Auga Seca

I enjoyed watching both seasons. Credible plot, dramatic and catchy. Good characters with some depth. No clear bad guys good guys divide Very well produced by the Portuguese tv and our mother region Galicia. Great to hear Gallego in Portugal. Not a very good decision to have most Portuguese characters speaking Gallego with their counter parts though, except for Teresa and Paulo who have mixed origins. Otherwise just let each speak own's language which was the same a few centuries ago and some say still is the same language. The first season ends somewhat abruptly so it is more one whole season rather than two. Well done Galicia's and Portugal's broadcasters. Many great actors, especially on the Galician side. Splendid scenic views of Vigo and Lisbon. A shame Porto and North were not in. Great pick especially if you are tired of the usual stuff.

For some reason, the acting never really felt real for me. I've watched plenty of subtitled shows and I don't think that is the issue. Maybe it's just bad acting. I watched all of the first season and half of the second and I was constantly asking myself if I should bother with the next episode. The answer was finally "no" when the main character did something totally stupid and out of character. I stopped watching right then.

There were only six shortish episodes and they concentrated a lot of plot and action into that. I saw the lot in a thirty six hour period and don't regret it at all. However, there were some problems.

The sixth and final episode of the season was the weakest and sloppiest of them all. We even had the old cliche of someone who could solve the plot ringing their confidant and just leaving a cryptic message with no explanation. And why did it go to answerphone? Because our heroine had, at the climax of the investigation, forgotten her phone in the office.

There was also the not inconsiderable problem that there was no resolution at the end of the season. Shipments were made, people were killed, plots seemed to unfurl successfully but nothing was wound up, no one was busted for the main crime stumbled on by the investigators. There will be a season two so there had to be a couple of cliffhangers but I didn't imagine that nothing at all would be settled before the final episode.

I liked the international flavour of the series, set in Galicia and Portugal. The collaboration of the Spanish and Portuguese police was also a welcome treat. But if cops sharing information that can cross borders is a theme, so is the mobility of the crims. This programme relied, as part of its plot, on the porosity of the Schengen borders.

The acting was competent and the locations were stunning in many cases. I loved the drone shot of the Marques de Pombal roundabout which I have goggled at as a tourist, reminded of the glory of the days when Portugal had a mighty empire.

I am looking forward to the next season but am feeling rather cheated and empty about the unsatisfactory conclusion of this one.