s viewers, we seem naturally drawn to the thrill of getting close to monsters without actually being in danger. Don’t you agree? The television options are plentiful with crime shows that tease us with tales of heinous crimes perpetrated by vicious criminals. A recent Netflix series that caught our attention is the four-episode Inside Man, written by Sherlock creator Stephen Moffat and starring Stanley Tucci, David Tennant and Dolly Wells.

Jefferson Grieff (Stanley Tucci), a criminologist on death row in Texas, is the subject of the four-part thriller. While awaiting execution, he is permitted to operate a detective service, given that he is an inside man in both the jail sense and the sense of a criminal who solves crimes. He must solve one case per week before his execution.

The premise, clumsily combined with another plot taking place in the UK and involving an Anglican vicar Harry (David Tennant) making reckless decisions, unfortunately fails on many levels. Inside Man fails as a story on a fundamental level, despite its great ensemble, Paul McGuigan’s direction and Moffat’s writing.

Nearly every absurd action that its characters perform revolves around the question: “What would make a nice guy kill?” As a result, the vicar finds himself in a precarious predicament that he keeps insisting could not have been prevented but that could and should have been avoided at all costs. We spend so little time with Harry before he goes totally off the rails. He becomes a caricature rather than a character. It makes absolutely no sense.

Episode one introduces Harry as a cheeky priest who crosses the line. He continues to cross more lines over the course of the following three episodes with an increasing emphasis on the impossibility of acting otherwise. Eventually, he finds himself surrounded by circumstances that are just as legitimately hopeless as the one he has been claiming to be. The drama is probably trying to create a Fargo-like tension in which an ordinary man becomes increasingly reckless, but there is no sense of inevitability. Instead of being held hostage by fate or circumstances, Harry and his wife Mary (Lyndsey Marshal) make a series of perplexing decisions based on guesswork.

The premise, which was clumsily combined with another plot taking place in the UK and involving an Anglican vicar Harry (David Tennant) making reckless decisions, unfortunately fails on many levels. Inside Man fails as a story on a fundamental level, despite its great ensemble, Paul McGuigan’s direction and Moffat’s writing.

The cast is incredible, and certainly good enough to detract from the main storyline, which frequently leaves us wondering “but why?” Janice Fife, the math tutor for Harry’s son Ben, is portrayed by Dolly Wells, while Beth Davenport, the journalist, is portrayed by Lydia West. Their initial scene, which takes place in a subway, is a revoltingly tense, powerful start that turns out to be frustratingly false advertising for what comes next. This suspenseful scene portrays Janice as an exhilaratingly smart, strategic thinker. She is the kind of character viewers would truly like seeing on television, if only she had taken that subway to a different show.

Louis Oliver, who plays Ben, is also excellent. From being arrogant and smug in episode one to being afraid and panicked at the end, he is credible throughout. A strong, dedicated cast with a talent for delivering Moffat’s snappy, cutting dialogue has been formed with the addition of Tennant and Tucci. It is difficult to feel anything but annoyance for the unfortunate vicar despite Tennant’s charm. Meanwhile, the Tucci side of things is a no-brainer.

Like Sherlock, this TV series has a brilliant detective in the lead who uses exceptional deductive reasoning to solve situations. Grieff’s story’s casual and frequent use of violence against women as a jest causes some unease, but at least it makes sense in the context of a dark comedy about a serial killer. However, Grieff’s side of the story also puts itself in a bind when the “inside man” needs an outsider to do the legwork. To be precise, he does not require an outsider; the show requires one so that viewers have something to watch other than Grieff smugly mouthing off what he already knows.

Inside Man is a dark four-hour ride that delivers an engrossing and intriguing plot, supported by a host of excellent performances. There are some amusing bits in Inside Man and Tucci is particularly excellent as Grieff. If you can look past the crime at the centre of the narrative, this brief rollercoaster ride is marginally entertaining. Otherwise, Inside Man might not be worth your time. All in all, the story revolves around an utterly bizarre misreading of a situation that makes its characters jump through far too many hoops to be credible. There is no denying that Inside Man will disappoint Moffat fans, but the ‘but why’-filled plot will keep you hooked regardless.

The writer is a freelance contributor