Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.
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When a 9-year-old child ends up dead, so begins the blame game which spreads all around.
| Network | |
| Channel 4 | |
| Creator | Jack Thorne |
| Director(s) | Euros Lyn |
| Writer(s) | Jack Thorne |
| Air Date | 1/10/2018 |
| Noted Cast | |
| Miriam | Sarah Lancashire |
| Kiri | Felicia Mukasa |
| Nathaniel | Paapa Essiedu |
| Tobi | Lucian Msamati |
| Rochelle | Andi Osho |
| Simon | Finn Bennett |
| Alice | Lia Williams |
| Jim | Steve Mackintosh |
| Lucy | Cara Theobold |
| Julie | Claire Rushbrook |
The Introduction
Miriam, a social worker who seems a bit uncouth but liked, finds herself in quite the pickle. A young Black girl, Kiri, who was about the be adopted, is assumingly killed while on a home visit with her grandparents – an unsupervised one. During this visit, it seems Kiri’s father, Nathaniel, was allowed by his parents, Tobi and Rochelle, to see her. Leading to it being assumed, when Kiri’s body is found strangled, Nathaniel is the culprit.
However, there are other suspects. The one who is of most interest will definitely be Simon. He is someone who would have become Kiri’s adopted brother but didn’t seem happy about it. He even makes it clear, as they look for Kiri, that his mother Alice seemingly loved Kiri more than him. She even announced this on the news. An embarrassment for sure but would that be enough to kill a child?
Though, of course, there is always the option of Kiri’s soon to be adopted father Jim as well. But, we’ll have a few more episodes to gather evidence and figure out who the real killer is.
Highlights
Miriam and The Social Workers
Many professions get profiled that society are reliant on. There are lawyers, doctors, politicians, cops, nurses, and on the occasion, also teachers. However, one profession not often seen are those who do social work. Whether it is like Miriam, who deal with foster care, those who handle the impoverished, and things of that nature, they don’t see their careers in the spotlight often.
Now, on one hand, naturally putting any profession on display, as shown in the RadioTimes article “Social workers criticise “inaccuracies” in new Channel 4 drama Kiri,” causes controversy. After all, it causes misconceptions which often can attract the wrong kind of people to a profession. Heck, look at cops, doctors, and those in the military. The grandeur nature media portrays has likely been a bane for many a manager or director for decades. Especially as they seek out the best and brightest than the overeager and clearly looking at things with rose-colored glasses.
Yet, at the same time, for a lot of these professions, you don’t get what they do until you need them. Like in the case of Miriam, Lucy, and Julie. Miriam, though crucified by the end of the episode, you see does seriously care about the kids who are part of her job. After all, someone has to. They wouldn’t be in the system if their parents were up to snuff. But, at the same time, what is likable about Kiri is we don’t just get this headstrong woman who is good at her job until she makes a mistake. The difficulties of the job are shown in masse as well.
Take Lucy being assaulted by her kid, Julie having to bear some weight of this Kiri thing since, ultimately, she has been signing off on the paperwork. No matter how you slice it, you find yourself with a thankless job which, to some, rips apart families and tries to find safe new ones for children. Sometimes with mixed results.
Cross Culture Adoption
One of the things I love about British TV is that they bring up these poignant topics which really drive conversation. Especially the kind which exposes people’s bias, among other things. Last year, it was ITV’s Liar and for Channel 4, it is Kiri. Something which should of addresses the slightly uncomfortable idea of cross-cultural, or racial, adoption. Something often joked about when it comes to Madonna, Angelina Jolie, and others, but the idea is not seriously confronted in terms of why it makes some people uncomfortable.
Not Too Many Suspects, But That Could Change
Right now, the suspects are only Nathaniel, Simon, and Jim. That isn’t a huge pool but we only have 3 episodes. Plus, taking note of Kiri’s nosebleeds, a monkey wrench could be thrown in and it could just be a medical issue. I’d be pissed if that was the case, but it is a possibility.
First Impression: Positive (Watch This)
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