ID: Invaded (Episode 4) - Extended

The brilliant detective Sakaido is out of action briefly after Narihisago is placed in solitary. They try out another prisoner, but it doesn’t work and with a girl’s life on the clock they are forced to bring Narihisago back!

What happened?

A serial killer that kidnaps its victims and buries them alive has just captured their seventh victim and begun the live stream of their slow and painful death. When they finally manage to find a particle that allows them to construct an ID Well, the team are forced to pull Narihisago out of solitary and put him to work. The well is oddly unlike the actual murders so far and Sakaido, the brilliant detective keeps getting killed, but with time against them, they put him back in and keep going. Finally, Sakaido makes it to the top of the maze of towering skyscrapers and rescues the little girl. The team are then able to successfully identify the murderer and hurry to rescue the girl in real life…

What was your favourite element?

I said a while back that the ID Wells will be one of the more entertaining aspects of the show and so far that looks to be true. Let me just say that I am loving all of it, just the ID Wells stand out at the moment. It’s interesting that they work like a puzzle game in which Sakaido has to keep replaying the same level until he can get to the end. Seeing the joy on the faces of the team of analysts as he made it was great, even though none of them seems to have much love for Narihisago. I love the mix of characters we get with him from Narihisago the cold and calculating psychopath and Sakaido the determined and brilliant detective. I can’t wait to see what he did to end up like this.

ID Invaded Episode 4 Sakaido in the Murderer's ID Well

What have you learnt?

This episode was dark and the ending was particularly brutal. It did an amazing job of toying with your emotions. We knew what the stakes were and even had a rough time limit. All of this added to the pressure and made it that much more exciting. Then, to have the rug pulled out from beneath our feet at the end was that much more effective. We’d thought he’d done it. Victory for the good guys, but it wasn’t to be. I can completely sympathise with the officer at the scene that wanted to kill the murderer. Building up emotional interest in a story is hard, but there are lots of ways to draw the viewer in. Great characters that people relate to is one way, but having a time limit is another way. It raises the stakes and gives everything that much more meaning.