1.5 Ambassadors Complex shows, audiences can deal with. The Sopranos, The West Wing, The Wire… are all complex and eminently watchable, because their complexity is driven by characters we believe in. Complicated shows that feature more twist and turn than character however, are simply tiring. At episode five, just when Hunted should be ramping up our interest, its increasingly spiralling narrative and piling on of underwritten character after character (Meera Syal’s just popped up as a Pakistani presidential candidate, Aidan’s living under an assumed identity, the fake Dr Goebel is actually on Hunter’s side, the list goes on…) just feels exhausting. What they’ve a less strong grip on is containing Hunted’s overarching themes – money, power, free market capitalism – inside an engaging human story. Viewers don’t need to like our TV protagonists (Breaking Bad and the aforementioned The Wire are more than proof of that), but we do have to feel as if we know them for the story to mean something. After spending five hours in her kickass, pouting presence though, do we know any more about Sam Hunter than in episode one? I’d have to say no. None of that is to say Hunted doesn’t have its moments. The stunts and fight scenes are glossily entertaining, and this week’s episode saw the body count rise more rapidly than usual. George Ballard was blow-darted off this mortal coil (but not before supplying Sam with the next piece in her slowly-assembling Hourglass puzzle), the Belfastian Godfather was shot in the head, and Sam and Aidan cut through a crowd of gun-wielding henchmen like an unarmed knife through butter. It was an eventful episode that moved apace, and left us sure that Hourglass was behind Hunter’s much-revisited childhood Oast House trauma. Hunter and Stephen’s kiss was another uncomfortable reminder of how ‘sex-worker’ seems to fall under the job description of Byzantium’s best operative, though her blank page character gives no indication of her feeling either compromised, or actually having affection for Eddie’s father. One way or the other, it would be nice to know. The acid-test with slowly unspooling thrillers is how urgently you want to get to the next episode once the credits have rolled. It’s telling then, that after an hour of Hunted, good-looking and enjoyably bonkers as it is, I’m quite happy to wait another week to see what happens next. Read Louisa’s review of episode four, here. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
