Taggart (TV Series) Pinnacle (2007) User Reviews

Taggart joins a pyramid scheme.

[bethwilliam · 8/10 · 24 October 2008]

At last, a brilliant episode of Taggart.

The show opens with a huge (and I mean HUGE!) man jogging through a park. He stumbles on the mutilated body of Tracy Brogan, the CEO of Pinnacle Enterprise.

Initial investigations lead to the estranged husband who does not have an alibi for the night. Frank Harris is also in the frame when he discloses that his mother has been cheated out of her home by Pinnacle Enterprise.

Unfortunately for Jackie, Terry Brogan starts to play on her feelings for her dead husband when he claims to have terminal cancer. In the end a "Rent Boy" provides an alibi for the night in question. But he is not all that he appears to be.

I did not see the answer until the very end. This episode has it all. Blythe Duff puts in an excellent performance. John Mitchie is convincing as Robbie Ross. Glasgow looks good. The story line is convincing and the overall acting is brilliant.

Hopefully Taggart has turned the corner on its recent decline.

Well named episode

[musickrev · 8/10 · 16 September 2022]

"Pinnacle" is definitely a high point among the later episodes of "Taggart", many of which were simply not that interesting. It's a well constructed story with nice twists and very well acted by all. Something of a throwback to the earlier McManus and MacPherson days showing that the latter series cast was just as capable given a strong story and script. The continuing character development of Blythe Duff's Jackie Reid shows just how fine an actor she is and in many ways she has become the heart of the show at this point. But the balance among the rest of the crew was well maintained, all in all a very satisfactory episode. At this point one was needed.

At the top

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 27 July 2021]

'Taggart' had declined quite a bit by this point. There was a feel of it having run out of ideas and had completely lost its spark. Especially in the later Burke period episodes, that suffered further from the shorter lengths. "Pinnacle" was one of the Burke period episodes that somehow was seen later on after the show had ended, shortly before getting into the Taggart and Jardine eras (and much preferring them on the whole in all honesty).

"Pinnacle" is also one of the not many great episodes of late-'Taggart' during the period when Burke was in charge. After a fairly long string of disappointments, where it seemed to indicate that it had completely lost it, it was great to see the show on brief form with "Pinnacle". It is easily the best episode since "A Death Foreold", which feels like a long time ago, and proof that 'Taggart' had not completely lost its spark when it declined and that it was still just about worth sticking with.

My only complaint actually is the now rather out of date and not very well fitting music. It was fine in the 80s and 90s and fitted then, at this point it was at odds with the action and like 10 plus years too late.

Other than that, "Pinnacle" has a huge amount to like and even love. The photography is both gritty yet moody, very well suited to the story's style, and the location is striking yet suitably unforgiving. The theme tune is hard to forget and still works, it's the background music that doesn't work and there has been nothing held against the theme tune.

From a writing point of view, "Pinnacle" has the right amount of entertainment value (the banter) and grit (in the crime solving it doesn't shy away). The story is never too simple, the murderer and motive this time were a shock and not prematurely foreseeable this time, or hard to follow. The team interaction hasn't lost its cohesion or grit. The episode is well paced too, taking its time to breathe while still having momentum, and there is grit and tension throughout.

Blythe Duff always delivered as Jackie and she gives another one of her best performances here, surpassed perhaps only by "A Death Foretold". John Michie also engages a good deal and have always dug Robbie and Jackie's chemistry. All the acting is fine.

In conclusion, great. 9/10.