Peacock Original The Capture Is An Ambitious Ground Breaking Crime Thriller That Will Make You Rethink Everything You Thought You Knew About Surveillance, Counter Terrorism, And Fake News

Holliday Grainger as Rachel Carey. Photo courtesy of EOnline.com

Peacock Original The Capture is a crime thriller for this day and this age. The mini-series takes a deep look into the world of counter-terrorism, authorized vs non-authorized surveillance, CCTV, and the ugly power of fake news. Starring Holliday Grainger as Rachel Carey, an up and coming officer on a mission to arrest Special Forces Lance Corporal Shawn Emery (Callum Turner) for the abduction and murder of his barrister Hanna Roberts who had previously helped Shawn beat a murder charge stemming from an incident while Shawn was deployed to Afghanistan involving Emery and an insurgent he shot and killed, on the grounds that the video footage used to convict Shawn was potentially flawed. For Hanna’s kidnapping and subsequent murder, the charges relied solely on CCTV footage recovered near where the incident took place but without any physical proof, including Hanna’s body, or an admission of guilt, Shawn is released on bond wherein he decides to look for Hanna himself and that’s where things get a bit squiffy.

Ron Pearlman as Frank Napier, a sweet, law-abiding fellow on holiday in London. Just kidding, Frank is your typical American at-all-cost government agent that would waterboard Jesus if it meant catching the right disciple. Photo courtesy of the BBC.

While chasing down a lead, Shawn himself is abducted and taken to a home at Eaton Square where he meets Frank Napier, a rather sadistic US Intel officer who interrogates Shawn in hopes of finding out where Hanna is and if she is alive or dead. Nothing comes from Frank’s overly aggressive chat session with Shawn who is then shipped off to another location for further interrogation. En route to their next play date, Shawn escapes from his kidnappers but is nearly arrested while on the run by Detective Carey, who is still hard at work on the case and is obsessively trying to piece together evidence beyond the CCTV footage that solidly links Shawn to Hanna’s kidnapping/murder and also figure out why counter-terrorism is so deeply interested in Shawn’s case and why they redacted a portion of the CCTV footage rendering it inadmissible in court. It just didn’t make sense.

After dodging Detective Carey, Shawn winds up captured by a subversive group of people who know who Shawn is, who Hannah was, and what really happened the night of her kidnapping and subsequent murder.  They over-enthusiastically offer to help clear Shawn’s name except their plan seems to involve everyone, including the police and British and US Counter-Terrorism (oh and Frank, can’t forget Frank) that is currently looking for him and that want him either dead or in prison, whatever works. In a last-ditch effort to coax Shawn out of hiding, counter-terrorism officers go after Shawn’s family which leads Detective Carey to confront both agencies about their particular methods of collecting intel, presenting it to the public, and where the line is regarding national security versus civilian’s rights. It’s definitely a thrilling drama that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout each episode, with a shot of multiple moral dilemmas you may not have thought about but will, often.

Excellent cast with great character interactions, a solid, smooth running storyline, and a pulse-pounding music score, The Capture is a riveting series that is immensely enjoyable to watch.

The trailer can be seen here

Official IMDb can be found here

Stars Holliday Grainger, Callum Turner, Ron Pearlman