Enigma's In Crime Dramas

Kidnapp and Ransom:

Questions we ask in a crime drama:
Where are we?
Who's that in the boat?
Where is he going?
What's in that bag?
Why are we now in India?
Why are those two people tied up?
Who is the guy with the gun?
Where is he taking the two tied up men?
How many people does that man have tied up in the back of his car?
Are those to friends?
Why didn't he answer the phone?
Why is he moving more cautiously now?
How does he know the people who have been kidnapped?
Why did he answer the second time but not the first?
Who are these two?
Who is this family?
Who was the guy who has just been kidnapped?
What was his relationship to the main character?
Will they be ok?
Who is the person in London?
How does she link to the crime?
Why does he care about a phone?
Who is this family?
What will the army do?
Will they die?
Who is Sophie?
What will the lead protagonist do?
Did the lead male and this Sophie have a relationship?
Will everyone die?
Who is Angela?
What is her realtionship to Sophie?
Why won't the give money?
Who is Robert?
How much authority does Robert have?
Were Dominic and Sophie married?
Why did the police kill Brendan?
Why does Dominic need the bullet?
What can he prove with the bullet?
What is Dominic doing?
Why does he have what looks like a pen?
What is he writing?
How did he know this would work?
Is he crazy?!
Does he have the experience to pull this off?
Why are they giving them guns?!
Will the injured man live?
Will the hostage taker kill anyone?
What will dominic do?
Who's body is Dominic throwing into the lake?
Why is he putting a body in the lake?

Glossary

Glossary:

Alibi - Someone or something which can secure the suspects whereabouts during the time of the crime.
Motive - Why the killer killed the victim
MO - (Means of Operation) the way the killer kills, what he uses, what he leaves behind.
"In The Wind" - If a suspect vanishes they are said to be "In The Wind"

TV Listings Magazine

New Crime Drama I've Watched: Alcatraz

On March 21, 1963, the inmates and guards at Alcatraz prison mysteriously disappear. To cover up the problem, the government reports to the public that the prison has been closed because of unsafe conditions. A secret government unit was set-up to find the prisoners. Now, in the present-day, the inmates begin returning - unaged and unaware of where they have spent the missing decades - and continue their criminal ways. They are acting out of character and appear to be searching for specific objects. A federal agent employs a police officer and a conspiracy theory novelist to help track them down.

Crime Dramas I've Watched: 9/3/12 - 16/3/12

The Mentalist

Always Bet On Red

While the team investigates the death of a divorce attorney, Patrick discovers that Red John may still be alive and stalking an FBI agent who is asking too many questions.

Castle

Heroes And Villains

When an ex-con is mysteriously slain in an alley, Castle and Beckett believe a vigilante is behind the murder. But efforts to identify their suspect are thwarted when they discover that he roams the city in a Superhero costume -- and may indeed be a Superhero. Can they capture and unmask the killer before he strikes again?

Rizzoli & Isles

 

Rebel Without a Pause

Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles find themselves investigating a death that occurred during the re-enactment of of a Revolutionary War battle organized by a university professor, Dwayne Cravitz. They soon determine that far from being an accident, the shooting was from a sniper who was actually out to kill Cravitz. A DNA sample leads them to believe that the shooter is someone from his past.

Bloodlines

Jane and the team investigate what appears to be a modern-day witch hunt in Salem. Meanwhile, Frankie's old girlfriend returns to town with a surprise, and Jane has no problem speaking her mind about the situation.

Luther as an anti-hero

Lutrher is a DCI (Detective Cheif inspector) in the BBC crime drama "Luther". He is suicidal because he just runs straight into the line of fire and uses himself to tempt out the serial killers rather than make a tactical approce and capture them as a team. He makes many references to the devil, like when he insulted the female reporter and said that her phone number waas "666". Also he is socialising with Alice who is a serial killer to the extent that they are meating up and talking on the phone regularly through out each episode. He let the man fall and he punched his wife's boyfriend in the face. He is the complete opposite of Horatio in the way that he would rather get revenge on someone rather than convict them. Horatio wouldn't have let the guy fall he would have helped him up and arrested him but Luther punished him for the crime of kidnapping those girls by himself by letting him fall to his death.

Narrative

Give examples of opening teasers in shows you have seen and explain why they are important

CSI uses this in the way that you see the crime commited at the start of the program. This involves the audience and then makes them want to watch on because they will want to see if the criminal is every caught.

Other representations of opening teasers would be in a crime darma called chase. In this interesting addition to the crime drama genre you see the main antagonist at the start commiting their crime which is normally murder or and act of terrorisim. This is another intersting method mainly due to the fact that not many crime dramas use it and the way in which chase uses it really draws you in. Another way opening teasers can be used is in the form of a flashback to a previous episode which is normally voiced over by one of the lead characters saying "Previously on...". This is not only an effective method but it also makes the audience want to then go back and watch the previous episode again or for them to buy the DVD and watch the two epsidoes similtaneously.

What example of enigmas have you seen?

