Trauma (2018) - Review

Starring: John Simm, Adrian Lester, Rowena King & Lyndsey Marshall

Written By: Mike Bartlett

Directed By: Marc Evans

Certificate: 15 

 

Hot on the heels of Next Of Kin, Trauma arrived as ITV's next Monday night drama. I had two main reasons for watching Trauma, namely its lead actors and its writer. Both Adrian Lester and John Simm are brilliant actors, and John Simm in particular has had some really good mini-dramas on ITV before, such as Prey or Code Of A Killer. The series is also written by Mike Bartlett, a man who has made quite a name for himself in the past couple of years, having written the highly popular shows Doctor Foster, King Charles III, and has even penned an episode of Doctor Who. So with that in mind, what can we make of his newest series, Trauma?

 

Factory worker Dan Bowker is struggling to make ends meet, and on the same day that he's let off from work, his fifteen year-old son, Alex, is stabbed and rushed into hospital. There, respected surgeon Jon Allerton tries to save Alex's life, but Alex eventually dies in the operating theatre. Dan, who was present in the operating theatre, blames Jon for his son's death, adamant that he must have made a mistake. In a cloud of grief and anger, Dan becomes obsessed with Jon and makes it his purpose to get him to admit that he made a mistake during the operation, and he's prepared to go to extreme lengths to hear his admittance of guilt...

 

This is a decent premise for a good psychological thriller, and the series itself gets off to a great start, with an opening scene that's already able to establish several key character beats. This very first scene shows Jon rock climbing with his daughter, Alana, and his immediately positive reaction to Alana telling him that she has a girlfriend indicates his friendly, welcoming nature. However, at the same time, it also shows how he enjoys danger, with his rather unfazed reaction when Alana risks slipping. From this scene on, we witness the one thing I could pretty much guarantee I'd find in Trauma, and that's two wonderful lead performances. Both John Simm and Adrian Lester are more than a match for each other, both in terms of the characters they're playing and their own acting ability. The result over the course of all three episodes, is constant tension and suspense, and because you're never 100% sure whether its Dan or Jon you should be rooting for, it constantly keeps you hooking in and engaged.

 

Despite the two characters' obvious differences, both of them come with a convincing backstory and family background. While Jon's is pretty much the epitome of a happy, successful family, Dan's clearly isn't and this difference is one of the many things that creates such a strict juxtaposition between the two. There are just so many differences between the two families – while Jon's wife has a successful career in psychiatry, Dan's wife is said to be having problems at work. While Jon's daughter is preparing to take a gap year before going to university, Dan's son is stabbed and killed in an unprovoked attack. Both families still feel very genuine, and the series plays off that feeling many of us experience when we look at and compare ourselves to another family, wishing that we could be better and more like them.

 

Although I went into Trauma expecting at the very least a suspenseful thriller, the thing that surprised me most about the series was just how much social commentary was present, specifically when it comes to the issue of classism. Ironically, Trauma honestly does a better job at putting its politics across than Next Of Kin (a series dealing with even more obvious themes such as extremism), ever managed. Once again, the class war themes are put across through that divide between Dan and Jon. It can be seen throughout the series is both obvious and subtle ways. From things such as the difference in the quality of their suits, even to the design of the opening credits, with a strict dividing line being put between the actors' names depending on whichever character they're playing. Even through the editing, we can see that on the same night Alex is stabbed and Dan is let off from work, Jon is seen celebrating his birthday with his family and friends around him. At times the social commentary can become a little clunky and heavy-handed, but on the whole, the series generally pulls it off.

 

However, while Trauma is generally effective at what is sets out to achieve, there's no denying that it has to greatly stretch the realms of plausibility to properly work. I don't know if this is becoming a trend with ITV's dramas, but you have to suspend your disbelief quite a bit to enjoy Trauma. The first rather dubious instance of this happens quite early on, with how easily Dan is able to just wander into the operating theatre where the surgeons are trying to save Alex's life, without any member of staff stopping him. It also seems pretty strange how quickly Dan develops an obsession with Jon, and how little interest he shows in actually finding the killer. Beyond that, there's questions about how easily Dan is able to find details about Jon's family and address, how easily he's able to get a job in the same hospital where his son died just days earlier, or even how quickly Jon's resolve breaks and he ends up going to Alex's funeral. The ending of the series also proved divisive with viewers, and even though I thought it was alright, it felt rather unbelievable how easily Dan's wife was able to forgive him after everything he's done. It isn't enough to discredit the series for me, but for some, mistakes like this will be enough to completely spoil Trauma.

 

Yet something I have no hesitation in praising is the production work and just how well-made Trauma is. There's some brilliant use of things like setting to enrich the series' themes, and once again the contrast between the two leads is seen through their homes as well – one being large and luxurious, the other being much smaller and more crowded. There's also some standout production design to be seen early on, notably in the lead-up to Alex's death, and I love how in his final scene, both the image and the sound very suddenly cut out to black. Moments later, as we see Dan wandering the hospital wards and corridors, the hallucinatory movements of the camera and the overwhelming ambient music in the background do a fantastic job at replicating the shock and disbelief that naturally comes with a situation like that.

 

Overall, judging by other reviews that I've seen of Trauma, it's safe to say that this isn't a series that everyone will enjoy. It seems pretty divisive, and the flaws and errors that the series does make will undoubtedly put a fair amount a people off. However, even though I don't personally think it's anything that's about to revolutionize the TV landscape, I found Trauma to be a solid, mostly enjoyable drama. It's got a solid premise, a decent writer at the helm, and two brilliant lead actors to go with it, so at the very least, I can recommend giving this series a go.

Trauma



7/10