“Safe” (Netflix)
Last year I binge-watched a series titled “Harlan Coben’s The Five”. I watched it based on Coben’s name alone. I am a fan of his books so even though I didn’t recognize a single name of the actors in the cast, I tuned in. I was spellbound. It held my interest from scene one to the last one in each and every episode. I recommended it to friends and they loved it too.
Fast forward a year and “Harlan Cohen’s Safe” is available for streaming on Netflix. Strangely I was hesitant to watch it. I had enjoyed “The Five” so much that I just knew “Safe” would be a disappointment. But once I started this series, in the very first minutes of episode one, I knew I was watching something special. Eight episodes later I knew I was.
“Safe” features Michael C Hall as Tom, a widower whose daughter Jenny (Amy James-Kelly) disappears from home. She tells him she is going out with friends and then doesn’t return. The whole show is him looking for her and trying to determine if she is dead or alive. Of course there are sub-plots and side-plots galore but the missing daughter is the central theme.
Hall was the only actor I recognized and I have been a fan of his since the “Dexter” days. You assume he is a good guy in this show but he still has a bit of the “Dexter” gleam in his eye. His main co-stars are Amanda Abington as Sophie and Marc Warren as Pete. Sophie is his friend turned lover and Pete is his best friend period. Sophie is also the chief detective with the local police.
What is uncanny about Abington and Warren is that she is so Allison Janney-ish and he is so Paul Bettany-ish. By the time I had watched all episodes I was convinced both of those actors had been in the series. The actual actors do a fantastic job with their roles and elevate the whole good show into something even greater.
Harlan Coben is the man behind the concept of the series and he gets it all just right. You get a real feel for these characters and then one twist comes and then another and another and another. You are never standing on solid ground because no one is really who you think they are. In some cases this would all be too much of a red herring thing but in “Safe” it works amazingly well.
If you watch “Safe” you won’t feel safe. Your schedule won’t be safe since you will have to find eight or nine hours to devote to it. Your nerves won’t be safe because they will be shot to pieces. Your emotions won’t be safe because they will be tossed and turned by the sobering script and the exceptional acting. But it is a “safe” bet you will find this one of the most entertaining shows you will see this year.
Harlan Coben is now two for two. Let’s see if he has it in him to go three for three. I’ll be waiting.
Safe” is now available for streaming on Netflix
Jackie K Cooper
www.jackiekcooper.com
You are spot on with both Safe and The Five. Couldn’t stop watching either show until I had devoured the entire series in a stitting or two. Then had to tell all my friends.