Last year I can still remember just how amazing it felt to watch the BBC1 crime/police drama Happy Valley.  It was that brilliant that it sort of felt like a privilege to watch such a fantastic piece of work.  I greatly looked forward to watching it during the week to see the story develop some more. After watching episode two of River last night on BBC1, I am starting to get these same feelings about this new series. UTTERLY COMPELLING AND UTTERLY BRILLIANT is how I would best sum up my feelings towards episode two!

The story in episode two solely focused on the recent murder of DI River’s close work colleague, DS Jackie “Stevie” Stevenson(Nicola Walker).  Much to River’s dismay we saw her character being questioned when it was discovered she had a second phone for some unknown reason.  It was also revealed that she came from a rough family who were very anti ‘the police’.  After forensically examining CCTV footage it was clear that local drug dealer and now dead man Riley, did not murder “Stevie”.  A new lead developed when they focused on Riley’s mentally ill girlfriend Tia.  It ended with them establishing where the car had come from that was used in the shooting of “Stevie”.

There was so much more to this episode than just that though.  Stellan Skarsgard yet again gave an absolutely incredible performance as DI John River.  He is so good at portraying this character who is aloof, overrun with grief and yet also a really good copper.  River’s constant battle with a mental disorder resulted in acting of the finest quality.  I totally believed him which I hope is the greatest compliment that I can pay to Stellan as an actor.  Whenever River had one of these so-called ‘manifests'(hallucinations) with “Stevie”, it almost moved me to tears every time .  One minute we would see him all happy and smiling when he was seeing and talking to “Stevie”, then the next minute we saw him totally distraught after he realised that she was not really there.  The interplay between these two characters was so emotionally powerful to watch.

I loved the interaction between River and Police Psychologist Rosa Fallows(Georgina Rich). In episode one River was very resistant in seeing this person, stating he did not have time for it. Last night his hand was forced because he needs her to write him a medical report  that says he mentally fit enough to continue serving as a policeman.  I thought Georgina Rich played her role superbly.  Her character Rosa pushed him but was also caring and supportive.  In their chats last night we interesting learned more about River.  I am thinking here of their last chat last night when he openly admitted to her that he had a mental disorder that only “Stevie” knew about.  I almost started weeping when he sort of emotionally crumbled to Rosa, stating how the only friend he had in life was “Stevie” and now she is dead.  Again, this was exceptional acting by Skarsgard.

I also need to applaud the mise-en-scene of River last night. In particular I am referring to the lighting.  There were these magnificent shots of the brightly lit up police office building, juxtaposed and contrasted against the darkness outside.  It really looked stylish and gave connotations of a classic Hollywood film noir film.

The music needs commending upon too.  It enhanced the emotional impact of the narrative beautifully.  The tension, the sadness and even River’s sense of isolation, they were all felt stronger by being accompanied by haunting music.  I love the theme tune too being ‘I’m In the Mood for Dancing’ by The Nolan Sisters.  Again, this light happy dance tune contrasted greatly with the strong emotional narrative that we had just been watching.

  River has soon become my TV highlight of the week then.  I just hope in four weeks time it ends brilliantly like Happy Valley did and not very disappointingly like The Missing.  If you have not watched any of this series so far then I really do implore to do so because it is that good. UTTERLY COMPELLING AND UTTERLY BRILLIANT, I cannot praise a television drama series any more than this! 5/5.