Only the first and second episodes were made available for review.<\/strong><\/p>\n When the first scene of Better<\/a> unfolds, you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking you\u2019ve switched on the wrong show \u2013 but that\u2019s all part of the intriguing appeal of that first episode.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll undoubtedly go into the new BBC drama<\/a> thinking it\u2019s going to be your archetypal crime thriller \u2013 fast car chases, close calls, mass murderers, corrupt officers and all. While it does have the latter, this series is actually more of a slow-burning character study about redemption. About being better, as per the show\u2019s title.<\/p>\n That first episode kicks off with Lou (Leila Farzad) holding court at a friendly drinks do, cracking jokes and trying to make her husband feel comfortable, even though she has to dash off after receiving a mysterious phone call. All very nice, right?<\/p>\n But she halts the evening to drive to a non-descript building, donning an all-black outfit and backpack, to carry out a task that we currently don\u2019t know anything about. There\u2019s even a blood-covered dead body laying waiting for her.<\/p>\n It\u2019s only when her car is pulled over after the fact that you realise that she\u2019s actually a high-ranking police officer.<\/p> While we follow a corrupt police officer as our lead, this isn\u2019t a series about corruption, \u00e0 la Line of Duty. Rather, it\u2019s a look into good vs evil and what could possibly drive someone to make these morally questionable decisions, with the result being the fact that you\u2019ll never quite know who to side with throughout these five episodes.<\/p>\n There\u2019s undoubtedly a lot still to be explored in the vein of police corruption on TV but instead, this series focuses on Lou in a vacuum of her own,\u00a0bypassing procedural drama formats and interrogating our characters\u2019 mindsets instead.<\/p>\n Because of the lack of trust in our main character, though, it\u2019s easy to feel a sense of detachment when it comes to Lou.<\/p>\n When her son is rushed to hospital and contracts bacterial meningitis, her life is harshly put into perspective. It\u2019s sad that it takes such a tragic event to make the audience empathise with her but suddenly the motivations for her wanting a better life for her family are put on display. So too are the motivations for wanting to step away from this life in order to appropriately care for her partner and child.<\/p>\n But that sense of detachment is something that\u2019s hard to shake when watching. Because of everyone\u2019s pitfalls, it\u2019s easy to float around and watch this series always wondering whether the characters on display are actually knowable or not. Of course, when we lack connection with our on-screen characters, it can make a series like this feel slightly uncomfortable.<\/p>\n In that first episode, we see Lou driven to Col\u2019s (Andrew Buchan) mansion for a dinner party, complete with pre-arrival security checks. Of course, this is our first time meeting the enigmatic co-lead in this series and he\u2019s\u2026 nice. He\u2019s warm, welcoming, funny and you wouldn\u2019t immediately think he\u2019s a notorious crime boss capable of truly awful acts. Oh the beauty of first impressions.<\/p>\n However, it\u2019s in Farzad and Buchan\u2019s first scene together that you can easily spy the magic that will propel this series forward. Sharing a cigarette in Col\u2019s back garden, they could be mistaken for long-lost siblings, sharing a moment away from the party and cracking jokes.<\/p>\n The pair excel at their effortless on-screen dynamic and Better gives us a refreshing tale of platonic friendship, as opposed to a steamy love affair in the subplot of this drama. There aren\u2019t any lingering background questions of \u201cWill they? Won\u2019t they?\u201d. Instead, we\u2019re witnessing two people who know each other so well that you often wonder how their significant others aren\u2019t\u00a0<\/em>jealous of their chemistry.<\/p>\n But all of the tension of a close relationship is undoubtedly there \u2013 they trust one another with their lives but at the same time, are increasingly suspicious of each other. It\u2019s like they\u2019re constantly circling each other, weighing up whether the other can be trusted and never figuring out if they can.<\/p>\n It\u2019s this unknowable sense of what\u2019s coming next that\u2019s familiar territory in thrillers like this one, except this time round, the pressure comes from interpersonal relationships in the series, rather than any major action-packed crime-fighting moment.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a tense love affair of sorts and while it\u2019s endearing, it\u2019s really Farzad\u2019s characterisation as Lou that is the reason this series is worth watching. She\u2019s our complicated, flawed lead character who is continually placed in this space of denial, regret and ignorance. That\u2019s what makes her human, really. She\u2019s not a perfect character but Farzad (who many will recognise from I Hate Suzie<\/a>) succeeds in making Lou initially humorous, clever, career-driven and somewhat relatable.<\/p>\n The leads in this drama are the main reason to persevere with it. The first couple of episodes may feel like a slow-going feat at times, with no real action on display. We get a great amount of context but there\u2019s the inevitable sense that we\u2019re always building up to something, patiently waiting for a showdown. There\u2019s the feeling that once we break through these foundational episodes, the plot will really get moving.<\/p>\n But unfortunately, after many viewers have recently been treated to the quick wit and pace of shows like Happy Valley<\/a>, crime drama fans may have to fasten their seatbelts and bide their time with this five-parter. What can we say, we\u2019re impatient.<\/p>\n While the series is one you\u2019re silently vying to excel, it is one that is intriguingly familiar, and broaches themes of family, love, loss, loyalty and success that will surprisingly reflect many people\u2019s lives. It\u2019s in no small part down to the clever writing of Jonathan Brackley and Sam Vincent (Humans, Spooks).<\/p>\n The five-parter thankfully seems like it really gets going as we near the end of episode 2 and while it\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess as to how this saga will end, something tells us that family tragedies often only end in one way, meaning this series has all the foundations for a pretty epic finale.<\/p>\n Better continues on Monday 20th February at 9pm on BBC One, with all episodes available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for more to watch, check out our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0or visit our\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0hub for more news and features.<\/strong><\/p>\n Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only \u00a31 with delivery to your home\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0<\/strong>Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n You could cut the tension in this new slow-burning BBC thriller with a knife, but at this point, it could be a little anti-climactic. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":30046,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/better-review-a-crime-thriller-worth-sticking-with-for-its-leads-alone.jpg",2048,1366,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/better-review-a-crime-thriller-worth-sticking-with-for-its-leads-alone-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/better-review-a-crime-thriller-worth-sticking-with-for-its-leads-alone-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/better-review-a-crime-thriller-worth-sticking-with-for-its-leads-alone-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/better-review-a-crime-thriller-worth-sticking-with-for-its-leads-alone-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/better-review-a-crime-thriller-worth-sticking-with-for-its-leads-alone-1536x1025.jpg",1536,1025,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/better-review-a-crime-thriller-worth-sticking-with-for-its-leads-alone.jpg",2048,1366,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"You could cut the tension in this new slow-burning BBC thriller with a knife, but at this point, it could be a little anti-climactic.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/30045"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/11\/BETTER-1-a0afe62.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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