Lockerbie: A Search For Truth series review

Lockerbie: A Search For Truth is a brand new limited series on Peacock, telling the story of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing in December 1988 and the long, weaving, complex trial that came in the aftermath. Based loosely on the book "The Lockerbie Bombing - A Father’s Search for Justice" which is written by Jim Swire, the real man who worked tirelessly to figure out what happened, and how it could happen.

A very compelling and incredibly acted series of 5 hour long episodes, full of interesting twists and turns that keep people fully invested. A tangled web of scandal and conspiracy and revelations all clashing together into something so hard to watch, more so in the sense of watching an incredibly talented performance from a very talented actor going through intense grief. This show does one thing superbly, and that is acting performances.

I am a little harsh on this show, as it was not quite what I was expecting. It is incredibly slow, drawn out, and struggles to fill the time of the limited episodes. It is quite surprising, as the show goes across nearly 30 years of drama and changing motives and characters, which feels so honest and realistic. But the story struggles to be as interesting as the real life tragedy, with the constantly changing story and evidence being a big talking point of the true case. A series that told a compelling story with perhaps the weakest way of telling it. A collection of talented stars giving their best performances really save this from being forgettable or bad.

Typically what I focus on the most when I watch shows or movies is the score and the cinematography.

The score of this show was rather forgettable, as it was not something that was very present in the show. There was one piece that I greatly loved and appreciated, where the family goes to the beach in hopes to be together and recover from the trauma through family love and bonding, and the piano that plays is so incredibly gut wrenching and lovely. Something that I have listened to again just because of how good it was.

Meanwhile the cinematography was incredibly well done in special moments, but not exactly the entire show. The beginning of the show were we witness the airplane explosion and crash from the viewpoint of the civilians on the ground is perfect. One of the most tense, horrifying, amazingly made scenes I have seen in quite a long time. Aside from that incredible opening, the editing especially during the court scenes are just as tense and edge of your seat inducing. Something that feels like anything can happen at any moment, especially focusing on the people being tried and the protagonist watching on from behind glass.

This show, stylistically, is something that I greatly appreciate. It felt like they were hoping to tell a very true, tragic story without thinking about how to do so. Having this be cut into a 2 hour or 2 and a half hour movie would've been perfect, and would've helped with a lot of the story issues. Aside from that, I really don't have too many complaints. It just was turned into a show when it should have just been a movie, and it would've been much better for it.

Overall: 6/10