The most common downside to RAI series is that they construct the plots with too much of a consideration for trending instances to political correctness. So much that, you get to understand from the start how good a minority/immigrant character will turn out to be, and to the representative of which profile the fingers will be pointed at in the end.
This much of "identity politics" is a bit too much for my taste in fiction as it dramatically reduces the element of a surprise and the merit of getting to meet with characters who are more "individual" than mere representatives of whatever group they belong with.
"Io ti cercherò" suffered from these patterns that RAI Fiction lean too much on, but still, it was quite an enjoyable ride as the banks of the River Tevere and the personal stories of the cops and their families really did give an authentic feeling.
A father searching for the answers behind the unexpected death of a son is always a source for strong emotions, and the acting was fine, so was the soundtrack, the pace, etc.
Looking back at this (I saw it on RAI as it aired freshly, almost a year ago) I can recall notable moments and details, all communicated professionally, making sharp political, dramatical and ethical points. Just for comparison - this was much, much better than "I bastardi di Pizzofalcone 2" which starred the same lead, Alessandro Gassman, again as a cop. This one made sense whereas the flaws with Pizzofalcone weighed over its merits.
What keeps bothering me the most with "Io ti cercherò", and probably what dropped my score from a potential 7 to this 6, is the excessive usage of cigarette smoke as a plastic element for mood-building.
Okay, most people do smoke, and a cop with multiple questions on mind would sure smoke more than others... But, come on... So many of the show's notable scenes of conversation were so terribly soaked in smoke that, to this date, I can still recall beginning to smell smoke around me as I watched them.
Do producers not understand how the viewers' brain works? There is a good reason to why mainstream TV almost never involves scenes of sewers loaded with you-know-what. It's simply because the sight of disgusting stuff triggers the brain and brings with the reaction that same stuff would create in real life.
When you fill long key scenes with cigarette smoke, which you probably think adds value to the plastics and the mood, you get to gain an adverse reaction. Mostly from non-smokers, yeah, but at times even from smokers.
Cop shows of RAI tend towards being quite formulaic (with the exception of the one and only Montalbano, for sure!) but still they are watchable. And this one could be even more watchable if they had cared to replace smoke with some other, preferably more creative element for mood-building.
