Amsterdam, Part 2

Leading lights, left to right: Bobby Day (Robert Glenister), Lucy Cannonbury (Lesley Sharp), Alec Wayfield (Dino Fetscher), Nina Suresh (Indira Varma), Michael Niles (Neil Stuke)

We watched Paranoid, an eight part murder mystery series on Netflix this week. Despite the title, no one in the show exhibits any of the symptoms of paranoia, although given what's going on, maybe they should. But if 'they' are really out to get you, you aren't paranoid then, are you? There is an undercurrent of some nefarious evil running throughout the show, but it is pretty much overshadowed by all the front line crazy we see in every episode.

And we do have a nice sampling of front line crazy. Bobby suffers from panic attacks, Nina's biological clock is ticking and, presumably, that is what is behind her episodes of 'crazy woman' behavior. Lucy had some problems in the past but is working hard to stay calm.  Alec's mother is an inveterate* liar. Niles (the boss of the three detectives Alec, Bobby and Nina) deserves some sympathy since he is in charge of this squad of lunatics. Niles seems sane enough, but that might be because we haven't examined him too closely. This is just the main characters. We also have a whole town full of people, all of whom seem to have an affliction of one sort or another. Kind of like real life.

The story is set in a small town in England, but it is quickly established that the origins of this crime are in Amsterdam, where we find Linda Felber (Christiane Paul), the cheeriest detective you have ever met. She is a real bright spot on this otherwise dismal stage.

Amsterdam, Part 1, is S. G. Collins video about the Amsterdam transit system that was the subject of my last post. More Amsterdam posts here.

*having a particular habit, activity, or interest that is long-established and unlikely to change. "he was an inveterate gambler"