The Vanishing Triangle
The Vanishing Triangle is set in the last decade of the 20th Century, when a serial killer was terrorizing the women of Ireland with a series of abductions and murders that have never been solved. The story line is built around these true events, but centred around two characters, a strong-willed female reporter who becomes obsessed with solving the murders, and the police officer she ends up working alongside, sometimes uneasily. Each has issues of their own. Lisa the reporter is haunted by the unsolved murder of her mother, even while she remains estranged from her father, who has long been imprisoned for a gang-related murder he may or may not have committed. Meanwhile, David the policeman is struggling with unresolved issues around his sexual identity.
I almost quit after the first episode because Lisa the reporter kept on doing really stupid things, as stupid as, say, when teenagers being stalked in a slasher movie decide to split up, presumably to make it easier for the slasher to pick them off one by one. But I gave it the benefit of the doubt given that at that point I had thought her character was based on a real person who might have behaved that idiotically. Later I realized that she was completely made up, but it was too late by then, as the multiplying subplots and narrative momentum had drawn me in. It wasn’t until we neared the end that I realized that the subplots were just distraction that in fact disrupted the narrative flow, and when the disappointing ending arrived, it let me down even further.
Particularly if you are interested in a depiction of Irish society in the 1990s, you will probably enjoy the series, but otherwise I find it hard to give much of a recommendation.
imdb.com |
