'Taggart' "Abuse of Trust" (2010)
Opening thoughts: Have loved detective/mystery dramas/shows since the age of 12. Especially 'Inspector Morse' and anything Agatha Christie-related. Despite first getting into 'Taggart' via the early Burke-era episodes that were first airing at the time, there is actually preference for the Taggart and Jardine eras, which had more tension, grit and intricacy even with the slower pacing and longer lengths.
By the time "Abuse of Trust" had been made and aired, 'Taggart' (with a few exceptions) had become really tired. That is very obvious in "Abuse of Trust", which has all the strengths and flaws of the average/middling episodes. "Abuse of Trust" is not 'Tagggart' at its worst, there are worse such as "Law" and especially "Genesis", but it is still not particularly good. Rather middling if anything.
Good things: "Abuse of Trust" does have good things, no 'Taggart' episode is irredeemable. It is typically slick-looking and it is good that the photography doesn't try to do too much stylistically, without being too clean looking. The grit has definitely not gone. Glasgow looks great, with a good deal of atmosphere. The theme song is still easy to remember and has an appealing nostalgic vibe. On top of being well suited to the tone of the show. The acting from all is good, with most of the regulars faring strongly (Blythe Duff never disappointed) and the supporting cast doing nicely despite being in quite standard roles.
Complete with a nice chemistry that is humorous in parts and intense in others.
Bad things: As said however, "Abuse of Trust" is very predictable as a result of really running out of ideas. There are no surprises and due to knowing what was going to happen most of the time, with the responsible being known as soon as they are introduced, the episode lacked suspense and felt bland. Did feel too that the story felt very draggy and by the numbers.
Really did not care for the way Burke was written here, generally he had come on a long way since his first appearance but here his hostility is really overdone and comes over as too sinister villain like and not tough talking detective. Actually have felt that Alex Norton's acting came on a long way as the show progressed when he blended with the show better, but somehow he overdoes Burke's hostility, an example of exaggerated character flaws which can be an issue for me. The script has moments of levity and grit, but too many times it's fairly by the numbers. The music overall would have been perfect in the 80s and early 90s but by this point it was sounding ten plus years out of date, on top of that the music is not always very well placed.
Concluding thoughts: Overall, rather mixed on this.
5/10.
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