Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Meta Golding, Enid Graham. Rob Yang, Walt Klink, Charles Dance, Jason Butler Harner, Alexandra Castillo, Matthew MacFadzean, Maia Jae Bastidas, Wendy Makkena, Peter Weller, Phil Burke, Jonas Chernick, Graham Harvey, Elisa Campanella, Jorja Cadence, Ishan Davé, Erin Karpluk, Jed Rees, Josetta Jorge, Stephen Bogaert, Megan Follows, Finlay Wojtak-Hissong, Lance Henriksen.
The conspiracy theory is often always proved, if not completely vindicated, then at least remarkably close to being true; or at least as many would have you believe.
To bring a patiently delivered series in which the viewer is left wonderfully bemused by the evolving story, to bring to the fore one of modern times grace concerns, that of the rise of the individual right not to have their private business known by corporations and the excess of government, is to unveil a tale that is gripping, undoubtedly compelling, and frighteningly real, whilst all the time displaying a sense of writing that pinpoints the anxiety of being lost within a system of corruption and your worst fears betrayed by your own actions.
Rabbit Hole is a bonkers, but suave and elegantly produced series which captures the fear of the harvesting of data that is so easily obtained under law by Government, and freely offered by the public to social media sites, dating apps, and every known free going service that offers a premium lifestyle to all, and it has to its enormous credit both Kiefer Sutherland and Charles Dance in some of their finest roles in years. For all who became bogged down in the whole 24 saga, Rabbit Hole is a cleaner, more adept vehicle for Mr. Sutherland, the sense of assurance is enlightening, the sincerity is contagious, and the drama between both actors as father and son is every bit as natural as perhaps the viewer would expect if Donald Sutherland was on screen acting with his own prodigious offspring.
Designed to confuse if you are not paying complete attention, the payoff of illusion and counter deception is alluring, and as the actions of Kiefer Sutherland’s John Weir, as the manipulation by the mysterious Crowley begins to affect the ordinary citizen of the United States of America, so the truth is revealed that what is supposed as the most secure nation on Earth, invulnerable to any swaying of the political system, is like most things we believe, a lie built on the foundations of impression.
There is no room for mistakes, there is nothing for which the viewer is prepared for, and in a classic sense of the deceived asking questions to which an answer is plagued by misdirection, so Rabbit Hole is to be admired for the slickness of design and the uncomfortable silences which drive the passionate deception of all involved.
Very rarely is the viewer treated to not knowing exactly who is telling the truth, just who trust with their life if thrust into the same disturbing scenario, and that is what makes this series such a winning combination, and one to savour over its short episode run.
Do not trust that which is ready to betray you, be it a person or a corporation, for in the end you will be a slave to that which once kept hidden well.
Ian D. Hall