Partisan

Big disappointment...Not even Fares Fares is on hos best this time... What we in Sweden call a "turkey series"... Hope we don't have to see another season.

There were holes as big as a moon crater in this mini series. By the end, so little was resolved.

The plot summary does not do this justice. It's actually a lone-cop drama, a misfit of course. I found the organic farming to be incidental; it could have been any cultish organisation in an enclosed large parcel of land with buildings. I actually found the belief in organic farming and the political views held by the dirigeants of the farm to be dichotomous.

However, nothing was explained. How did the farm come to the attention of the cops? And who were these cops anyway who had such latitude to mount such an unconventional operation? Why were the sisters so essential to the farm when there were so many children there already? Where on earth was the unexplained money coming from?

There were so many "how did they...?" and "how come...?" moments that to describe them risks entering spoiler territory. It just didn't hang together, there was no coherence.

I really like Fares Fares and he didn't disappoint. Several other stalwarts of Scandi drama starred as well and turned in competent performances. They'd have been more convincing with a decent story though - some of them looked faintly embarrassed at the nonsense they were performing.

The ending was slightly unexpected but had to be contrived to finish like that.

It wasn't a total waste of time but I could have spent the hours on something better.

You don't need to look too hard to interpret "Partisan" as a politicised drama.

There's is, for me, a pretty obvious message pushing multi-cultural-ism. That's no crime in itself but it's simplistic overtones, I feel, ignores many of the complex and often discordant issues, associated with this philosophy. Its hardly a one sided debate, by any means.

The other problem I have with this series is its associating what appears to be a cult of eugenics orientated supremacists, with green initiatives, like organic food. I personally fine it dubious given how much stress and damage, pesticide based, commercial agriculture, is causing to the environment.

Moving beyond these concerns, I came to this series primarily because I'm a big fan of actor Fares Fares, who I first encountered in film adaptations of Jussi Adler-Olsen's crime novels.

As per usual Fares hands in an excellent performance as Johnny the undercover cop. Indeed to be fair, so do other cast members. The cinematography is also, excellent.

That said, I can't find any degree of personal comfort in this series. My reservations about its tone and underlying messages, bothers me. For this reason I wont be watching any further.

5/10.

I've got to say, this kept me on my toes to the very end even though it felt, literally, goofy at some points. As many has pointed out, many decisions were uncalled for and were hard to get your head around. Hoping for a more straight ahead second season. Usually, when you have a great idea, the script will write itself. Somehow, that didn't happen here.

This was much too disappointing. Too many lose ends. Terrific Fares Fares can't save this mess.