As a longtime fan of detective mysteries, I struggle these days to find series that can engage me for six or eight episodes. For example, the MHZ channel is chock full of shows, but many of them are too slapstick or silly to hold my interest. Redemption (Io ti cerchero') with its leads Allesandro Gassman and Maya Sansa did hold my interest. I found it on the PBS Masterpiece Channel in the US. While I gave it a 7, it is fractionally better than that.
Even though Gassman plays a character (Valerio) quite similar to the one he plays on I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone, I find his larger-than-life persona impossible not to like. And the striking Maya Sansa lights up the screen, playing a strong but troubled ex-love of Valerio, and a police officer herself.
Sometimes when a series has many flashbacks, it is distracting and slows down the action. In this case, the flashbacks worked, because Redemption is simultaneously working on two parallel tracks: It is a search for a killer, and it is a meditation on the relationship between fathers and sons. Valerio's son's narration during the story added a poetry and a spiritual dimension to the show. While the plot is not always as tight as it might be, and while some of Valerio's actions defy common sense, Redemption is ultimately a compelling, touching drama in which one cares about its characters.
