ARAH!
Episode 4 of Dealer begins with Franck and Thomas filming while Tony begins dealing. He encourages Kylian to head back home before meeting his youth worker outside. This youth worker isn’t exactly enthralled with the idea of filming what happens inside the hood, but the group try to convince him that this is a good thing; an eye-opening experience. Police suddenly show up at the scene, prompting them all to suddenly scarper and rush out. The cameras switches between various different people as the shaky cam strikes again, filming Tony and the others running away while police chase them. Tony rallies the troops, telling them to keep the officers back, while he heads up the apartment block and tries to evade the police. Tony eventually hurries downstairs when he notices Kylian is in trouble, encouraging him to leave as Tony is searched.
The Episode Review
Our first taste of proper action in Dealer comes during episode 4 and it once again shows the limitations of found footage style presentation. While the idea of this gang running away is a good one, the sudden cuts between the different camera crews betray the whole idea of this being a fly on the wall mockumentary. There’s also a profound lack of characterization for Thomas, and beyond his segment at the end of the previous episode, we don’t really get a feel for who this guy is and what his aspirations are. Still, despite that though, the ending leaves the door wide open for the upcoming episodes. There’s a gang war brewing and this seems ready to kick off at any moment. Will Franck and Thomas find themselves in the middle of this conflict? We’ll have to wait and see but you can tell this one is building up to something big.
