FACING DEMONS (SAVE ME TOO)

When 'Save Me' was broadcast on Sky Atlantic two years ago, it set a high bar for other UK dramas made by the channel.

Created by its lead actor Lennie James, the hard hitting child abduction drama waded into some very dark themes.

And under the direction of Nick Murphy, it attracted some serious acting talent from both sides of the Irish Sea.

(SPOILER ALERT!!!)

At the end of 'Save Me', James' estranged dad Nelly found himself at an auction attended by paedophiles trying to win back his missing teenage daughter, Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness' Jody McGory.

Beaten up after bidding way above his limit, Nelly still managed to break into a warehouse where she might be held - only to discover Olive Gray's teenager Grace chained inside a caravan.

At the start of 'Save Me Too', Nelly Rowe is still looking for Jody and is sitting 17 months later in a car in his trademark yellow puffa jacket with blood on his knuckles.

With episodes penned by Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan, Marion Smith and Emer Kenny, 'Save Me Too' from the off follows a less linear narrative than its predecessor.

We go back and forth in time, seeing Nelly and Thomas Coombes' Goz earlier in the day tailing the car of Lesley Manville's disgraced upper middle class wife Jennifer Charles.

She is living with the shame of her husband is Adrian Edmondson's creepy Gideon Charles having been tried for paedophilia.

Shocked to see Nelly in a supermarket, she is coaxed into having a cup of coffee with him - believing he might offer a sympathetic ear.

What Nelly really wants is to extract names and telephone numbers from her of Gideon's associates - even pretending Goz, who is waiting outside the cafe, is a tabloid journalist to pressurise her.

When Nelly tracks Gideon down on the back of one piece of information, the paedophile panics and decides to flee with the help of his wife.

Nelly nevertheless is determined to do whatever it takes to secure more information to help recover Jody.

James and his writers go back in time once more to the trial of Gideon Charles, which Nelly, attends in the public gallery with his ex, Jody's mum Suranne Jones' Clare and her husband, Barry Ward's Barry.

Grace is the main prosecution witness but is unhappy about having to live through the trauma of testifying about the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Gideon and his associates.

After a cross-examination in the witness box goes disastrously, she storms out of the courtroom and goes to ground, causing the case to collapse.

Weeks later, she returns with Nelly spiriting her upstairs to the flat above his local The Palm Tree, run by his friend Susan Lynch's Stace.

However events take a darker turn the following morning when Nadine Marshall's DS Shola O'Halloran turns up at The Palm Tree where Nelly and his mates have been sleeping after his 50th birthday celebrations to reveal Gideon Charles has been murdered.

The police are especially interested in Nelly's whereabouts on the previous day.

'Save Me Too' finds Nelly forging a close bond with Grace as he tries to find some morsel of information that could lead to the whereabouts of Jody.

But it also sees Stephen Graham's fragile Melon trying to sustain his relationship with Alice May Feetham's pregnant Bernie and wrestling with his murky past.

While Nelly obsessively chases any lead, Jones' Clare McGory is coming to terms with her grief for Jody and the likelihood that her daughter may be dead.

Camilla Beeput's Zita shares a bed with Nelly who takes her young son, Kassidy Anderson's Samson to school but soon becomes uneasy about the arrival of Grace in their lives.

Goz panics when Nelly bounces him into providing an alibi for the day when Gideon was murdered - a concern that is shared by his partner, Alisha Bailey's Heather.

Jason Flemyng's cross dresser Tam remains as supportive as ever - even taking Clare to a medium in the hope that it can provide some piece of mind about Jody.

As in the first series, James and the writers are not afraid to plunge into some very disturbing territory and it is Nelly's tendency to take huge risks in pursuit of the truth that makes every episode feel like a jittery but compelling high wire act.

Well written, intelligently directed by Jim Loach and grippingly acted, 'Save Me Too' is every bit as good as its previous series.

Lennie James remains the heart and soul of the show and is just wonderful as a desperate man who is often too clever for his own good.

As before, every member of the cast, including Kerry Godliman as another of Nelly's exes Teens, is on song.

But if there is one quibble, it is that Jones, Ward, Graham, Lynch and Flemyng are so good that you cannot help but feel they are a little underused.

With a bit more to do than some of her colleagues, Beeput is excellent as the no nonsense Zita.

Gray also injects a nervous energy into the show as the volatile and very damaged Grace.

Marshall and Coombes rise to the occasion too, while Edmonson is impressively slimy as Gideon.

Manville, not surprisingly, is a terrific addition to the cast as Gideon Charles' damaged wife and like Jones, Graham, Lynch and Flemyng, you find yourself wishing there was more for her to do.

While Jim Loach is on board to direct three of the episodes, ultimately it is the quality of the writing is 'Save Me Too's' greatest asset - providing a solid foundation for the cast to work from.

Each episode lands a heavy emotional punch and the cast devour and savour every piece of dialogue.

You suspect James and his writers will have no difficulty asking the cast to return for a third series.

And it seems viewers have an appetite for ot as well, with over 3.1 million downloads on Sky's streaming services during April.

By the time 'Save Me Too' reaches its crescendo, there are still too many questions still to be resolved.

It seems only fair that Nelly and his yellow puffa jacket get at least one more outing again.

('Save Me Too' was broadcast on Sky Atlantic from April 1-May 6, 2020)

source https://loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2020/05/facing-demons-save-me-too.html