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17 out of 18 people found the following review useful: A Hard To Find Gem, 15 August 2004 Author: panicstrickyn from Southern California
So I've started seeing Clive Owen here and there the last few months and I look him up to see what other work he's done. I end up searching for this set of TV episodes and Greenfingers. Both are movies I couldn't find in my neighborhood movie rental spot. Anyway, I loved this show. All eight episodes kept me interested, though I was disappointed with the Tully just suddenly moving along aspect, and Clive rules the small screen just as well as he does the big screen. I highly suggest anyone that enjoys Clive's work pick these up, especially the 1st two dvds (2 parts to each one). Oh, and some great cameo's but well known actors as well. Overall, an A- for the set.
13 out of 13 people found the following review useful: deeper than most crime dramas, 31 January 2001 Author: Brucev-3 from Utrecht, Netherlands
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
At first glance Second Sight is a crime drama like any other british murder mysteries. But don't be fooled. It goes deeper than most dramas. In other murder mysteries it always involves finding the killer with some character development and that's it. Second Sight is different. Solving the crime is important, but more importantly is how the main character Ross Tanner solves these crimes. Because at the first episode it becomes apparent that he has a rare decease, causing him to loose his sight and eventually going blind. In the course of the series he looses his sight now and then later accompanied by strange visions and surreal dreams (which helps him strangely enough to solve crimes). At first D.C.I. Ross Tanner (a very strict, but fair, well respected and succesfull leader of a crime squad who wants to be in controll of everything) ignores his problem. But then he has to face the music when D.I. Catherine Tully discovers something is wrong with his vision. She helps him and becomes his sight. After four episodes she cannot help him anymore because it is to much a strain on her and the team thinks she is trying to climb up the ladder by sleeping with her superior Ross Tanner, not aware of the main character's problem. As the series goes on his handicap becomes bigger, but at the same time it is enabling him to see things at a better perspective. It is amusing to see how Ross Tanner (Clive Owen) handles himself. More so if his second D.I. ( a very ambitious fellow) tries to take over things. Because only a few people have noticed his problem, he continues with his work, while we know he cannot go on any much longer. Will they ever find out? Clive Owen really makes this series work, if it was played by anyone else, it would not be believable. This crime drama is one of the best dramas ever to be broadcasted by the BBC. Go watch it!
5 out of 5 people found the following review useful: Well worth viewing., 16 July 2006 Author: andrew-fenton-1 from Canada
This series is a sensitive portrayal of a police investigator coping with an increasing deprivation of sight. This portrayal includes the personal pain that accompanies the gradual loss of a sense faculty that is taken to be essential to the profession of the individual concerned. What is impressive about the writing of this series is how this assumption about the essential character of sight (for such professions as investigation) is undermined without the use of clichés or cheese. Overall, the dialog is well written, the story lines interesting, and the personal lives of the main characters (when they are included at all) are seamlessly written into each episode. Well worth the time to watch, more than once.
6 out of 7 people found the following review useful: Awesome., 30 September 2008 Author: wiseupsucka from United Kingdom
I'm completely amazed by Harry Preston's "review", I think the best bit must be this: "May I suggest to Rebecca Eaton that she add sub-titles to this show (which still has a few episodes to run) so that American viewers can truly enjoy rather than endure the British dialects and poor diction of the performers". It's incredible. It's also made me ashamed to have a British dialect on the English language. How dare I? Second Sight is great, please enjoy it, don't let a self appointed internet retard put you off a good few hours entertainment. Clive Owen is typically brilliant here and the whole show is a testament to the quality of BBC programs.
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful: A Must See British Crime Series, 8 November 2008 Author: Neil Turner from Annapolis, Maryland
If you are a favorite of British crime dramas, the Second Sight series are a "must see." They star Clive Owen who has become more well-known to US audiences from his roles in the exciting and thoughtful science fiction shocker Children of Men and in the action mystery Inside Man which I found to be thoroughly entertaining. Owen, at first, appears to be very rough hewn, but he has the ability to express a tough vulnerability (an oxymoron?) that makes him perfect for the role of DCI Ross Tanner in the Second Sight series.Tanner is not a very likable man. He's a drunk, a womanizer, a neglectful father, and a tough boss, but he is very good at his job - thus he is the head of a police unit that investigates high-profile crimes - mostly homicides. Tanner begins to have some problems with his vision and finds that he has contracted a rare disease known as acute zonal occult outer retinopathy (AZOOR). The symptoms are blurred vision, blind spots, and flashes of light. In many cases, full vision returns after a period of time. Tanner - being the introspective, shut off man that he is - decides to hide his condition with the hope that his normal vision will return.The flashes of light are used to dramatic effect in the series by taking on flashes of images that appear to Tanner which often help him to solve the crimes. This technique is overdone, but it serves to give us insight into the mind of this brilliant detective.The first series concerns just one crime which is the complex tale of the murder of a young man. In this first series, Tanner accepts the help of a female detective in his unit who perceives the vision problem. He and the detective also have a sexual relationship. It is through this relationship and his strained relationship with his son that we get some insight into the more human side of the man.In the first episode of the second series, Tanner's relationship with his paramour comes to an end. The second series comprises three different crimes and also offers us a further look into the human side of Tanner. All three are neatly tied together by Tanner's developing condition, and each crime offers exposes different aspects of the British personality and society. Especially notable in Kingdom of the Blind is a chilling performance by veteran actor, Peter Vaughan who his more often seen in lighter roles.British television drama has a special way of portraying the women and men of the police forces who must deal with the criminal element. Second Sight certainly ranks near the top of those dramas.
4 out of 43 people found the following review useful: Marginal fodder for TV mystery junkies, 30 May 2004 Author: George Parker from Orange County, CA USA
Clive Owen brings his almost complete absence of charisma and scant repertoire of nuances to "Second Sight" as a detective who may or may not be losing his sight depending on who you believe; host Diana Rigg or the doctor characters. A much too pat and uninspired Brit detective series about a workaholic divorced sleuth with personal issues, DCI Tanner (Owen), "Second Sight" is full of nonsequiturs, plot holes, and just plain shoddy work. Owen does the usual connecting of dots expected of mysteries while maintaining the pitiful I've-been-screwed-by-life attitude you would expect of a terminal cancer patient not one whose just may be going blind and especially not one who sees perfectly when required of the plot and otherwise when not. All the while, Tanner has what Rigg describes as a "torrid" affair with his sidekick which is little more than a few seconds in the sack and sees visions (the second sight thing) which are rationalized by some mumbo-jumbo about his medical condition. Pale in comparison with the Brit "Cracker" series, "Second Sight" is little more than par fodder for TV junkies. I gave up on it with about 10 minutes to go in the 2nd DVD. (C+)
5 out of 57 people found the following review useful: It could have been more enjoyable with sub-titles, 3 May 2001 Author: Harry Preston (preston8@onramp.net)
My TV watching is confined almost exclusively to PBS and the British shows, which are usually the only things on TV worth watching. BUT... this particular show suffers from an excess of unintelligible dialogue that only added to the confusion of the muddled plot and story, the jerky handheld camera work, the appallingly choppy editing and uncertain direction. May I suggest to Rebecca Eaton that she add sub-titles to this show (which still has a few episodes to run) so that American viewers can truly enjoy rather than endure the British dialects and poor diction of the performers.
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