My Netflix Weekend: Amber

I explained earlier about how Netflix had killed my social life by giving me brilliant things to watch, and after engulfing Southcliffe and having some lunch I switched my attention to Amber, a series that Netflix recommended to me. I'm starting to believe Netflix knows me better than I know myself. Amber is an Irish mini-series that follows the story of a 14 year old Amber Bailey who goes missing and the efforts made by her family and others to try and find her, and like Southcliffe the audience witnesses their attempts to rebuild their lives. After watching Amber I realised that Netflix has not only helped me discover new shows, but it has also helped me discover that I'm really into doom and gloom. In my defence was raised in Britain which is home to the Kitchen Sink dramas! Nothing good ever happens here unless its a sitcom, and even they can get dark occasionally. Back to the point of the post, check out the trailer for Amber below:

Southcliffe focuses on a man on a mass murder spree and the effects of the people around him so it would be easy to think that it would differ greatly from Amber, but it is actually quite similar (probably why the geniuses at Netflix recommended it to me). In Southcliffe Morton's murder spree is what triggers the events of the series but it is mainly about the people that are left behind, how they deal with the tragedy. The same could be said for Amber, it's advertised as a crime drama and we do get some insights into the police work and clues to what may have happened to Amber but in my opinion the show is more about the people that she's left behind. We get to watch those closest to her, mainly her parents Sarah (Eva Birthistle) and Ben (David Murray) as they embark on their respective searches for her, and how they deal with it when the trail goes cold. Not only do we see how the lives of her loved ones are effected by her disappearance but complete strangers are as well which we see in episode three with Charlie (Dan Li) who's life is damaged when all he wanted to do was help her (I won't go into it too much, I'd quite like you to watch rather than give you the highlights).

The show isn't non-linear like Southcliffe however each episode of the show covers several months of time beginning from the day of Ambers disappearance but from a different characters point of view. This is quite effective because again we get to see all of the characters emotions throughout their ordeal and adverse reactions to things that occur within the series, and again probably an actors dream to play. Watching the last episode which focuses on Ben's life was tragic and heartbreaking for me and I'm not ashamed to say that I actually shed a tear, we really got to see a fathers love in that episode and how he will never give up. The only problem I have with each episode covering the same few months is that there is a lot of repeated scenes throughout the series as the characters interact with each other during the months, so I did feel myself drifting off a little bit when that occurred but that's one negative stacked up against all the positives.

*spoiler (sort of) for the ending* 

I will warn you now that the story is open ended, we never really find out what happens to Amber and initially I was quite annoyed but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. We haven't followed Amber, we've gotten an insight into the lives of the people around her. If they never find out what happened to her then neither do we. Somehow it makes it more real, because these things do happen and people go missing without a trace. The audience are left in the same situation as her family in the end. 

We'll, after that depressing last paragraph I shall be signing off. Live long and blog!

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