The use of enigmas is strongly present in crime dramas such as Luther, Sherlock and CSI. These are represented in many different way. For example, in Luther the use of the "yawn technique" which Luther uses to attempt to make the character of Alice slip up and give away her guilt. Whereas, in CSI, it is used in the way that they can obtain evidence on the fly when they don't have the proper equipment by utilising their surroundings. 

How would you describe the 'quests' of the key protagonists in crime dramas?

The key protagonists tend to go on lengthy adventures full of twists and turns. These adventures contain many bumps in the road including not limited to red herrings, multiple suspects, false evidence and misuse of evidence. These trip-ups lead to the wrong people being convicted or suspected. This adds to the realism of  the show because it demonstrates how the law enforcement do not always make the correct call all of the time. CSI rarely ever uses these twists and turns mainly because Horatio is meant to look like the top notch cop who can solve every crime.

How have shows you've seen used either open or closed narratives?

By using a closed narrative it is harder to get the audience involved, whereas with the open narrative the audience want  to watch on because they get a thrill out of solving the crime.

Crime Dramas I've watched: 2/3/12 - 9/3/12

This week I've watched

Dexter:

Circle Of Friends

The Ice Truck Killer is supposedly identified, but Dexter is skeptical. Meanwhile, Rita must deal with the return of her menacing, recently paroled ex-husband.

Shrink Wrap

The suicide of a wealthy and powerful businesswoman leads Dexter to suspect that her psychologist may have killed her. But Dexter gets a surprise of his own when he pays a visit to the suspect, Dr. Emmett Meridian, which he forces Dexter to open up dark secrets from his past. Elsewhere, as Rita becomes more warmer to her ex-husband Paul, who claims to be a changed man, she wants to move onto intimacy with Dexter, who is afraid of consummating their romance.

Father Knows Best

Dexter learns that his biological father (named Joe Driscoll), whom he was told had died 30 years ago, has just recently died and left him everything he owned, including his house. He goes on a trip to pack the items in the house, along with Rita. But later, Debra and Rudy also show up at the house to help out, where Dexter clicks with Rudy, while suspecting something strange about Joe Driscoll's death, and about who Dexter's biological mother was.

Seeing Red

When the Ice Truck Killer leaves a horribly bloody crime scene at a hotel, Dexter digs deeper into his past.

Truth Be Told

Dexter investigates when the Ice Truck Killer strikes again, killing the prosthetic arm prostitute and leaving her body before a Christmas tree in Miami's Santa's Cottage. Sgt. Doakes continues to grow more suspicious about Dexter after catching him in a series of lies about his connection to the Ice Truck Killer. Dexter finally finds a connection between him and the Ice Truck Killer over a past case involving Harry Morgan and a bloodbath crime scene back in 1973 involving Dexter's biological mother.

Born Free

Dexter races against the clock to find Debra when she is abducted by Rudy, the Ice Truck Killer, which leads the two psychopathic killers to have a fateful showdown, and who finally reveals his connection to Dexter.

NCIS: Los Angeles

Betrayal

The CIA reports several casualties in Khartum, including an unidentified one matching Sam's physique. Callen flies to Khartum, where Sam, still alive, is dating the daughter of an Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic fundamentalist governor in the rebellious south, while employed for regular security checks. The LA team meanwhile races against time as a mole in the CIA operation may fatally expose Sam.

Castle

Knockout

Cop killer Hal Lockwood, whom Becket visited unsuccessfully in jail for month hoping for a lad in her mother Joanna's closed murder case, is released by fake order into the general population, where he slices fellow rogue cop Gary McCallister's throat, then is helped by fake cops to escape. Becket, his likely next target, waives warnings from his father, chief and Castle. Much helped by Ryan and Esposito, the duo works out there must be a police accomplice and/or mastermind on top of Chuck Ryker, the debt-ridden corrupt jailer who is found murdered at his home.

Rise

Castle is grieved when Becket, once regaining health, tells him to leave her time without calling for months. Yet when she returns to work after therapy, Ryan and Esposito tell Castle help them keep the case of her mothers killers going, behind ex-IA by-the-book-Captain Victoria Gates's back. They work out the only remaining angle are bank files lost in a fire, according to decorated officer Rod Halstead definitely no arson.

Setting

The glamourous setting of miami makes CSI: Miami look expensive and high tech. Whereas the gritty setting of London makes Sherlock and Luther make them look more serious and makes the audience feel more afraid. The setting of whitechapel being in whitechapel is the english gang culture and because whitechapel is where jack the ripper commited his crimes meaining that it has a history of bad crimes. The connotations of miami being bright and sunny almost directly links to the fact that they are top notch detectives. Where as Luther is the anti hero and he makes alot of mistakes. He walks head first into traps and puts himself in danger.

New crime drama that I watched: Grimm

Grimm Season 1 Episode 1:
"Pilot"
After the mysterious brutal attack of a local college co-ed, Portland homicide Detective Nick Burkhardt discovered he is descendant of an elite line of criminal profilers known as "Grimms," charged with keeping balance between humanity and the mythological creatures of the world. As he tries to hide the dangers of his new found calling from his fiancé, Juliette Silverton, and his partner, Hank Griffin, he becomes ever more entrenched in the ancient rivalries and alliances of the Grimm world.