Single false note in ‘Black Hands’ drama

AUCKLAND: What was with the revolvers?

You don’t expect strict attention to forensic detail in any kind of truecrime drama but last night’s opening episode of Black Hands, based on the Bain killings, strayed into the territory of the absurd when it put pistols in the hands of police who searched the house on Every St that winter’s morning in 1994 and found five bodies.

They even did that thing that you see in every US cop show of holding a gun in one hand and a torch in the other. Mulder and Scully used to pull that stunt on every episode of the XFiles and always looked mighty cool. To see New Zild constables doing it looked mighty weird.

But it was the only false note in an otherwise beautifully written, filmed, and acted episode. Black Hands went about setting the scene for the killings in a patient and subtle manner. It hinted towards neither David Bain or Robin Bain as the killer. It played it straight, and it also saved on lighting. Most scenes were played out in a dark gloom of shadows. The central character was