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| Scene from The Night Of |
The crime procedural may be one of TV's most reliant genres. For almost its entire existence, the whodunit has made for some riveting TV. Even in 2016, American Crime Story has managed to become a sensation by contextualizing the O.J. Simpson case as a media circus. Following last year's true crime entry The Jinx, HBO has now brought us The Night Of: an adaptation of British series Criminal Justice. The eight episode series explores a simple event: Naz (Riz Ahmed) gets pinned with murdering a woman after one reckless night. With a fantastic team that includes Man on Wire's James Marsh, The Wire's Richard Pryce, and screenwriter Steve Zaillian, the story comes to life not by answering the question of who did it, but what happens when the situation gets grimy. The results build into a slow burn that inevitably make for a fascinating look at the justice system.
The series begins and ends on a bit of a daunting note. The first episode clocks in at 80 minutes and chronicles Naz's fateful night. He steals his father's cab before accidentally befriending a woman who winds up dead. The episode takes its time getting to the moment of impact, choosing to guide the viewer through every possible scenario that includes stopping at a gas station and running into less than friendly people on the street. There's intrigue building at every turn, even if it's still unclear if Naz is actually a criminal or not. By the end of the first episode however, he is in jail and lawyer John Stone (John Turturro) has come to his rescue. What lies ahead may be unknown, but what is known is that Zaillian's gift for slow exposition pays off beautifully as he humanizes the most uncomfortable of moments and forces the viewer to sympathize with Naz.
The remaining series builds to the court case that ends the series in a 95 minute episode. Everything in between is something that seems to be glossed over in almost every other crime procedural: the procedure. With traces of The Wire in its DNA, the show paints the picture for both Naz's time inside of jail as well as the lawyer who is going to bail him out. In Naz's story, it's a tale of survival and the tragedy of the feeble man having to act tough to get by. In John's story, it's a matter of finding the evidence to get his client off, as well as dealing with a serious foot condition that consumes most of the story. With help from partners, John manages to become the investigative link to our understanding of what happened on the night of. Much like John admits later on, he has optimism for Naz because he doesn't strike him as a guilty person. Even as Naz adapts to prison life, there's an innocence to him that is hard to shake - and everyone sees it.
The show manages to show the slow progression that leads to the fateful day when the jury makes their decision. The time in prison is just as gruesome and a test of masculinity by which very few actually pass. The justice side of things are hit and miss and presented with candid conversations that show the frustrations even within staff members. A lot of the appeal comes from how one crime impacts everyone's lives. It isn't as clear as one would think. What should be your routine whodunit that is in and out in an hour turns into a series that wades through uncertainty, not even revealing the fate of Naz through foreshadowing. By the end, it feels like the system hurt everyone, even if the results are inevitably positive for Naz.
The series ends with John leaving his apartment as an ASPCA advertisement plays. It has the familiar sad animals montage that eats at anyone's soul. However, it is the text that is spoken over it that inevitably summarizes the series. Help the animals who need it, for they cannot survive without you. To some extent, John is that donor to Naz's sad animal face. While the results may still be rooted in some uncomfortable financial and racial tensions for Naz's family, the joy of having a son freed from jail is inevitably the highlight to the series. The only question is now if it was worth all of the expenses, or if it's hurting the lower class. John is undoubtedly a hero and Turturro gives yet another phenomenal performance. Ahmed proves that he needs to have a lot more work heading his way soon.
As a whole, The Night Of is a fascinating crime procedural. It manages to capture more than the steps to getting the protagonist freed. It's about the emotional toll and the desperation that comes with. It isn't just about the legal system, but how society forces perspectives on cases. Even if it seems more conventional and less accessible than American Crime Story, it does manage to paint a tragic and honest portrait of the justice system in ways that make for great TV. Credit is due to Zaillian for making everything feel methodical and engrossing despite being very familiar grounds. The rest of the show is more than deserving of HBO's strange annual crime show release and proves that there's still grounds to be explored within it. Hopefully a second season won't be too far ahead. That is, unless it's anything like True Detective season two.
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
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