Despite what some may attest, this is a thought-provoking piece of television, anchored by captivating performances and something important to say.
How do you solve a murder mystery when you don’t know who the victim is?
That’s the fascinating question posed by BBC One’s new drama Rules of the Game. The four-part series concluded last Wednesday, having constantly raised tension and stakes from day one. And yet, some critics have remarked that they found the drama “uninspired,” “clunky” and “obvious”. While everyone is entitled to their opinions, I vehemently disagree. This is a show with engaging, multifaceted characters and a strong sense of what it has to say about its subject matter.
The story: Sam Thompson (Maxine Peake) goes into her work at family-run sports company ‘Fly’ and finds a body. Whose is it? The police are saying they committed suicide, but frustratingly won’t tell us (the audience) who it is, and Sam thinks something’s off. Flashbacks to the build-up to this event start to unravel a misogynistic culture of bullying at Fly, but bright-eyed optimist, and new head of HR, Maya (Rakhee Thakrar), is getting dangerously close to exposing this, digging up old allegations of abuse and mysterious circumstances around the death of a previous employee. And all the while, you’re thinking “who is it? Who’s gonna go?”
This is the strength of writer Ruth Fowlers’ story. Rules of the Game is an exercise in escalating tension, constantly ratcheting up the sense of dread with every twist and turn. It’s certainly not “uninspired”. When people say “clunky”, are they merely identifying is the mechanics of a mystery plot? One that has to constantly provide red herrings, potential victims, and understandable motivations for anyone to have committed this crime. Other shows may have hidden this better, but the fact that you can track every character story to its conclusion, and that it all makes sense, is a testament to the writer’s ability to handle all these spinning plates. It’s impressive, even if the ending requires a little bit of over-explanation to wrap everything up in a nice little bow.
Every single character is written and performed as multifaceted. Peake’s performance is incredible, portraying a damaged woman stuck in an impossible situation, who must act tough to compete with her bosses to the point she can seem unlikable. Thakrar, in contrast, portrays the sweet and endearing Maya, who equally deals with her own trauma, yet still endeavours to be totally empathetic to those around her. This is a cast of dynamics, big personalities clashing to hide huge secrets underneath. There are witty exchanges, great put-downs, and brutal emotional punches that you could watch for hours, even without the captivating ongoing mystery.
But beyond the characters and story, Rules of the Game shouldn’t be so quickly written off because it has something important to say about the modern workplace. Although the mechanics of Fly as a sports company don’t always gel with the corporate identity the show wants to explore, the unbalanced gender dynamics are still very clear. Following an increased focus on male-female working relationships in this post-MeToo era, the show addresses how power is still being abused, despite massive steps forward. With such prominent HR attention in the modern workplace, abuse of power isn’t necessarily obvious. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
Because ultimately, Rules of the Game is about power: gendered power, who holds it, and how easily it corrupts. People do terrible things in the name of not being called out on their behaviour, and this series shows how the rules and regulations being developed can very easily become window dressing to hide the same kinds of abuse underneath. This show is therefore a call to action to look at the whole system, not just when things go wrong, and how we can make a change from the ground up. Even if at times its message feels on the nose, that’s an incredibly relevant and important idea.
It’s not a perfect show. The music choices can be a bit obnoxious at times, its politics aren’t exactly subtle (not that they need to be), and sometimes the mystery requires a bit of exposition to clear up. But if people are getting wrapped up in these nit-picks, then they’re overlooking a drama with real meat on its bones. Because if this is the quality at just the beginning of the year, 2022 is looking like an engaging and exciting year for TV drama.
Words by Ed Foster
Support The Indiependent
We’re trying to raise £200 a month to help cover our operational costs. This includes our ‘Writer of the Month’ awards, where we recognise the amazing work produced by our contributor team. If you’ve enjoyed reading our site, we’d really appreciate it if you could donate to The Indiependent. Whether you can give £1 or £10, you’d be making a huge difference to our small team.