The Five - The Complete Series - DVD

Content: Twenty years have passed since little Jesse disappeared without a trace. Twenty years in which his parents, brother and his brother's friends have learned to accept the boy's death and move on with their lives. But then something completely unexpected happens: DNA matching Jesse's is found at a crime scene. Is the boy alive after all? And has he become a murderer? His brother Mark (Tom Cullen) and his friends Danny (O-T Fagbenle), Slade (Lee Ingleby) and Pru (Sarah Solemani), who had played together in the park with Jesse as children before he disappeared, are reunited by the possibility that Jesse may still be alive. But what is revealed to them during the course of the investigation, which police officer Danny is leading with his colleagues, seems to exceed their worst fears.

The Five is the first exclusive television production from 10-time New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben. For this one, the accomplished thriller specialist has spun a particularly stirring tale: How can the DNA of a boy who disappeared without a trace twenty years ago, and whom a convicted serial killer claims to have killed, turn up at the scene of a gruesome murder? Coben takes the viewer on a dark journey, not just into the past of the four friends who have carried a sense of guilt with them for all these years.

The resolution delivered in the final episode is admittedly, at first glance, arguably far-fetched - resulting in you really not seeing it coming. But ultimately there is a certain logic to it that is perhaps very contrived, but ultimately coherent. The way there is marked by many twists and wrong tracks, which leads to the story feeling a bit overloaded at some point. In the first three episodes this still works very well, as the thriller plot is surprising and extremely excitingly executed.

After that it gets a bit confused and threatens to get lost too much in the numerous subplots and also in some inconsistencies, which are not all untangled at the end. Nevertheless: The 10-parter never gets boring. Director Mark Tonderai manages well to tighten the suspense screw a little bit every now and then, when there are some minor lenghts. And the big question about Jesse's fate and what really happened twenty years ago is ultimately suspenseful enough to carry the mini-series through most of its runtime. Overall, The Five isn't quite the big hit, there are just too many weak points for that. But thrilling, well acted and atmospherically tightly staged thriller entertainment with a quite surprising and well-rounded ending is offered at all times. And for that there is also a clear: worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: Picture and sound quality are on a very good level for a current TV production. The overall sharpness is at a fairly high level, the color scheme has turned out very atmospheric in a slightly undercooked way and the contrasts are well matched not only in the bright outdoor scenes. The audio is primarily dominated by the dialogue, but can definitely score with some decent surround moments in some scenes. Good.

Extras: On the third disc are four short featurettes with a total running time of around 20 minutes, in which writer and creator Harlan Coben, as well as the cast, talk about the making of the film, the story, the cliffhangers and the secrets of the individual characters. Not really much, but definitely insightful at times. Just a tip: Definitely don't watch the extras before the series ends!

Conclusion: The Five is an exciting, albeit somewhat dramaturgically overstuffed mini-series. The ten episodes are engagingly directed and well acted. On DVD, the crime series presents itself in good picture and sound quality and has on the third disc still a few worth seeing short documentaries to offer. All in all a clear: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp