of superiority as I thought to myself: “that’s a simile”.
Despite all of that, I will still be tuning in for the next episode. There’s just something undeniably intriguing about these US conspiracies, and even though the denouement will probably be unsatisfactory, the chance that it might not be is enough to keep anyone interested. But intrigue doesn’t make for a technically good programme. Instead, Rubicon is like all the new editions of the Rubik’s Cube, such as the Rubik’s 4x4 or the Rubik’s 360. While they are new and interesting, they’re basically the same old puzzle in different packaging. And yes, that is my metaphor.
Rubicon airs on Thursdays at 10pm on BBC4
I liked this first episode enough... I was able to ignore the formulaic structure because it's shot beautifully and the acting is strong. In the US, the first two episodes were shown in a double-bill and I can't help but feel like we'd get a better perspective on it if it were shown to us that way too...
Why's it named after a boxed juice?
You must log in to submit a comment.
Report