"Tread carefully," DCI Jeanette Kilburn (Eve Myles) is warned in the trailer for Paramount+'s new crime thriller The Crow Girl, but minutes into watching you'll realise she can't. That's just not her style.
Inflexibly determined and resolute are more her wheelhouse, and it serves her well as she works to track down a killer of teenage boys.
Alongside her team on the force she is joined by psychotherapist Sophia Craven (Katherine Kelly from Coronation Street and Mr Bates vs the Post Office), who works the case with her. It's a case that becomes more complex when threads of abuse and betrayal are thrown into the mix.
This, however, is more than just a blurb to sucker you in – The Crow Girl is an entertaining watch that will draw you deeper and deeper into its dark world episode by episode, largely thanks to the Torchwood star's portrayal of Jeanette.
The character's wit is what makes her instantly alluring in a way that causes you to find her bulldozer personality charming instead of arrogant and headstrong. Her penchant for bucking the chain of superiority, refusing to accept 'no' and her bluntness are made loveable because of Myles' execution. She blends dark comedy with directness, creating a sharp delivery that is entertaining and undeniably likeable.
While her charisma gets her results in the workplace her homelife is less of a success. The dynamic between her, her husband Alex (Raphael Sowole) and their son is one that is full of love but is acutely fractured. She and Alex are overstretched and out of step with one another.
What to Read Next
The familial struggles allow different and, more importantly, interesting facets of the character to shine through. There is a vulnerability that appears where there is no room for it on the force.
Kelly is the other side of what is intriguing about The Crow Girl.
There are shades of grey to the way Kelly approaches the role of Sophia. She is both soft and self-assured; open for her clients and others yet detached in her own life, because of this she's a walking oxymoron that you follow episodically trying to understand.
Though both women are quite similar in some respects – strong, no-nonsense – it's their opposite qualities (Jeanette's chaos against Sophia's calm) that create a yin-yang balance between them. This harmony shapes their working friendship into something a little more passionate.
The spark ignited between the pair is perfectly slow burning and each fills a need that is absent in the other.
This isn't a romantic drama, however, as is evident from the murder mystery that spins out into a wider more complicated story with many moving parts that shift the focus of the investigation until it can be shifted no more.
It's a while before the pieces of the puzzle fit together (though there are clues along the way teasing the matter) but thankfully The Crow Girl ensures each division of the mystery is compelling in its own right well before they mesh together.
The Paramount+ crime thriller's pacing is spot on. It ramps up the drama in just the right places creating a sense of urgency and unpredictability that keeps you anticipating danger at every turn.
It's a twisty, ride that will make you glad you hopped on the viewing train in the first place.
All episodes of The Crow Girl are available to watch now on Paramount+
TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
