Review of The Secret

The Secret is based in real events occurring in Ireland in the 1990s and is an examination of just how far people can go in the name of passion. The Secret isn't a crime drama so much as a psychological thriller. Two people, brought together by their love of God and the Baptist Church, fall in lust, in spite of their faith and their seemingly functioning marriages and families. They allow themselves to act on their passion, drawing comfort from God's forgiveness, and their faith that their infidelity is part of His plan. They spiral, fighting against both their fever for the forbidden, and the restrictions of their church and marriages, eventually convincing themselves that it would be a mercy to put their spouses out of the pain of their faithless marriages. Told over a span of 20 years, this is a jaw-dropping example of how incredibly ordinary people can convince themselves to do incredibly wicked things. James Nesbit and Genevieve O'Reilly both do a cracking job portraying Colin Howell and Hazel Buchanan; a dentist and a school teacher who allow their affair to lead them beyond temptation and into complete psychopathy. Following their conspired crime the lovers drift apart over time, as Howell Howell gives into his demons, violating patients and a willing Buchanan while they're anaesthetised, and Buchanan suffocating under the intensity of the ties that bind her Howell. Nesbit's ever mobile face is a total counterpoint to O'Reilly's flat affect as they descend into madness and then crawl back out, both finding a new normal in fresh, highly suburban relationships. It's only when God strikes back, with the death of Howell's son, that Howell starts unravelling and doesn't stop until their crimes are laid bare. The Secret moves at a good pace over 4 episodes. It doesn't attempt any fancy footwork by bringing in plot loops and the dialogue, and characterisation are all on point. The mundanity of the 90s fashion and decor underline how unbelieveable the derailing of these 2 'normal' people really was. The Secret is a great example of truth sometimes being stranger than fiction. The series won't dazzle you with plot twists but it will remind you that in the midst of our 'normal', there's sometimes a bit of evil afoot.