Annika Season 1 Episode 1 Review

If you’ve ever dreamt of a life lived largely on the water, the Scottish backdrop of Annika Season 1 Episode 1 might be rather appealing, at least if you can look past the worrying homicide rate.  

What we get of our title character’s backstory feels familiar: she’s coming to a new unit after a largely unexplained absence and seems to strike some nerves with her colleagues despite a stellar closure record for past cases.

It is nice to see more female leads in the crime drama field, especially those who are old enough to have teenage daughters. Her relationship with Morgan swings from cheery to temperamental several times within the hour—just as we might expect.

Though Morgan is written a bit of a typical moody teenager, it’s a welcome switch to see her being the one worrying about and wanting to spend time with her mother. Annika, meanwhile, works to find said time amongst the pressing issues of murder.

As a detective, we see several different sides to her. We do get the typical badass climactic scenes where she slides into her element at key moments. Here, this means talking down a suspect holding a crossbow first on a fellow detective and then on her.

In other moments, though, we see her far less sure on her feet and even outright awkward. It’s a relatable and welcome aspect to her character and likely highlights her struggles with certain interactions in the strict role she’s set for herself.

Less welcome, at least for now, are the moments in which she breaks the fourth wall and addresses…us as the audience? An imaginary film crew? A floating video diary? It’s not entirely clear.

This is the kind of gimmick that feels like it could and should be fun.  Some context would go a long way in achieving that. In this first hour, we lack that context. These moments of narration are so random and disjoined that they just feel strange.

We get only minimal time to meet the other members Annika’s unit: Blair, a younger woman already bringing skills and knowledge, Tyrone, who gets the crossbow pulled on him, and Michael, who even this early on brings hints as both a love interest and a point of tension.

Annika takes an episodic approach from the start, and the case in this first outing is riddled with multiple victims and edgy scenes, from a faked death to a character falsely blamed for a girl’s drowning as the real culprit goes free.

An arrest, with whatever justice it will achieve, comes only after a boat chase, an attempted suicide, and a confession of murder committed to protect family. It feels like a lot of crime dramas work to hook audiences by going as close to Shakespearian drama as possible.

On a closing note, I am very intrigued by the idea of a marine homicide unit itself, if only for the scenery provided. The show rightly places weight on its panoramic views. One, from Annika’s boss’s office windows, is so stunning I can hardly pay attention the scene.

Is the whole show as engaging as these views? Most signs are very good, but the lack of time we get with the ensemble cast means we need at least another episode or two for it to develop. Still, I’m eager to tune back in and see those developments happen.

What did you think of this episode of Annika? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Annika airs Sundays at 10/9c on PBS.

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