Time 2021

"Time" follows the story of one Mark Cobden, a man regretful of his actions, thrown into a prison full of total degenerates and the occassional decent person. I did not know what to expect going on, and left mostly satisfied with what the show had to offer. It had very strong moments and explored humanity in some interesting ways.

The acting is perhaps the strongest aspect of the show, and how could it not be with Sean Bean and Stephen Graham's nuanced performances? It was hard not to get emotional during some of the series' most intense drama. It focuses on exploring the mindset of a convict, doing so in a very heartfelt manner. It seeks to understand, not so much judge. There are plenty of sympathetic characters in here, no matter the addition of the opposite. Which also does bring me to one of the show's issues - thematic consistency.

As I said before, there is a strong focus on guilt and redemption here. Mark's actions are never excused, and he is never presented as a person wrongfully incarcerated. His tale is that of prison life, where he meets others that have gone along the wrong path and face justice for their mistakes. To contrast this, Eric McNally suffers within the constraints of morality's greyness. Family or principle? While this is an interesting conundrum, and his story is interesting, I was disappointed by the poor incorporation of both in this series. The themes struggle to fit in together, mostly due to the ending's uncertain messaging. On one hand, Mark's tale ends in such a way that the challenges he faced in prison were seemingly for nothing, as he suffers no repreccusions for his goodness in there. On the other, Eric never really learns anything. He simply gets what is coming for him, without there being a point to be made. Not that it is always necessary to do so in a story, but there is a great disparity between the narrative tone of these two characters. The connection here needed to be better.

The other inmates had a lot to tell and you end up remembering each and every one as they develop along the sidelines. There's always something done to bring more to light about them. For example, I am quite fond of Paul, who never had such an important role in Mark's story, but was a great character in his own right. Many like him are humanised, but there are some who are inexcusable pieces of living waste. I think this could have been handled better; as I said, there is a focus on understanding, not judgement here, yet this isn't the entire truth, as clearly some inmates here are villanious. I understand this is an attempt at being more realistic, but in that case the idealism should have been toned down. "Time" has difficulty maintaining this balance, though it still makes for an enjoyable and affecting show.

I highly recommend "Time" to those looking for a story of guilt and how one might grow from. It stutters in its telling of this, but the genuine humanity shines through. Times change, what matters is how we carry along them.