The Widow episode 5 & 6 review ★★★★★

Writers Harry and Jack Williams clearly care more about characters than plot, which many viewers of The Widow have found frustrating. It's seen as confusing the story, spread out over eight hour-long episodes. Line of Duty is almost the opposite: the plot drives the characters, and barely anything gets in the way. But The Widow is its own character-driven beast, beautifully told.

It could almost qualify as an anthology series, each episode following mostly one character who connects to the bigger picture. Episode 5 follows the trials of Judith Grey (Alex Kingston), looking at what she was doing seven years before current events, and episode 6 looks at the child-soldier Adidja (Shalom Nyandiko) – both of whom are utterly absorbing.

We’ve reached a juncture in the series, seeded early on with Emmanuel’s explosive finish, when characters can face something fatal at any moment. It's best exemplified during a scene in Judith’s house, which starts off smooth - drifting out of a distant memory - only to be sharply extinguished.


Episode 5 follows the trials of Judith Grey (Alex Kingston)

It’d be a sin to give too much away, considering the Williamses' subtle knack for surprises, but the main plot-line continues. Georgia (Kate Beckinsale) is still on the hunt for her husband, interrogating Pieter Bello at gunpoint. Bello makes the mistake of underestimating her, which, considering what she’s done to get to this point, is definitely not a good idea.

These two episodes slip slightly into White-Saviour mode. The Widow’s been good, so far, to avoid it: Georgia is not concerned with saving the Congo or its people, only with finding her husband. But here, with a new kind of relationship forming, the White-Saviour narrative is at risk of rising again.


Martin (Charles Dance) travels with Ariel (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) to find the Flight 19 bomber

Ariel (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) and Martin (Charles Dance) also bond with one another as they fly to the Congo in search of the Flight 19 bomber. Ariel’s reason for going is vague and not entirely convincing, believing he'll recognise the bomber’s voice if not his face. It’s lucky, then, that General Azikiwe (Babs Olusanmokun), responsible for Flight 19, has a furiously distinctive voice.

It’s a forceful fusion of loose puzzle-pieces, but, despite this convoluted direction, the writing is persuasive enough to feel excited for. This is especially the case as we follow Azikiwe’s character, who sees the ghosts of his guilt like a Shakespearean villain.

The Widow, like The Missing, guarantees more character than plight – the plot being more of a vehicle to explore them as people. The multiple storylines can be seen as excessive, considering the large number of players, but it’s more human and engaging than the alternative.

The Widow continues Mondays and Tuesdays at 9pm on ITV