I liked Kevin Whatley when he was paired with John Thaw in "Morse," but much less so in "Inspector Lewis." He doesn't have the force of personality (or lacks the ability to act as if he does) to play a major role. In the Born of Fire episode, this is especially apparent. Whatley's attempts to be anything but bland are shown when he plays the inspector angry with his sidekick, Laurence Fox, and when he wants to find out whether Fox's character is gay, and when he is suddenly inspired by an idea...along with every other scene. To me he just walks through the lines and scenes without energy or force, and the whole series suffers. I think it might have succeeded with someone better cast as an inspector. Fox, on the other hand, usually has subtleties of character that keep me guessing what is on his mind and add depth and breadth to the show. In this episode, however, everything is ham-handed by the whole cast. No one is believable. The gays are stereotyped. Whatley's boss on the show takes a warm turn (which is not believable from what we have seen of her so far). The female barrister is totally out of place in the story. The "twist" at the end was one I saw coming from a mile off. And the ending was just yuck. It was like a committee of poor script writers each contributed a few lines, none knowing what the other was doing, and then they stitched it together all wrong. I will give it one more episode, and if it's like this one I won't be watching any more.
Review of Life Born of Fire
