"Wire in the Blood"
Prayer of the Bone (2008)

Director:

Declan O'Dwyer

Writer:

Patrick Harbinson (writer)

TV Series:

"Wire in the Blood" (2002)

Original Air Date:

7 January 2008

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Tony Hill finds himself in unfamiliar surroundings when he travels to Texas to assist the local district...

Plot Keywords:

Investigation | Murder | Police | Psychiatrist | Team

Cast

Robson Green	...	Dr. Tony Hill
Naima Imani Lett	...	Anita Addison
Brad Hawkins	...	Darius Grady
Merrilee McCommas	...	Julie Rice
Dell Johnson	...	Sheriff Phelps
Ryan Rutledge	...	Amare Phelps
Drew Waters	...	Ray Decosio
Nicole Lin Taylor	...	Loren Grady
Luke Gatewood	...	Jake Grady
Jenna Craig	...	Lucy Grady
Jennifer Griffin	...	Judge Downing
Julio Cedillo	...	Luis Borgos
Tom Nowicki	...	Lee Burrill
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pablo D. Flores	...	Prisoner #2
Brandon Lilly	...	U.S. Soldier
Kana LiVolsi	...	Detective
Cass Naumann	...	Smoking nun

Runtime:

UK:87 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Company:

Coastal Productions

Very good but also cartoonish

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

While watching "Prayer of the Bone" I thought of "No Country for Old Men". This episode is very good but could have been VERY good, on a par with "Space: Above & Beyond" episodes "River of Stars" and "Who Monitors the Birds?" The story takes place in Austin, Texas, which is in the Texas Hill Country. Tony refers to the landscape as "flat," but it is not flat there, and "hot" which it is.

Tony Hill, as a hired expert, is asked to determine if a murder suspect, Grady, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder when he killed his wife and children. No one questions that Grady killed them, only his motive for doing so.

There are not that many main characters, but they are not well-developed. A woman who belongs to some organization (I couldn't catch the name or its purpose) comes to Tony's motel room twice, uninvited, to rail at him. The defense attorney never seems to act in Grady's defense. The sheriff's character is paper-thin; so is that of his son, with a dollop of weird and hostile that is over-acted, I think. And then the fellow with the pet rattlesnakes is entertaining, but huh? That last died from multiple rattlesnake bites after an enemy sets the snakes loose from their cages by BREAKING the GLASS walls of the cages - surely he could have just lifted the lids??? And the sheriff's officers never said a word about the smashed glass - "Well, a man who keeps snakes should expect to get bitten." That's my take, it's not a quote.

A storyline is introduced involving drug dealers, a lot of money, corruption, and politics, but it's just to move the main story along. But then, what is this? The real murderer's motive is lust for Grady's wife, not money or power? There is some silly editing here and there, compressing some action into a second or two: Tony's rented car bounces in a vaudeville way on an uneven road; the mysterious woman scoots from one area of a prison yard to another. What is the purpose of that? If the story were stronger without the side trips, if the characters were developed a little more, if the silliness were removed, this episode could have been as good as a standalone movie.