"Hidden" Episode #1.4 (TV Episode 2011) Poster

(TV Mini Series)

(2011)

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3/10
Hugely disappointing ending
markfranh14 March 2016
My wife and I really enjoyed the first 3 episodes of this series. We spent a bit of time after each one speculating as to what might be going on and what the hidden secret might be. What the bad guys were really up to. What the motivation was for promoting the challenge to the PM's leadership.

As we got closer and closer to the end of this final episode, we kept trying to figure out how they were going to "reveal all" in the little time that was left in the series.

Unfortunately, as we arrived at the final credits it turned out that even the writers of this series didn't even know what all the secrets were and we just looked at each other in amazement that we had learned virtually nothing of what was behind the plot(s).

Gina is fobbed off with a few mysterious words about why her parents died and she's satisfied with the little she is told. We weren't, so how could she possibly have been satisfied with the vague answer she was given.

Then we get to the plot by Morpeth and Verney to push Wentworth into the PM position. There are naturally a couple of shocking twists in the final plot that potentially make this interesting but the key word there is "potentially". One twist makes very little sense. The other makes absolutely no sense at all. I'll say no more as I don't want to introduce a spoiler.

Even now, the morning after watching the final episode, I'm still finding myself trying to construct scenarios in which any of the largest twist is logical but all I keep saying to myself is: "... but that makes no sense!"

This is well made. No doubt about it. The lead actors are wonderful. It's just a shame that the writers didn't really think through the plot when they were coming up with the ending because it all comes across as even they really didn't know what was going on themselves.

This series was called "Hidden" and I guess it was called that because the plot was as "hidden" to the writers as it was to the viewers.
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4/10
The Mystery of the Missing McGuffin Warning: Spoilers
Any film buff should know what a McGuffin is. It's the name Alfred Hitchcock gave to the thing that everyone is pursuing in a thriller. It can be a fabulous gem, or military secrets, or a deadly weapon. Many of the Sherlock Holmes stories revolves around a McGuffin. All of the Indiana Jones stories revolve around an ancient mystical McGuffin. The Maltese Falcon is named after its McGuffin. Hitchcock famously said it didn't matter what it was. But he meant it doesn't matter which of the possible McGuffins the writer chose. It must matter to the characters and therefore to some extent to the reader or viewer because we have to be invested in the characters' motivation. Now the Maltese Falcon subverts this because Sam Spade doesn't ultimately care about the falcon as much as who killed his partner. Perhaps that was what the writer of this series thought they were doing. Harry only cares about whether his brother is alive. But, no, he and Gina care about the reasons why people were killed and as viewers we also care about why we are being subjected to all this political maneuvering and what the organization behind it was trying to accomplish. We don't learn any of that. While it may not ultimately matter what form the McGuffin takes, there has to be one at the center of the thriller/mystery, like there has to be a hub for a bicycle wheel or the bike doesn't go anywhere. BTW how can Gina be Harry's lawyer when his assistant couldn't find evidence that she even existed? Don't the British have some kind of bar association?
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