[.ca] Prime Suspect: Series Two

From Amazon.co.uk:
In the first Prime Suspect, Helen Mirren's ballsy woman Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennyson battled the boys club and their sexist barbs to prove herself in a chauvinist department. In Prime Suspect 2, she's assigned to head a racially charged murder investigation in a largely African/Caribbean neighbourhood. It's politics as usual in the image-conscious organization, so the superintendent adds to the team black Detective Robert Oswalde (Colin Salma), a sharp but hot-headed investigator who has just broken off an affair with Tennyson. Now Tennyson grapples with her own conflicted feelings while fighting political and public-relations battles both in the media and within the police system itself in the midst of investigating the labyrinthine case. Between the scant clues left to sift, a prime suspect on the verge of death himself and divisions in her own team that result in a devastating death, Tennyson soon begins to suspect she's been hung out to dry by the department. Screenwriter Allan Cubitt dives into the murky waters of volatile racial and social relations to create an even more complex and compelling mystery in Tennyson's second appearance and Mirren rises to the challenge to explore the contradictions of an uncompromising cop in a compromising position. --Sean Axmaker

The best in the series:
This is by far the best installment of the Prime Suspect series. It stars Helen Mirren as Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison, who has to solve a grisly murder. She has a limited amount of time to solve it and does it amidst accusations of racism within the police department and disapproval from her colleagues for flimsy political reasons. This wonderful film is able to hold the viewers' attention the entire time it's on the screen. It also stars the talented and handsome Colin Salmon as her former lover and current colleague. This is a highly recommended film to purchase.

Prime Suspect 2:
This is quite probably the best episode in what is already a very fine British detective series. Jane Tennyson is played by Helen Mirren, who gives a brilliant performance as the complex, extremely capable investigator whose personal life is rather messy and who continually struggles to be accepted by her male colleagues. This episode also explores the tense racial situation that has developed in London with the arrival of thousands of Caribbean immigrants. Colin Salmon is beautiful to look at and also gives an outstanding performance. If you've seen any of the other episodes and liked them, or if you like other BBC mysteries like Silent Witness or Inspector Frost, this is a must-have.

New DVD got rid of overdubbing and disk-flipping:
I concur with other reviewers' high opinions of the artistic quality of this DVD, except for a minor quibble: I can't buy the biracial affair with a Detective Sergeant. (And in a later Episode, Mirren's character gets pregnant, likewise in a work-related situation, by a married consultant, father of four kids, who lives 6000 miles away.) Jane Tennison is a hard-nosed and coolly logical Detective Chief Inspector who knows that the good ole boys, including a few big shots, are lurking in wait for an uppity woman like her to slip up. How many Caucasian female Lieutenant Colonels in our armed forces get mixed up with African Sergeants or married fathers, especially if they work or consult with the men regularly? (How many would keep their jobs if they did?) However Jane's passions might burn and seethe beneath that calm exterior, she would be unlikely to slake them at work, especially with these guys, and most especially without tending to birth control. She's savvy enough to graze more cautiously on some of the many safer possibilities in London. However, this is not worth deducting a star. Besides, as one writer got rich pointing out, smart women do sometimes make foolish choices. A few smart women might even cite me as proof of this. I am happy to report that the new DVD version has the naughty words intact and does not need to be flipped. The audio and especially the video are still below the quality one should expect for something produced so recently, although not too distractingly so. Some stuff from the 70's is technologically better, though. This is a great detective series with a unique point of view, generally quite believable except for the odd minor quibble as set out above. I have bought all available episodes. It does owe a bit to Morse (what a marriage that would have made!), but who cares? Miss Marple might not approve, but the jungle where Mirren's tigress prowls is hardly St. Mary Mead.