Low Winter Sun: The Complete Series

The original Low Winter Sun was a British miniseries starring Mark Strong as a police investigator who conspires to kill a corrupt colleague—and is then assigned to investigate the murder. Strong reprises his role in this AMC-aired American version, this time playing Detective Frank Agnew, a Detroit officer who teams up with Joe Geddes (Lennie James), the frustrated partner of a brutal detective, to kill the bad cop and make it look like suicide. As the perfect crime unravels, Frank and Joe discover that they don't trust one another, a situation that grows worse when Internal Affairs starts its own investigation. Meanwhile, upstart gang leader Damon Callis (James Ransone) is muscling in on gangster territory with big plans and a small fortune in stolen cocaine. The contemporary Detroit setting makes for a suitably grim and desperate environment of poverty and collapse, and while the show wasn't renewed, it does end on an appropriately cynical note that satisfactorily wraps up the story. Unfortunately, Low Winter Sun doesn't necessarily stand out from similar cable cop dramas, and since it was quickly canceled, interest will likely be low. Compiling all 10 episodes from 2013, extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes and deleted scenes. Optional. (S. Axmaker)