BBC one’s new mini-series ‘The Tourist’ kicks off with an action scene set in the Australian outback where lead actor Jamie Dornan plays an unidentified man in a beaten-down hatchback, evading a truck driver who is attempting to swipe him off the dirt road. Suffering the after-effects of a serious collision, Jamie’s character is left with severe memory loss – to the point, he can’t recall his own identity.
This first episode presents us a familiar face, Danielle McDonald from the comedy film ‘Dumplin’ who plays Helen Chambers, an over-reaching traffic policewoman who thinks she’s a detective. We witness a wholesome friendship blossom between Helen and Jamie’s character, as she tries to help him uncover his identity and his past. The real action begins to heat up when a mysterious woman named Juli, working in a diner, survives a failed bombing attempt beside our man with no name. This confirms to the audience that someone is indeed trying to kill Dornan’s character.
But this is where the storyline begins its head-scratching twist and turns and the plot begins to feel cheapened and cliché when it throws in amnesia, organised crime, predictable double-crossing and a bag containing a million dollars. Perhaps it was purposefully ludicrous in irony? but that’s possibly overestimating the writers of this series.
The audience could easily feel unimpressed with the storyline – not to mention the cringe moments between Dornan, the policewoman and his ex-girlfriend. Add to the fact you’re continuously forced to hear the preaching of basic inspirational quotes, it might be enough to make you want to stop watching the show entirely.
Fortunately, what saves this show, is the decent acting despite the subpar plot, Jamie Dornan is such a talent, I say this as a testament: his career really did not need this series, but this series absolutely needed him.
I’ve come to the conclusion that this mini-series is actually somewhat enjoyable, it has many redeeming moments to balance out the cringe parts. The most important thing to take away is: this series should not be viewed by the audience as an action-thriller or a mystery, but rather, as a dark comedy. The humour between Dornan and his Aussie castmates worked so brilliantly onscreen, I felt these were the most genuine and fluid moments we witness throughout the entire series.
On many occasions, the unique Australian humour really delivers. The Australian cast should also be mentioned, especially onscreen villain, actor Alex Dimitriades, who really did his character justice. Overall, the cast did an incredible job carrying the series which gives it the potential of not becoming another BBC flop.
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