From Happy Valley and Line of Duty to Luther and Sherwood, the BBC has produced some of the finest police dramas in recent TV history, and Better is a worthy addition to the roster. It’s not as refined as the mentioned shows, but it’s grounded by a riveting, morally conflicted performance by Fazard. The breakdown of her conscience, the constant negotiation between obligation and survival, the road toward redemption—Fazard embodies it all with rugged grace. It’s not often we get the point of view of a corrupt cop, and when we do, we rarely see them with this much screen time and backstory. Better is an okay crime thriller, but it’s even better as a character study of the well-meaning, desperate, and brilliant Lou. 

Apart from Lou herself, the cat-and-mouse chase she pursues with Buchan is a highlight of the series. Col's terrifying calm is the perfect foil for Lou's eroding sense of stability, and watching them pull at each other strings provides much of the show’s tension and thrills. I also like how their relationship is complicated by their friendship. They’re not as simple as hero (or anti-hero) and villain. Rather, they’re years-long friends who are diverging at a critical point in their lives. It’s the kind of conflict that can happen to anyone, but since they happen to be a high-ranking cop and a high-target criminal, the stakes are higher for them, but only slightly.