Inside Man Review (2022): The Moral Compass According To Steven Moffat | Netflix Series

Cast: David Tennant, Stanley Tucci, Dolly Wells, Lydia West, Lyndsey Marshal, Atkins Estimond, Mark Quarterly, Tilly Vosburgh, Louis Oliver, Kate Dickie, Dylan Baker

Creator: Steven Moffat

Streaming Platform: Netflix

Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

As we will see in this Inside Man review, some series are easier to talk about. This is regardless of the quality. In many cases, after having seen a series and having noted the positive and/or negative sides, one has in mind the whole process to follow. It is a question of starting a critical discourse that follows a mentally pre-built path, trying to enrich it with ideas, studies and everything necessary. At that point, you have to write. That can be done well or not well but often depends on factors that most of the time directly concern the analyzed title. Then there are different products. Series that follow another path and in doing so interrupt the modus operandi of those who try to observe them with a critical eye. Titles that are neither worse nor better than the others but often have a different charm.

Inside Man Review (2022): The Story

Inside Man’s narrative follows two distinct events that take place simultaneously. On the one hand we have Jefferson Grieff (Stanley Tucci), a former criminologist held in prison and sentenced to death for the murder of his wife. A man endowed with an out-of-the-ordinary intelligence, a certain elegance and with an extreme consideration of himself and his means. During his detention she decided to be of help, making herself available for the resolution of some mysteries and blocked cases. The choice on which to focus is very accurate and is based on filtering of a moral nature. Once it is established that it is worth it, he receives the applicant in a prison room accompanied by Dillon, a serial killer on death row who, thanks to his photographic memory, supports him as a human recorder of information.

At the same time in a small English town, we follow the Sunday of Harry (David Tennant), the local vicar. At the end of the weekly service, he finds himself fulfilling the request of the neo-sexton (and obviously from the unstable mental state) Edgar, who asks him to keep a USB stick for him and to hide it from his mother. Harry then goes to pick up Janice, his son Ben’s math tutor, whom we had previously seen stepping in to defend a girl from a molestation case. Due to the contents of the USB stick, the relationship between the vicar and the teacher is destined to precipitate, starting a series of events. The stories of Grieff and Harry will soon be bound to intertwine.

Inside Man Review (2022) and Analysis

Inside Man follows a sinusoidal course for all the minutes of its four episodes, where the low points are evident narrative forcing while the peaks are scenes worthy of the best recent television products. In particular, the whole part focused on Harry’s story follows an obstacle course in the thematic footsteps dear to the Coen brothers, Fargo (films and series). The same tone of the story always sails halfway between drama and black-surreal comedy. However, the development does not always work as expected and in several cases, you can tangibly feel the descent into the field of a Deus Ex Machina necessary to continue the story on the predetermined tracks. But when the gears go to the right place, Inside Man can hit points of great quality. A whirlwind of emotions: All characteristics that, when put together, lead to a single suspect: Steven Moffat.

Steven Moffat is one of the most impactful authors in the history of British television and one of the most important in the world. The Titanic Work on Doctor Who; the reinterpretation of an icon in Sherlock, which has effectively become a cult series; another reinterpretation, this timeless successful but still very interesting, in Dracula. Moffat is an incredibly good writer. The problem is that he is aware of it and never fails to point it out once. From this point of view, Inside Man is the work that most of all concentrates all of Moffat’s strengths and weaknesses and all his main characteristics. The English author does not have great problems constructing a narrative that is at times forced and artificial to reach his goal because he is aware of being able to be forgiven already in the next scene through intuition.

At the same time, despite everything or precisely because of what we have just observed, the enormous fascination of Inside Man cannot be denied. As it becomes clear the mechanism by which Harry’s path becomes the proof of Grieff’s thesis, the opera raises the bar and changes gears. Plenty of twists and well-placed, sharp and clever dialogue are the main ingredients. But if the series stands and takes flight it owes it above all to a cast in a state of grace (especially Dolly Wells in the role of Janice), able to make even the most absurd scene believable. With Inside Man Moffat sets himself the goal of obfuscating and confusing the spectator’s moral compass. In doing so he creates what is perhaps his most personal series of him and full of his strengths and weaknesses of him as an author.

Inside Man Review (2022): The Last Words

Inside Man is a series that represents the quintessence of Steven Moffat. The co-author of Sherlock tries with this particular thriller to confuse the spectator’s moral compass. Between some forcing and many peaks, we can say that the result is centered. Much of the credit is due to a large cast, including David Tennant, Stanley Tucci and above all Dolly Wells.