Wayne Klein

A pretty good mystery story that goes on for too long, “Rig45” is worth while even if it is a bit slow moving. At about half the episodes it would have worked better. The opening shot in the home is a bit careless with a boom Mike visible briefly bobbing up and down. That could have easily been fixed in post-production with a bit of cgi or reframing.

A well made slow burn series based on the book by South Africa’s first criminal profiler Micki Pretorious, the series provides each case she worked on and the resolution. True to the actual cases, there sometimes isn’t resolution to the case. Each episode features a text resolution for any trial that occurred with each of the serial killer cases she solved. Charolette Hope, contrary to other opinions, does not over act and gives a marvelously nuanced performance as a psychologist dropped into the world of law enforcement whose opinions are often disregarded at first due to her inexperience in law enforcement. The criticism of the smoking is an odd 21st century reason NOT to like the series. The series is set in the 1990’s. Smoking was pretty common still in South Africa at the time and this is applying our current values to a period correct depiction. This would be like criticizing smoking in a TV show or movie set in the 1950’s- it would be meaningless revisionism. Seriously focusing on the smoking is silly. Do folks not watch a classic movie like “Chinatown” because of the smoking? It’s period correct! A well made series that doesn’t mince on the horrors or the emotional trauma faced by those involved in catching and convicting these killers, “Catch Me a Killer” does the authors book justice.