ULTRAVIOLET (2017- )

Creator: wendy west

Cast: Viet Anh Do, Karolina Chapko, Paulina Chapko 

A thirty-year-old woman (Ola Serafin)  leaves her husband and London, return to her hometown of Lódz, Poland. While driving her car one night, she witnesses a dramatic incident which looks like suicide, but which she finds suspicious. The police seems not too care about the incident, they thinks it is suicide anyway. Desperate, Ola looks for help on the Internet, where she finds a group of amateur detectives that solve criminal cases the police are unable to called ultraviolet.

Here is a cool cool little series that is worth to look an original Netflix series. When Ola (Marta Nieradkiewicz) returns to poland she gets a jobs kind like Uber. One night driving home she witness an accident that looks like an suicide but Ola is not convinced that it is suicide. Frustrated with the police who is indifferent about the incident goes home and search the internet for help finds a group of people who can help under the name of Ultraviolet that solve cases where the police is having trouble closing the case. Funny thing there’s a really imaginative use of technology throughout these cases to make them both interesting and intriguing. 45 minutes episodes to find out who is the murder. Later as the series progress Ola makes friend with a police detective and that is going to become handy for her and the gang of ultraviolet. Olga here is enthusiastic and it seems that she leads the gang all together. The police investigation are simple with some interesting murder but sometimes it is a bit predictable but at least enjoyable. The cast is awesome and the chemistry is there with humour in play. Ola is still obsessing over her brother’s death and blames her former sister-in-law for that. The series is inspired by the book The Skeleton Crew written by Deborah Halber and by the personal story of Wendy West.

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DOGS OF BERLIN (2018)

Creator: Christian Alvart

Cast: Felix Kramer, Fahri Yardim, Samy Abdel Fattah

A murder of a soccer player forces two disparate detectives into a battle with the Berlin underworld and a confrontation with their own corruption.

The best player Orkan Erdem in the German national football team, is murdered in Berlin. Kurt Grimmer who is married but is with his lover nearby decided to check it out. As soon as he finds out who the body is, and suddenly the lights when on in his head. He thinks that the German national team, deprived of their best player, will lose the match, so he calls his bookie and decide to make a bet. Of course he tells the two cops that found the body to stay put until he comes back. He has to convince the coaches of the team to keep it a secret until the end of the match. In the mix there will be Neo-Nazis, Germans, Turks, Serbs, Arabs, mafia and gangs that are mixed in this business as well. Yes there are the crooked cops that are going to come along with racism, spouse cheating, mafia business etc…. You are going to have to follow very carefully this series it has a few twist and turns. it is moving as it should be at a fast paced in a form of a thriller. Yes it is a German Netflix original series.

IL MIRACOLO (2018 – )

Creator: Niccolò Ammaniti

Cast: Guido Caprino, Elena Lietti, Lorenza Indovina

English title: The miracle

During the incursion in a mob boss’ hideout the police finds out a statue of the virgin Mary weeping Blood. A team of scientific investigate in secret. General Votta (Sergio Albelli) calls then the prime minister Fabrizio Pietromarchi (Guido Caprino) who is in a middle of a crisis in public and in his private life. If this gets out what will happen? Are people going to go nuts about this?

Ok then here is a subject that is not talk about too much but here Ammaniti created an environment of faith and the miracle. It is a question of your faith here and do you believe in miracle? Political men, priest, criminal all sort of people are going to know the existence of this statue. A priest who seeks hooker to relieve himself plus gamble among other sins is call by the prime minister to see what he makes of it but he can’t tell nobody. the second story is the one with the prime minister and his family with the weird babysitter and his wife and kids where they are having some kind of crisis. The third story is about this boy who has autism comes back with a dead girl who is his friend but everyone thinks he killed her but do not have no proof. The 4th story is the dying mother of this woman who works with the scientific group on why the statue weeps blood 9 liters per hour. It is the lives of those people in the space of 8 days in 8 episodes. A terrific series which is going to question your faith with some complex character.

