Critique: Vigil (Series Two)

A weapons system, developed as part of the UK-Wudyan military agreement, is tested in Scotland. When it goes wrong, the investigation leads Detective Chief Inspector Amy Silva to go to Al-Shawka Air Base in Wudyan. Meanwhile, Amy pregnant partner Detective Inspector Kirsten Longacre leads investigations on British soil.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Many aspects of the story were managed phenomenally.

In the first series, Amy was enclosed in a submarine, creating Vigil’s unique atmosphere. This clearly couldn’t be replicated so I wasn’t expecting a second series. The tug-and-pull conflict between police and military was similar, as was Amy’s isolation from her loved ones/team. These dynamics replicate some of the uniqueness and that was an achievement.

As Wudyan is an antigay country and Amy is gay, I was expecting this to cause some sort of conflict. Amy was careful with this so it’s not a surprise that the information didn’t get out. Then it turns out two of the soldiers were gay, but all those who know don’t let it get out. The careful secrecy is a huge part of being gay in antigay countries, as is the constant fear/anticipation of the information slipping. So the lack of conflict with the Wudyani authorities over this was an accurate depiction.

The series ended with a witness statement in court: “Your arm sales will fund your schools and hospitals, whilst hospitals on the Wudyan border will fill up with schoolchildren.” A clever, impactful statement.

 

Poppy, Amy’s daughter, doesn’t have a big part to play in the plot yet she is necessary for believability. Characters like this often appear like unwanted baggage although the writers in Vigil make good use of her.

Poppy is living with Amy now, after years of not doing so. We don’t get to see this dynamic, see if there is any resentment or anything over Amy’s prolonged absence in her life, because Amy leaves. Although this would have been nice to see, its value would be lower than the existing scenes it would have replaced.

Kirsten and Poppy’s relationship seemed pretty good. Although there was one awkward moment when a crying Kirsten asked Poppy for a hug. Either that showed Poppy didn’t like Kirsten enough for physical affection or it was general teenage-adult-emotion awkwardness.

Whilst Amy was away in Wudyan, she rung Poppy once. For a mother that didn’t have access to her daughter for years, you would expect her to make more of an effort. Amy was always using her phone and she said that Poppy was always on hers, so availability and opportunity were both high.

 

There are, however, two things that were disappointing.

Wudyan is a made-up country. The creators clearly didn’t make-up Russia for Series One, so why invent a country for Series Two? UK-Russian relations aren’t good whereas UK-Middle East relations are good (and also necessary, both because of military cooperation and oil). Russia’s retribution was thus be of little importance whereas offending a Middle Eastern country could lead to massive problems. This may be true, but would a tv series really cause any actual problems? I’m not convinced.

At one point, Amy does a roll to avoid a gun shot. The thing is, she’s a police officer and the shooter was highly trained. So that would have stretched believability. Plus the roll itself was awkward, shattering all credibility.

 

Discovering the culprit was an impressive journey.

As the show goes on, both Amy and Kirsten have several potential suspects. Considering they aren’t the culprits of the crime being investigated and are thus distractions, I suppose they’d be classified as ‘red herrings’. However, I’m not sure this is accurate because, whilst being dead-ends, they provided essential info for the crime to be actually solved.

Several of the military people acted in ways that were distracting or deflecting. This could have been perceived as a cover-up but could also be them wanting to get back to normal. Acting Squadron Leader Eliza Russell and Air Vice Marshall Marcus Grainger are the biggest distractors and deflectors: considering they’re in charge and they’re who Amy interacts with most, it makes sense that the audience would see them behaving this way. Between this and the ‘red herrings’ taking the focus, Eliza and Marcus beings the culprits is a surprise and yet their behaviour throughout makes their involvement very believable.

 

An engrossing watch with only two issues in six hours of film, Vigil (Series Two) was a stunning piece of television.