IR TV Review: HIGH VALUE TARGET - THE HUNT FOR SADDAM -EPISODE 3 [TNT]

After the capture of a close domestic associate of Saddam, Nixon’s ploy is trying to find the right way to work the case. In this story (like most) is all about details. The captured associate doesn’t want to give up anything but a small detail makes it through to give a concept of location. Tensions run high and nothing is exact. One gets a sense that in this arena, it is about anticipation in a world whether other elements are at play. John Dixon is out of his element and yet he has an instinct of knowing the player very well. He has to see reactions versus misdirects. That is what seemingly leads him to the road to capture Saddam. Considering what was seen in the news the way they show the village of Tikrit and why it was important is interesting.

The question becomes did Hussein put himself in that pit and for how long. Why didn’t he escape over the border? These are all question Nixon asks himself but ones to which he has no answers. The celebration is good for PR but there is a lag time in interrogation which he knows will give Saddam a way to regain his strength and figure out a ploy. He is confused and tired but that will change if they wait. Dixon continues to anger his superiors and push the status quo when he could lie back and enjoy the spoils of his accomplishment. When he gets back into the cell it is about knowing whether or not this is the real guy with all the doubles he had. The conversation is just beginning but it is a matter of where the information leads. Having not read the book this plays to a certain dramatic but also what Dixon wrote that Saddam actually said. 84%/B

By Tim Wassberg