Leads put up a good fight, make ‘Criminal Record’ worth bingeing
This Wednesday, Apple TV+’s “Criminal Record” wraps up. After that, the British crime drama is ready for bingeing and, despite a somewhat incomplete finish, worth bingeing. Thanks to a pair of excellent lead performances, the eight-parter is a fun ride.
The story revolves around an old murder case where the wrong man might have been sent to jail. Cush Jumbo — so good in “The Good Wife,” “The Good Fight,” and “The Beast Must Die” — plays Detective Sergeant June Lenker, who has found significant new evidence in the case. Ambitious, conscientious, and, as a Black woman, well aware of the roles that race and sexism play in the justice system, she tenaciously pursues more new information on the case, even though it’s not part of her job.
Peter Capaldi — the former “Doctor Who” and star of “The Thick of It” — plays Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Hegarty, the guy who originally “solved” the murder and put a man in jail. An old school officer who’s well-connected, he’s against Lenker’s efforts, and he tries to stop her at every turn. He treats her with contempt, turns other cops against her, and pressures her boss to stop her from pursuing the case — all of which she ignores, aware there must be a good reason Hegarty’s so dead set against her.
The arguments and the passive-aggression between the two characters is rich, thanks to Jumbo and Capaldi, who nail their fraught exchanges. She’s fighting for the truth, but she’s also fighting against a cop culture where favors, secrets, and compromises are the norm. He’s fighting for his generation and his legacy, outraged that he’s under scrutiny — and Capaldi manages to add a bit of kindness into the mix, lest Hegarty be too stock. The more we see of them, the more aspects we see of their complex relationship, which at moments is a little like that of a mentor and his student. The actors make it all work, even if, in the end, the script is a bit of a letdown.