The new Amazon Prime Video series presents a more nuanced look at the demands and consequences of law enforcement efforts against terrorism.
“Informer” is a show in which people die, a certainty that’s presented mere minutes into its opening episode. The new Amazon Prime Video series begins with an act of wanton violence not merely to thrust audiences into a world of brutality and warped justification, but to show that there is a cost to the six-part story about to unfold.
It’s not rooted in miraculous feats of bravery or redemptive acts that can wipe away years of misleading and uncertainty. It’s a pursuit of justice and public safety that acknowledges a human price at the beginning of each chapter. In the context of an unfolding story about policing, intelligence gathering and the informants recruited to be literal eyes and ears in those efforts, “Informer” also fashions a story that reevaluates how much that potential price is worth it.
Read More:The 32 Most Anticipated New TV Shows of 2019 “Informer,” which originally premiered on the BBC last fall and is now available outside the UK, follows a trio of individuals at the heart of an ongoing terrorism investigation. As part of his way of showing new recruit Holly Morten (Bel Powley) the ins and outs of sniffing out evidence via neighborhood policing, veteran investigator Gabe Waters (Paddy Considine) uses a drug possession charge to lock Raza Shar (Nabhaan Rizwan) into an ongoing informant program. Gradually (and in many ways, begrudgingly), the three work together to uncover information about a possible cell connected with a high-profile attack in the Netherlands. Debuting for American audiences in the wake of the overwhelming response to Netflix’s own import “Bodyguard,” “Informer” presents an intriguing alternative to the more narrowly presented elements of a story concerned with terrorism, public safety, and questions of duty under duress. Through Rizwan, Raza is a protagonist whose misgivings and occasional failures in his new unfamiliar role are part of what make for a compelling anchor to the overall story. It’s apparent that Raza is trying to do “the right thing” with each new turn in the investigation, but the elusiveness of that ideal course of action is when “Informer” is at its most observant. Considine helps to drive home Gabe’s unenviable task of tending to his various personal and professional families, keeping a slew of priorities balanced against an infinite number of alternate outcomes. Gabe wrestles with the implications of putting his informants inside a strict authority structure where all responsibility works back up to him. In the process, the show manages to go against asking blind allegiance to central figures of authority within the story, allowing for perspectives like Raza’s to get a little more breathing room than in more oversimplified narratives. The show calls attention to how Raza’s family and friends are used as bargaining chips to keep him compliant, even when those using that leverage don’t always see the full ramifications of what it takes to keep him cooperating. Sometimes, Holly and Gabe’s “at all cost” mentality achieves results, but those incremental breakthroughs in the case often come with a repressed psychological toll.
