Catching the first 30 seconds of Tuesday’s RTÉ news before switching to the new series of Homeland (RTÉ2) causes the sort of jolt that makes the American import such a satisfying, meaty drama. (By now we’ve all agreed to forget the dire second season.)
On the news is a US general, breast covered in medals, failing to explain convincingly why an American ground-attack aircraft bombed a hospital in Afghanistan. The Homeland opener offers a similar sight: a bunch of medalled-up US generals, Washington chiefs and CIA bosses being briefed by the home-from-Syria agent Peter Quinn. (Here Rupert Friend, full of rage and intensity, is the third-best thing about Homeland after the mesmerisingly good Claire Danes, as Carrie Mathison, and Mandy Patinkin as Saul, her boss, mentor and father figure.)
The generals want to know if the US bombing is effective. “Tell me what the strategy is and I’ll tell you if it’s working,” a disillusioned Quinn says before revealing how fractured and clueless Washington is in the face of Islamic State, with its clear mission.
But Carrie is out of all this CIA stuff, isn't she? She's living in beautiful, tranquil Berlin with her child, Frannie – time has passed since the fourth season:the baby has started school – and a new man, a steady but slightly Brodyish lawyer, with red hair and a beard. Carrie is a practising Catholic, with a nice job as a corporate-security consultant. Then she's pulled back into the chaos in the Middle East. Her millionaire boss wants to deliver aid to refugee camps in Syria – Homeland is never far from the headlines of the day – and Carrie must organise safe passage.
The most symbolic moment of the first episode is when Carrie takes a scarf out of her bag and covers her hair. Rarely has a piece of cloth in a TV drama signified such a major character transition, as she turns from contented Hausfrau in the West to the Carrie we knew in the first series: the brave and foolhardy Middle East specialist with a contact book that gives access to the head of Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, a big cyberleak has revealed an intelligence-sharing agreement between the US and Germany (not the tapping of Angela Merkel's phone, but resonances of global politics sound out in most Homeland scenes). In Berlin to sort it out is Saul, now the boss of the CIA in Europe rather than of the whole organisation, for which he blames Carrie.
Their brief accidental meeting is perfect in its intensity and nuance, classic Homeland. "You've been stupid and naive," Saul tells her, and for a second her lip trembles, a hint of the Carrie cry face of old.
By the end of the episode the Hezbollah guys have thrown Carrie out of a van, hooded and disoriented, at her front door; Peter is the CIA’s gun for hire (“You’re on your own,” Saul says, giving him a hit list); and Carrie is heading for the Middle East. It’s shaping up to be a terrific series.
An investigator pulled back into her old life also drives the plot of From Darkness (BBC One, Sunday), a new four-part crime drama with Anne-Marie Duff in the lead. She plays Claire Church, a former Manchester detective who left that life behind 15 years ago to live in the remote Western Isles of Scotland with her handsome partner and his difficult teenage daughter, in their biscuit-making cottage industry. (Just one cliche in a drama filled with them.) Claire runs – but is she running from something or just training for a triathlon? From Darkness spoon-feeds you the psychology.
Claire left the force because no one would believe that a serial killer was murdering prostitutes: of course, who else? Even by the time we see our first body, a new victim, we’re deep in crime-drama cliches.
Two bodies have been discovered under an old building, and her former boss and lover – overweight? check; drinks too much? check – arrives at Claire’s door to bring her back to Manchester to help solve the crimes. But she is firm in her refusal to help, which makes her unlikable but potentially more interesting, although she ruins that by spending too much time staring out of windows, which makes Duff look more bonkers than intriguingly intense.
From Darkness is a TV crime drama, so of course there will be tropes. But so far this seems just a patchwork of other dramas, particularly Scandi ones: it's quiet and downbeat; she's a bit Sarah Lund, from The Killing; the beautiful, dreamy opening credits remind one of The Legacy. Even the lovingly lingered-on scenery has a Nordic feel.
The Rugby World Cup has been a gift to TV3. It gave the station its biggest ever audience last weekend, when nearly a million people tuned in to see Ireland play Italy. Expect those figures to spike even higher for Ireland v France this weekend. And, having watched Adrian McCarthy’s excellently researched, clearly presented and deeply persuasive Hidden Impact: Rugby and Concussion (RTÉ One, Monday), every head-banging collision will be even more difficult to stomach.
Rugby is an aggressive, gladiatorial sport. Physicality is celebrated, and a player who gets knocked on the head might not own up to it. “You do whatever it takes to play the following week. Rugby players are hard, and there’s no hiding it,” says Ronan O’Gara, one of several players interviewed.
But evidence is mounting that repeated concussions – a traumatic brain injury and a routine occurrence even at schoolboy level – can have long-term effects. The implications of multiple concussions on young teenage brains are detailed by several specialists. When an emergency-department doctor questions why a game that results in so many injuries is not treated as a child-protection issue, he doesn’t sound nannyish or hysterical.
Last year a neuropathologist at Beamont Hospital, working with a Scottish expert in brain trauma, confirmed what was long feared: a link between chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, and concussions from rugby. Kenny Nuzum, a Dubliner, played rugby all his life, and his postmortem showed that he had CTE. It’s the same condition that prompted the American NFL to pay €1 billion in settlement for concussion-related brain injuries to its 18,000 retired football players.
This documentary couldn’t have been made 10 years ago; little was known about concussion, and rugby was different then, less physical and with smaller players. It will be interesting to see a documentary in 10 years’ time on the subject, because the film, which is almost campaigning in its conviction, leaves you feeling more that changes will have to happen, from schoolboy rugby up.
Ones to Watch: River of life – or of death?
It's written by Abi Morgan (The Hours, Suffragette) so River (BBC One, Tuesday), a six-part crime drama, is a must-see. Stellan Skarsgård (right) – there's a Scandi influence right there – plays a police officer haunted by crime victims. With Eddie Marsan and Sorcha Cusack.
It kept viewers hooked right until the final episode, when it ended, unsatisfactorily, with a biblical flood. But maybe the second series of The Returned (Channel 4, Friday), the French supernatural thriller, will finally give some answers about who is alive, dead and in between.
tvreview@irishtimes.com
