Save Me (2018)

Name: Save Me (2018)
Genre: Drama, Suspense
Released: September 6, 2018
Rating: 89

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 5 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

See All

7.8

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

7.8	Your Score
7.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Series Details & Credits

Starz | Sky Atlantic | Peacock | Release Date: September 6, 2018

Summary: Nelson "Nelly" Rowe (Lennie James) searches for his missing estranged 13-year-old daughter who he has not seen for over 10 years.

[Premiered originally in the UK on Sky Atlantic on 28 Feb 2018 and on Starz in the US on 6 Sep 2018; in the US, Season 2 to air on Peacock in Nov 2020 under the title: Save Me Too]

Genre(s): Drama, Suspense

Watch Now

Stream On

Recent Episodes

No episode information is currently available for this season

See all Seasons and Episodes

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

The Telegraph Anita Singh

Apr 1, 2020

Season 2 Review: The quality hasn’t dropped. ... James is superb, and he has assembled a supporting cast of the calibre of Stephen Graham, a standout in series one when he made us feel sympathy and revulsion for him as a convicted sex offender; and Camilla Beeput as Nelly’s almost-girlfriend. Read full review

IndieWire Steve Greene

Nov 5, 2020

Season 2 Review: The narrative tightness of the story is never at odds with its diligent pacing. That combination allows each player in this expanding world to feel like they belong. The final chapter of “Save Me Too” is both a logical endpoint and a pathway to continuing. It’s a constant strength of this show that it’s filled with the kind of moments where other series would be content to bow out. Read full review

The Independent Fiona Sturges

Apr 1, 2020

Season 2 Review: It’s the script, written by James, that truly takes the breath away: clever, gripping while never slipping into cliché. Read full review

The Times Carol Midgley

Oct 6, 2020

Season 2 Review: They were no less convincing second time around, although the horror and urgency is diluted with so much time having elapsed. ... This will prove to be one of the year's best-written dramas. Read full review

The Guardian Rebecca Nicholson

Apr 1, 2020

Season 2 Review: It still stands firm as a gripping thriller. It starts with the kind of bang that insists you pay attention to find out how we got here. Read full review

User Score

Write a Review

7.8

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

User Reviews

ElCuquito24

Jan 24, 2022

Smart and Well Thought show, that draws you in as Nelly maneuvers throughout the streets in search of his daughter. Every episode you feel for him and his chaotic reality.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Bertaut1

Dec 3, 2020

Nelson "Nelly" Rowe (Lennie James) is a popular self-styled womaniser living on a Deptford council estate in London, whose life is turned upside down when he is arrested on suspicion of kidnapping his thirteen-year-old daughter Jody (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness), whom he hasn't seen in tenNelson "Nelly" Rowe (Lennie James) is a popular self-styled womaniser living on a Deptford council estate in London, whose life is turned upside down when he is arrested on suspicion of kidnapping his thirteen-year-old daughter Jody (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness), whom he hasn't seen in ten years. After convincing the police of his innocence, and frustrated with the way the case is progressing, Nelly decides to take matters into his own hands and try to track down Jody himself.

From a plot perspective, the first season of Save Me starts very slowly, but what it does do extremely well is build up a background of small details that help establish the milieu as authentic and lived-in. The housing estate in Deptford is essentially a character in itself, and the glimpses of the denizens going about their idiosyncratic ways gives an almost documentarian tone – from the guy doing tai chi on his balcony to the kids kicking a football at one another, to the young lesbian couple stealing a kiss against a wall, to the meditating Buddhist, to the couple dancing slowly on a basketball court, to the woman in a burka carrying a skateboard, to the older folk watching it all happen day after day, it's a paean to the real lives that people lead in this kind of community. Indeed, one of the most consistent themes is the importance community in general. Elsewhere, the penultimate episode features a 'rape' scene that's exceptionally difficult to watch, but not for the reasons you'd think, and which offers a fascinating portrayal of how potent sexual power dynamics can be.

Lennie James, who also wrote the show, is predictably enthralling, with a simmering rage just below the surface, which is constantly threatening to boil over. Stephen Graham plays Fabio "Melon" Melonzola, a convicted sex offender trying to put the past behind him, bringing his usual chameleonic abilities to a difficult part. Suranne Jones as Claire McGory, Jody's mother, isn't really given a huge amount to do beyond a few generic scenes as the quintessential worried parent, it she plays the part well, going with subtlety and shock rather than histrionics. Strangely, a subplot involving her husband Barry (Barry Ward) is inexplicably dropped in the penultimate episode. These missteps notwithstanding, the season is a fine amalgamation of a Ken Loach warts-and-all tone with a more thriller-esque core that's well directed by Nick Murphy.

Picking up eighteen months after the end of the first season, the second season, dubbed Save Me Too, also starts with slow early episodes which almost imperceptibly ramp up the tension, and once again, the last two episodes are exceptional. With this season's directorial duties split evenly between Jim Loach (son of Ken) and Coky Giedroyc, the show's aesthetic becomes slightly more adventurous (the second episode, for example, is primarily a flashback, whilst other episodes place us more directly in Nelly's head, with a more noticeable sense of subjectivity), but not to the point of distracting from what remains the core of the story – realistic characterisation.

Just as with the first season, the second is far more interested in characters than plot, and once again, James and Graham are exceptional. James goes all-in on Nelly's bull-in-a-china-shop mentality, making the character, if anything, less attractive than he was in the first season. He's still got the twinkle in the eye, but the events of the last year and a half have definitely had an impact on him. Never the most tactful character, his tendency to shout first and ask questions the next day after he's calmed down is even more apparent than before. And although characters such as Clair and Barry drop into the background a little, others come to the fore and help to expand the milieu; there's Tam (Jason Flemyng), Nelly's kind-hearted cross-dressing friend; Bernie (Alice May Feetham), Melon's conflicted wife; Stace (Susan Lynch, who may or may not be in love with Nelly; Zita (Camilla Beeput, Nelly's girlfriend; and, especially, Grace (an exceptional and emotionally devastating performance from Olive Gray), who was once held by the same people who took Jody.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

steveyme

Aug 24, 2020

Can't understand the good critical reviews. Laughable shark jumping story and full of obnoxious chavvy characters. So, so bad.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Seasons & Episodes

89

Series Overview
Season 2

89
- Season 2 Overview
  Air Date: November 5, 2020
- No episode information is currently available for this season
Season 1

tbd
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: September 6, 2018