Bodyguard is a political thriller TV show created and written by Jed Mercurio for BBC and is currently available on Netflix. The show is an excellent thriller, but it is weighted down by one important fact and that it is really slow paced. If you want an action packed show with something new and surprising every minute, this is not the show for you. This is political scheming, surprising bad guys and a lot of characters to throw you off. Obviously there is action in the show, but it is used moderately and mostly to build suspense and for the sake of the plot and not just for the sake of the action. It is built with a lot of thought and the result is very suspenseful.
The show follows David Budd (played by brilliantly by Richard Madden, King Rob Stark for you Game of Thrones fans), who is a former soldier who suffers from PTSD and is now working for Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch of London's Metropolitan Police Service. From one defense work to another. He can't ever relax or let go of his bleeding past. It has destroyed his marriage and caused a strained relationship between him and his two children. As he refuses to go to treatment for his PTSD it seems that it is slowly destroying his life.
The show starts with him on a train going to visit his children. It is a train ride like all train rides, but he is not exactly a regular person and he immediately get suspicious of a Muslim man on the train. It seems like he managed to stop a terrible terror attack. But things are always more complicated then they appear on this show. David gets a promotion and is stated to protect Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes), the Home Secretary. She is not a pleasant person and in some ways she is responsible for what happened to David as she was a leader who demanded that British soldiers be sent to Afghanistan. At least some of David's friend think so. Montague is at the heart of the show's conflict.
Pretty quickly David is caught up in a political snare. Everyone wants a part of him and they all want to know what Montague's next move will be. Even if you feel like someone is on David's side, you can't know for sure. But David also gets caught up in a love affair with Montague. It all becomes more complicated when Montague's life is in immediate danger from unknown sources. But is David really helping Montague or working against her?
The show is an interesting mystery, suspense thriller. The acting is excellent all the way around. As you can expect from the BBC, the script is excellent. And so is the really complicated political web presented on the show. You really don't know what is really going on until the very last episode. And trust me, it is a jaw dropping surprise. Even though it is a really slow show I binged it in two days because I had to know what is going on. Even if you don't binge it, I really think it is a good thriller that is worth the watch.
I saw that there are rumors for a second season, but I don't know. The show did have a pretty closed ending and Richard Madden has joined the MCU so I don't know if he'll have time to film another season. If he does, I'll be sure to watch it.
Please follow me and upvote my posts to help yourself stay up to date with everything that is nerdy and awesome.
Sharing will also be most appreciated.
See you in my next post.