COUNTERPART (2017 – )

Creator: Justin Marks

Cast: J.K. Simmons, Olivia Williams, Harry Lloyd  

Howard Silk, a modest employee, discovers in spite of himself that the agency for which he works is only a facade. When the existence of a portal, leading to a parallel dimension, with another version of itself, is revealed to him, a new and dangerous world opens up to him. He still does not know how much his life will be turned upside down…

Here is a series that is worth looking at. Counterpart here is a mystery / Thriller / espionage And a cold war fell to it. Of course there is the cat and the mouse game no surprise there and danger at every corner and the fact that the characters does not know who to trust. It has a sci-fi feel to it that makes it a little jewel of a series. You will be hooked as soon as you see the first episode. It is interesting because you will see two world different from each other. And what is their supposedly double are doing on the other side? .K. Simmons (Whiplash, Spiderman) is brilliant in both version and so is the ensemble cast. It is taking place in Berlin but I don’t know if it is shot really there. PLus the actors plays a different role in a different setting, it is nice to see how talented they are. Counterpart is an Original idea that works well and intelligently written. Trust me you will not be disappointed in the climatic season finale nor the second season.

1983 (2018 – )

Creator: Joshua Long

Cast:Robert Wieckiewicz, Maciej Musial, Michalina Olszanska

Decades after a 1983 terrorist attack, a law student and a cop uncover a conspiracy.

In 1983 Warsaw, a man is beating another man who is in the Solidarity resistance movement in Poland. He goes outside after leaving the man halfway dead. He sees a medical transport van, notices the dripping paint on it, then is killed in a massive explosion. And here is are opening shot on this perfectly writing Polish series, in a Neo-Noir fashion. Then it is 2003 on our next shot the movement was derailed by these terrorist attacks and now Poland is  under a Soviet-backed regime, where protest is punished severely.

Anatol Janow (Robert Więckiewicz) is a police detective who used to work on high-profile cases, but has been demoted to this division that he is in.  He’s called to the apartment of a known resistance operative, who looks like he killed himself his partners called it a suicide but Janow know better than that someone has killed this man to look like a suicide. The second part of the story is this law student Kajetan Skowron (Maciej Musiał), whose parents died in the 1983 attacks, is given a case file by a judge, the murder of someone the judge knew before the attacks. Somehow Skowron meets Janow who looks into the dossier and uncovers a conspiracy that the government wants to shut down.

This well writing series feels like an espionage as we meet the some of the people of the resistance. The set design is feels like a Neo-noir film , reflecting the idea of an Eastern European dictatorship. It is an unexpected jewel from Netflix with complex characters and the story is intelligently told but I think that most people will overlook this one my advice do not miss it.

CONDOR (2018 -)

Creators Todd Katzberg, Ken Robinson, Jason Smilovic

Cast: Max Irons, William Hurt, Leem Lubany 

Joe Turner a CIA coding analyst while outside with one of his co-worker taking a break gets an inch of his life by almost getting killed at the office. All his co-workers are dead and his has to outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.

Ok the series is based on the film Three days of the condor. But it is on today’s turf with the computers and cell phone well you get the point. Joe has created a computer program that helps identify terrorists prior to them committing violent acts. When his station is attacked Joe who is the only survivor will have to find out while on the run who is responsible and who he can trust. Maybe his program was used for something else something evil. Brendan Fraser who have not seen him for years here has returned in this series and what a great role he has. Also you will find a terrific cast like William Hurt, Bob Balaban and Mira Sorvino. But the thing is who is lying and who is not, who to trust. Yes there are twists and turn which it be expected. It is a bit formulaic and stylish but it works here for now. It can be addictive but there are a bunch of spy thriller Australian series and polish series that are on Netflix also. It looks like the network are going this direction.

THE FOREST (2017)

Creator: Delinda Jacobs

Cast: Samuel Labarthe, Suzanne Clément, Alexia Barlier

Sixteen-year-old Jennifer disappears one night from her village in the Ardennes. Captain Gaspard Deker leads the investigation with police officer Virginie Musso, who knew the girl well. They are helped by Eve, a lonely and mysterious woman.

The Forest is a mystery revolving around the disappearance of 16-year-old girl Jennifer. As the series develops which the plot tension is going to be tense , The Forest evolves from a detective mystery with family drama as secrets close to home are revealed. Girls has been disappearing years earlier and they think that the perpetrator is at it again.  Here is a French production on Netflix . Alexia Barlier who plays Eve portrays the kind of character that is tough and courageous as has a soft spot. It is at a pace of a thriller this series and the writers made sure to build up the tension until the end. And who is this mysterious woman who wants to help. The atmosphere is misty with some beautiful shot of the forest. Only 6 episodes for this mini series.