Talk TV Slow burner...in Seven Seconds
NETFLIX can be a bit hit-and-miss when it comes to original shows – Damnation being a prime example – but it hits the mark with gritty drama Seven Seconds.
It’s a slow burner but worth sticking with as the plot picks up pace in episode three with investigators starting to join the dots on a hit-and-run case.
Seven seconds is how long it takes for young white police officer Pete Jablonski to run over black teenager Brenton Butler in a New Jersey park.
In the opening scene, after his car spins off the road in snow and he spots a bicycle crushed under the tyres, a panicked Jablonski calls in his cop buddies.
They systematically set about hiding the evidence and try to pin the crime on an alcoholic vagrant but their plans unravel when a witness comes forward.
Meanwhile, Brenton’s middle-class parents struggle with their grief as images of their only child left bleeding to death haunt their every waking moment.
When news of police involvement is leaked, angry protesters take to the streets and both the prosecutor and the investigating officer come under intense pressure.
This warts-and-all drama tackles the issues of the day head-on – it doesn’t shy away from the racial tensions of the day in the US and it doesn’t soft-soap it either.
When Jablonski suggests reporting the accident, his cop pals tell him: “They are going to f**k you for Ferguson, Chicago, Baltimore… You can’t be a father to your kid from behind bars.”
The language is harsh and unforgiving and more than once the dead black teen from a middle-class home is dismissed by white cops as “probably another banger”.
But the politics fades into the background as the characters – each
Ashitey as KJ Harper more flawed than the next – start to take centre stage. First up there’s the courageous but troubled prosecutor KJ Harper (Clarehope Ashitey who starred in Doctor Foster). She has a serious weakness for gin Clare-hope Ashitey and Michael Mosley and karaoke. Then there’s her sidekick, dedicated detective Joe “Fish” Rinaldi (Scrubs actor Michael Mosley) who takes in stray dogs.
They form an unlikely alliance, and in the face of growing hostility as corrupt cops circle the wagons refuse to back down.
Sentimentality doesn’t feature and the only time viewers get a clear shot of hit-and-run victim Brenton is after his life support is switched off in hospital.
There’s no light relief here – at times it’s difficult to watch – but it’s raw and powerful and it grips you from the start as it evolves into an epic courtroom drama.
All 10 episodes of Seven Seconds are available now on Netflix. Fingers crossed for a second season.