Trial and Retribution:Mirror Image

[jo90]

Having only watched the last 45 minutes of this prog. can someone tell me if the twin who came out of the courthouse was in fact the bad brother (not Rory) who presumably stitched his brother up? Or am I barking up the wrong tree - in which case please enlighten me someone?

[brachiopod]

No - I don't think so, although it was a little unclear as to the meaning of the ending to "we, the viewer" as opoosed to "we, the jury".

As I see it, he got away (literally) with the murder of his father, despite his 'confession' in court, because he was portrayed by his defence, and also believed by the jury to be the quiet, submissive twin.

Personally, I don't think the knowing smirk as he leaves court married particulary well with his breakdown and admission under oath. At least, not at the level this particular drama was pitched at and the time it had to do it.

Bearing in mind that even identical twins have different fingerprints, I doubt the intention was to lead the viewer to believe that " the wrong twin got away " through mistaken identity.

Remember that at the end, the 'tec does a last-minute fingerprinting of the glove, which at that late stage is inadmissable as evidence, but which does back up his claim in court that he shot his father, after his brother had already killed his mother.

I actually thought that the 'smirking' ending ruined what was a quite entertaining (albeit fairly superficial) drama.

As an aside, I was going to post about this programme earlier on. The woman who played the twins' brief (after their arrest), was bugging me in a "where-have-I-seen-her-before" moment.
I then realised that she played the female "Rimmer" in the early-era Red Dwarf episode - "Parallel Universe".

[jo90]

Thanks for that answer, although I still feel that the smirk was meant to leave the audience wondering which brother was released. Guess we'll never know.

[anderlee]

Did you not notice the twin that was led down to the cells actually has a puff on his inhaler??? That was Rory and Michael got away after letting his brother take his place. Makes sense....

[lynbrown]

The twin being led away was Rory - it should have been Michael. But they switched. the clue was the fact that the twin going down stairs was starting to breathe heavily but i dont think he actually used the puffer.

[funnygirl]

But they determined that Rory actually done the murder.
So the right man went to prison!

[brachiopod]

Wll, it was actually determined that they both committed murder, as they had each killed a parent (Michael his mother and Rory his father).

Having read the consensus on here (that it was Rory who was 'taken down'), then I'm a bit disappointed that they used such a cheesy, clich�d ending as to use the old "wrong twin gets imprisoned" scenario.

I mean, surely that new-fangled fingerprinting stuff that has recently been introduced (only in the last hundred or so years, admittedly) would have distinguished between them?

[jo90]

Well thank you one and all for your answers - I'm now quite convinced that Michael came out of the courtroom with a horrible smirk on his face. Both of the twins committed murder, but poor old Rory was the weaker and was persuaded by his twin to change places with Michael.

[Antasion]

To clarify you 100% it was DEFINITELY Michael who left a free man. I don't know how it happened, but somehow he slipped through. To be honest that could be possible for somebody to do, but I doubt he would be out long before they realised. Anyway if you look at Michael you can see that he has two moles on his chin on the right hand side. Rory doesn't have these moles, so as I've said... Yes it was Michael.

[SWINDON1987]

RORY DELANY JONATHAN TIMMINS WALKED OUT COURTHOUSE

[SWINDON1987]

MICHAEL DELANY