Customer Reviews

Second Sight Season 1

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Fans of the art house cult hit CROUPIER will delight in this first entry in yet another first-rate British mystery series. Clive Owen, who made Jack Manfred a classic antihero in CROUPIER, fleshes out a fascinating character in DCI Ross Tanner as the SECOND SIGHT series begins with this two-tape set. Tanner is a divorced (aren't they always?) workaholic with an ambitious ex-wife and an adoring young son who seems to double as Tanner's only real friend. In this go-round, Tanner is beginning to lose his eyesight to a rare disease for which there stands no present cure. Hiding his condition and his terror is not going to be easy, however. The fadeouts are unpredictable and often frightening and his new partner, Catherine Tully, is on to him. Equally ambitious, and out to correct an old wrong, Tully offers to be Tanner's eyes if he will give her a crack at their new case--the death of a young university student in his own backyard while no one in the family seemed to notice.

Claire Skinner is, as always, expert and enjoyable to watch but its Clive Owen's show all the way. His unconventional good looks and rugged exterior share space with a tender, devoted father and a fair-minded, ingenious detective but Owen also gives Ross Tanner something else, that rarest of things in movie characters--the suggestion of an inner life which is every bit as fascinating as his day-to-day crime solving. Great production values and fine supporting performances (especially from Stuart Wilson and Phoebe Nicholls) make SECOND SIGHT a must for any British mystery video library.

I found "Second Sight" to be very interesting and enjoyable. For someone who misses the "Prime Suspect" series I found "Second Sight" to be an excellant substitute. I also found the two stars to be excellant actors and the mystery a true mystery. If you like "Prime Suspect" or just British mysteries period I would recommend this one.

I found this show on at 1 am one night, and was caught. I didn't know what day it played, or at first what channel it was on, so I found myself staying up, flipping channels to find it. After that I realized it might be better to use the TV Guide. This is a wonderful show. It's star is arresting, both vulnerable and strong at the same time. I try to avoid watching anything that doesn't catch my creative eye, and this did, completely. Such a show you would normally assume to be firmly within the usual "detective show" genre. It wasn't. It was wonderful. Creative, imaginative, touching and appealing. Beginning to end it was awesome.

Clive Owen is amazing as he plays both a tough detective and as a man struggling with some very intense personal issues. Great as both a mystery and as a human nature study. Loved every second.

I highly recommend Second Sight and its sequel.
I think I have a new favorite actor... Clive. I hope I can find him in other features. He was just superb. A very compelling actor. I hope to see him in some big feature films in the US. He is an actor to watch. There's a lot of meat there in his acting ability.

Second Sight premiered in America on PBS' Mystery. For most American's this was their introduction to Clive Owen.

Clive Owen stars as DCI Ross Tanner, the head of the Elite Murder Unit. Like the other great British police detectives of the time, Ross Tanner had an issue that he had to contend with. But unlike the others, this cannot be cured. He has a rare eye disease and is slowly loosing his sight. The only person who knows his secret is DI Catherine Tully. Like most British shows, this focuses on quality over quantity. Therefore, there are only five two hour episodes.

The following are the episodes:

Second Sight Pilot: Tanner discovers he is losing his sight but has been made the head of an elite murder unit. The first case has a number of suspects including Tanner's stepfather.

Hide and Seek: Vicki Inghram has been brutally murdered. Tanner wants to recreate the scene but the use of Vicki's son causes more issues than tanner expected.

Parasomnia: A man is bludgeoned to death after his stag party. His fiance wakes up covered in blood but has no recollection of the murder. Tanner starts having hallucinations due to his losing his sight.

Kingdom of the Blind: Tanner is investigating a hate crime. Everything points to retired gangster, Harold King. The only this is King is blind. But while Tanner uses his blindness to seek the truth, King has let his fester his hate.

While Owen's Ross Tanner does not compare to Helen Mirren's Jane Tennison or Clive Owen's Dave Creegan, these five episodes show are still better than most American detective shows of the time. Kingdom of the Blind is by far the best of the lot. It is too bad that it stopped there.

For Clive Owen fans, this is an insight to his early career. For everyone else, this is a great detective series.

This is a two part mystery show. Clive is head of the investigation of a murder. He is losing his sight and has to depend on his female partner to help him solve the crime.
He does not want to have to depend on her for anything but as his sight fails he is forced to depend on her as she leads him around trying to not have anyone notice that he is going blind.
Clive is fantastic in almost every movie that he makes and this is no exception. He has such charisma and personality and good looks. He is one of my favorite actors.
This is well worth watching more than once.
Regina

This is an outstanding detective story, combining very contemporary elements with the taut, unrelenting pacing that traditionally characterizes the best British mysteries. Clive Owens' performance is superb, and shows unmistakably his potential for far meatier roles: Gosford Park finally gave him a major vehicle, but he could do even more. Claire Skinner is beautifully matched with him, and their dramatic interplay allows them to develop as real personalities, not just puppets to move the plot along. It would be good to see them together again.

The premise of this superior British police thriller is that the brilliant young investigator Ross Tanner, compelling played by Clive Owen, is going blind. As his sight deteriorates due to a rare virus, he literally sees stars -- and sometimes he sees things which aren't there. The acting is enhanced by wonderful camera work and an unusually perceptive script.
Tanner, aided by a young, up and coming female investigator played by Claire Skinner, is trying to solve the mysterious murder of a 19-year-old student. He tries to hide his worsening blindness but she catches on and makes a deal: she'll be his eyes if she can share credit for solving the murder and put her career back on track.
There are plenty of backstories, well-developed, and a good supporting cast, but the chemistry between the two leads is what makes this mini-series compelling.
The plot itself uses Tanner's blindness and his "visions" of things that are not there as a metaphor. Of course, nothing is what it seems. The dead boy's step-father, his long-lost uncle, his mother, his girlfriend, all have their particular view of the murder and the victim -- but each one is looking from a particular angle through their own blinkers -- or in one case their own, elaborately-constructed fiction.
It all makes for a satisfying, complex brew with many different flavors going into the mix. And it works on many levels, as a human drama, a straight police investigation and a metaphorical probe into what is, and what merely appears to be.

All of the good things have been said: nuanced performance by Clive Owen and Claire Skinner, riveting mystery, charismatic and now rising star in USA, interesting rhythm and plot, similar tenor to Prime Suspect. I would add that it is ophthalmologically correct. I transcribed over 10,000 ophthalmic visit letters and never came up with AZOOR because I did minimal retinology. Found it in the Ophthalmic dictionary. These writers got one over on me.