Have loved detective-mystery shows/dramas for a long time now, pretty much half my life in fact, and have always admired that a wide range of tones are encompassed, from light-hearted to quite brutal. Will not say that every one around is great (there have been disappointments) or that every episode of personal favourites is immune from criticism, as neither are the case, but those of high-quality are so many.
When in its prime, so primarily the Mark McManus period, 'Taggart' was one of the gritty kind of shows, deliberate in pace until the period when Burke was in charge (where the shorter-length episodes felt rushed) yet very compelling, tense and suitably twisty, complete with scenes not for the faint-hearted. Do like a lot of the James MacPherson/Jardine-era episodes, though overall the period wasn't as consistent. Although it was the Burke episodes that introduced me to 'Taggart', with its regular runs on ITV some years ago, the episodes generally aren't as rushed, that is especially the case with the late ones where they suffered from the shorter lengths.
To me, "A Fistful of Chips", despite an interesting idea for the story, is one of the weaker Jardine episodes, the bizarre "Apocalypse" being my least favourite. Not an awful episode certainly and there are far worse episodes, but not really a 'Taggart' high point by any stretch.
"A Fistful of Chips", as always with 'Taggart' is a good-looking episode, have always loved the gritty, like-a-character-of-its-own Scottish setting, the moody colour pallette that adds to the grit and the slick photography. The music fits well and doesn't intrude or feel dull, while the theme song is not one to forget.
Do like how the team work, their rapport and how they go about solving the case, they keep the episode afloat. The murders are not for the faint-hearted, one of them quite disturbing, but didn't feel gratuitous. The best thing about "A Fistful of Chips" is the acting, MacPherson and Blythe Duff are always strong and Caroline Langrische is excellent in support. Robert Robertson is ever the scene stealer.
Unfortunately, on the most part the story didn't really grab me, lukewarm is a very good word to describe it. Couldnt get into it on first viewing, and second time around it still feels over-stretched and with too many lapses in momentum, even for a deliberately paced show like 'Taggart' parts of this episode dragged hard, and with little tension. There were also parts where it felt confused and fewer characters, a few not having much to them, and having less ideas going on in the story and developing the ones left much more would have helped it.
With the ending, it was a surprise but it did come over as rushed and under-explained, on first viewing it went over my head while only just about getting it on re-watch. It was great to see the series giving development to Robbie, but it did feel like there was too much focus on him.
Altogether, watchabe enough episode but for 'Taggart' at this point it was a bit of a disappointment. 5/10 Bethany Cox
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