Series One had some genuinely shocking moments and a splendid p*ssing contest between Mr Nesbit and Mr Cranitch in which honours were shared.
Deserted landscapes,remote farms,simmering religious hatred,everything we English like to imagine typifies our image of Northern Ireland.
P. S. N. I . Is struggling wIth the Nationalists' traditonal hatred of their predecessors. Memories are long and revenge a dish best tasted cold.
Into this toxic mix comes a reminder of past ill - doings when a prominent former I. R. A.man is kidnapped and the calling - card of a suspected assassin is found in his car.
As the first series progresses we are offered possible clues as to this person's identity.
Messrs Nesbit and Cranitch come to an uneasy armistice.
In Series Two,there are no surprises. Every development is telegraphed and the final scene a cross between 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre' and 'The Wild Bunch'.
Scenes that might have had the power to shock merely exercises in box - ticking.
For no apparent reason an Big -Time American Drug Baron is brought into the story.
The two alpha males strain at each other again but this time around it is merely routine.
I feel the writer became tired of his own creations and rushed to the last page before shooting off to 'The Ivy'.
I have given 'Bloodlands' a cumulative 8 out of 10.
How that number is divided between the two series might be judged by this comment.
Deserted landscapes,remote farms,simmering religious hatred,everything we English like to imagine typifies our image of Northern Ireland.
P. S. N. I . Is struggling wIth the Nationalists' traditonal hatred of their predecessors. Memories are long and revenge a dish best tasted cold.
Into this toxic mix comes a reminder of past ill - doings when a prominent former I. R. A.man is kidnapped and the calling - card of a suspected assassin is found in his car.
As the first series progresses we are offered possible clues as to this person's identity.
Messrs Nesbit and Cranitch come to an uneasy armistice.
In Series Two,there are no surprises. Every development is telegraphed and the final scene a cross between 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre' and 'The Wild Bunch'.
Scenes that might have had the power to shock merely exercises in box - ticking.
For no apparent reason an Big -Time American Drug Baron is brought into the story.
The two alpha males strain at each other again but this time around it is merely routine.
I feel the writer became tired of his own creations and rushed to the last page before shooting off to 'The Ivy'.
I have given 'Bloodlands' a cumulative 8 out of 10.
How that number is divided between the two series might be judged by this comment.