Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Capture’ On Peacock, Where A Cop Finds Out Evidence Against A Soldier Isn’t What It Seems

The title of the series The Capture has more than one meaning; it means that the police captured someone who’s accused of a serious crime. But it also talks about the crime being captured on video, in one of the many CCTV cameras stationed around London. Usually, video evidence of that sort is pretty airtight. But this series shows that might not be the case. Read on for more.

THE CAPTURE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A bank of monitors showing CCTV cameras stationed around London. One of the dispatchers watching the screens complains to the other that the coworker they sent to get dinner went to the wrong chicken place.

The Gist: The other dispatcher is watching two people make out on one of the screens. As she’s getting lost in the voyeurism, something disturbing happens on that screen and she sends out police units to figure out what happened.

We go back 18 hours. Lance Corporal Shaun Emery (Callum Turner) is leaving his prison cell to go to the appeal of his murder conviction six months prior; he’s accused of killing an Afghan soldier in cold blood. During the appeal, his barrister Hannah Roberts (Laura Haddock) brings on a video expert who says that the model of helmet camera that captured Shaun supposedly killing the soldier, then telling people to get back has audio sync issues. When things are properly lined up, the video shows that things happened in an order that helps exonerate Emery.

Then we see Detective Inspector Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger) on one of her first cases in the homicide and serious crimes division of the Metropolitan Police; she had previously been assigned to the anti-terrorism division that gathers evidence from the city’s CCTV cameras, but has to prove she can solve a “big” case in order to be taken seriously for leadership positions. She’s called to a sentencing for a terrorism case; Commander Danny Hart (Ben Miles), the senior official overseeing the case also happens to have an (ahem) close, personal relationship with Rachel. They both know that it’ll have to end now, since she is now working in a division that he oversees.

After Emery’s dismissal, his buddies throw him a party at the local pub. He makes sure to thank Hannah, but she says the video thing was all the idea of his solicitor, Charlie Hall (Barry Ward). But he has something to say to Hannah, especially now that she’s not his barrister anymore. But before he can, he gets into a fight with a buddy who jokes about him killing that Afghan soldier, and Hannah leaves. He catches up to her at a bus stop and asks her out. She agrees to it, but gets on the incoming bus, even though he offered her a ride.

But that’s not what the dispatcher sees. Soon, Carey is assigned to the case, because Hannah is considered to be missing. As she gathers evidence, with the help of the captain of her old division, it becomes clear that the man in the video is Emery. After he gets arrested, and Charlie comes to represent him, Carey shows Emery the video in question: Instead of him letting Hannah get on the bus, he attacks her, hits her, and drags her away to his car. Emery is dumbfounded. “That’s not what happened!” he screams repeatedly, and melts down so bad that he has to be restrained.

Carey wonders if he didn’t remember doing what he did. But his car yields no evidence, and Hannah is nowhere to be found. Just what in the hell actually happened?

Our Take: The idea behind The Capture, which was written by Ben Chanan and debuted last fall on BBC One, is that even evidence as seemingly airtight as video surveillance footage can be faked, and even seasoned cops like Carey can be fooled if the conspiracy to change the evidence is strong enough. It’s a premise that holds the potential for a lot of twists, and speaks to just how much things can be seamlessly altered in today’s society, but the way that Chanan got to this message in the first episode seemed unnecessarily manipulative.

Viewers are teased through the first 3/4 of the episode. We see others watching the footage of Emery attacking Hannah and they’re aghast. But the footage is purposely kept away from the viewers until the moment Carey shows it to Emery. The entire time, we were being driven crazy by this purposeful manipulation; we know that the recording shows something bad, but we don’t know what. Purposely holding back information to build drama, especially in the first episode, feels like something that’s way too much, way too soon.

Now that we’re past that, though, the rest of the series should be intriguing, especially given the performances of Turner and Grainger. Later on in the series, we’ll see Famke Janssen and Ron Perlman in significant roles, which we’re looking forward to. The idea that anyone can be fooled by what they see if the people trying to fool them work hard enough will be more than enough to carry the first season (it’s already been renewed for a second), and we hope that as the conspiracy unravels in front of DI Carey the confusion factor doesn’t increase. If Chanan can keep things clear to the viewer, this has the potential to be the best “original” on Peacock’s premiere day.

Sex and Skin: We see Carey sleeping with Danny Hart, but it’s mostly post-coital, under the covers stuff.

Parting Shot: Emery is sitting in a holding cell, thinking back to his encounter with Hannah and wondering if he actually did what he’s being accused of doing.

Sleeper Star: Ginny Holder plays DS Nadia Latif, who at first objects when Carey tells her to drop what she’s doing and work on the case she’s on, and Carey has to remind her that she’s now her boss. Also, she seemed none too happy when she had to get Carey’s old boss a breakfast brioche from a local deli so he can help with facial recognition evidence. It’s the type of thing that might pay off down the line, and a reaction we don’t normally see on cop shows on this side of the pond.

Most Pilot-y Line: As Emery sits in his holding cell, we see his daughter, whom he promised to pick up from school that day, waiting for him, as if he’s abandoned her again. Just more manipulation we didn’t need.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The conspiracy aspects of The Capture are intriguing enough to keep us watching. We just hope we don’t get manipulated as much as we did during the first episode.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.

Stream The Capture On Peacock