L/R: Licensed By Royalty Mission File 3: Broken Angel (DVD)
APPROX. 75 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 2003 - MPA RATING: MA15
" The main problem with this series that keeps it from being A-class is that it’s too slick for its own good.
Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.
The third installment of Geneon´s secret agent series, "L/R: Licensed by Royalty" comes with three episodes and little else. The episodes are titled "Out of Phase", "Suspended Game", and "The Discard". The first episode on the disc, "Out of Phase", was told in a nonlinear style, but that´s the only deviation from the standard system.
Although I was initially a little down on this title, it´s grown on me. The trailer boasts that this show is of the "kiss-kiss, bang-bang" variety. According to the Internet, that phrase means that this series is similar to the "James Bond series"- smooth agents, hot women, high stakes capers. The main characters have just the right balance of skill and panache to pull off their roles. Their personalities also nicely compliment each other´s, so the buddy-spy part of the show works, too. Most of the episodes aren´t directly related, but the common threads of the mystery of the Fifteen Year Princess and Ishtar´s future are enough to give this kind of show all of the continuity it needs.
The "James Bond" connection doesn´t end at the story´s premise. The country of Ishtar is practically a carbon copy of Great Britain. The political climate is even similar to Great Britain´s, as Ishtar has a rocky relationship with a smaller, neighboring island, called "Ivory Island." However, "L/R" doesn´t make any pretensions, it just tries to entertain. The cases are interesting enough and have enough action to keep my interest.
The tone was considerably more focused on this disc. Instead of loosely connected capers, the plot has come down to one track- the succession of Ishtar´s throne. The royal family´s past is drug up. It´s pretty much as though the Montagues and Capulets had allowed a union, then lived in the same castle. Jack and Rowe´s investigation into the Angel case is further complicated by royal maneuvering, even casting into doubt Cloud 7´s leader´s (Mister Pennylane, another British reference, though not the last) impartiality.
By the end of the disc, the Angel case is wrapped up. However, Noelle is still in danger from shadowy elements within the government, and Rowe and Jack have yet to get to the bottom of all the political games. I was a little surprised from the content of the episodes. This series didn´t start out as a show that was really focused on continuity, but having a continuous story is not an unwelcome change. Since there´s only one volume left to go in this series, I hope all the loose ends will be tied up by the end.
The main problem with this series that keeps it from being A-class is that it´s too slick for its own good. Jack and Rowe are just a little TOO good, so you never have to really worry that anything bad will happen to him. There are occasions when the cases step over the line from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle-esque mysteries that the viewer can mostly put together on their own, to Agatha Christie-like mysteries, where quite a bit of the clues aren´t available to the viewer and the detectives reveal next to nothing about how they arrived at their conclusions.
