User reviews

An exotic thriller in four languages (Polish, Ukrainian, Czech and English). Beautifully photographed and a with stunning musical score.

It took a while to get into and be warned it contains a lot of violence, nudity and sex. Far more than your average US or UK thriller.

I found the story a bit complex to follow but I liked the characters.

Worth a look.

I watched to the end but didn't really enjoy the series. Terrible dialogue and accents ruined it for me and the plot was hard to follow.

Time again I wouldn't bother.

The excellent internationally famous Czech actor Karl Rodens understated performance in itself would entitle this series to an 8 out of 10 rating and had this series been transduced into 8 Episode instead of 10 Episodes it may well have deserved an 8 . With the story unfolding over 3 different countries and switching back and forth from one country to the other , it became ,partly where which Police Service was where but more importantly which CRIMINALS WERE WHERE . The attractive and talented female lead was putting in a faultless if sometimes following a dubious script , performance and things were going great until they removed the subtitles ( on the All4 UK presentation ) and suddenly I had to become a detective in order to discover what she was saying . . She sounded like she had learned AMERICAN English from watching old MAE WEST MOVIES .

I confess that I was very impressed by this series. Events happen at an accelerated pace, and if the plot is complex, the solutions are always unexpected. Top-notch music, neat photography. One of the best crime series I've ever seen. Ready to watch a second time. The actors are excellent, and convincing to the extreme. A precise image of what the former communist countries have become: a paradise for the mafia, arms trafficking, corruption, prostitution and crimes. A gloomy series as is the reality for many people in Ukraine, Poland and the Czech Republic. Highly recommended

I really enjoyed this series. Yes, the story is complex and I highly recommend to put your smartphone away while watching. We are following the three different detectives literally from lead to lead until the case is solved. A lot of nicely written plot twists happen and only a few of the seem a little forced. The story shows real people in a credible environment acting in plausible ways and yet it keeps you at the edge of your sofa because the photography and the music create a fascinating feeling. The acting is great, especially the main character Maria is portraited beautifully in all her ambiguity by Malgorzata Buczkowska.

The director manages to pick beautiful shots and the actors do a great job in this thriller series across Eastern Europe. Alas, the storyline is rather convoluted, with many characters and possible culprits. At times it seems the detectives are as confused as the audience, with little coordination or plan.

Well, so many different venues, vast areas, the cast representing Slavs mostly, but still with different attitudes (Ukraine vs. EU, above all). And it budget was not too generous, I suppose... The outcome is a rather suspense thriller series, with interesting main theme, plus some by-lines pleasantly confusing (well, sometimes too excessively, but this is not a big issue). The final outcome could have been more sophisticated, but then - realism is also a good quality vis-a-vis crime series.

The performers are all good and pleasant as well, knowing how to be in teamwork (although many of them are big stars in their countries and even internationally known, e.g. Karel Roden). The latter and Malgorzata Buczkowska were the ones excelling for me a bit, but as mentioned - it is a pleasant cooperation of 4 Central-European countries.

I have read that Season 2 might follow - please count me in as a part of audience then :)

I'm enjoying the series, but the characters spend a lot of time speaking in English.

Their accents are so bad that I can't understand what they're saying, and of course the subtitles disappear for the English language dialogue...

I thought that the acting was professional and first rate. It was dark, gloomy, erotic and although thoughtful, it was clever and twisted. More please as must produce another season.

This depicts a reality that stunted anglocentrics will find confusing, many of whom forget that most people don't have English as a first language and that most people have "an accent" when they speak our tongue. If nothing else, it's such a relief to hear and see how all those non-anglophones, a majority of the world's population, communicate and solve problems, resorting occasionally to English ("with an accent" -of course and 110% better than my Czech!- ) as a llngua franca. This is part of the reality in the drama. To dub it all or to put it all in one language, or with references to only of the three national cultures involved, with their different histories, different policing issues, etc., might make it more palatable to US-Americans used the cultural babyfood of Hollywood but it would totally deny what the story is all about.

I liked the idea of 3 police detectives from different countries working together, but the plot and sub-plots are confusing and sometimes irrelevant.

The English dialogue is dreadful, using words native English speakers wouldn't use, never mind if it's your 2nd language.

I regret sitting through all 10 episodes..

Just finished this series. Wow. * Ten stars *

One of the best series I've ever seen on tv.

Superb script, acting, direction, editing, pacing, locations, characters, and just the right amount of short action sequences throughout.

And the original music score was one of the best I've heard.

Fabulous in every way!

Wonderful. Must see.

The pan-European premise is interesting but the series fails to deliver.

• Overly convoluted, poorly paced, poorly written plot. By the end, I'd just given up on who was doing what and why.

• Even towards the end, new characters are being introduced.

• Faces/characters will reappear after several/many episodes, leaving the viewer struggling to recall who they are.

• It's hard to tell the faces apart.

• Dead-end subplots that add nothing.

• Hard to keep track of who's in what country, particularly if it switches back and forth multiple times in a single episode.

• The police characters seem as confused as the viewers.

• Subtitles are absolutely necessary, irrespective of the language spoken on screen.

• Diversions into English are clearly a struggle for some of the actors, and it's also clear no native English speakers reviewed the script.

• Grey, dark, former Communist countries often look the same, especially at night.

• All the long, complicated Eastern European names are difficult to keep track of.

• The dramatic soundtrack is sometimes at odds with what are supposed to be non-dramatic and/or comedic moments.

Honestly, I wish I'd skipped watching this altogether!

This ten part Eastern European crime drama opens with the discovery of a woman's body near Odessa; strangely one arm has been removed. Shortly afterwards signs of two similar murders are found in Warsaw and Prague. Of course being in three different countries means it takes some time before those investigating each crime realise there are other related cases. Suspects quickly arise but it is clear that powerful people don't want the truth to be revealed; those who might inform the police don't tend to last very long.

I thought this was a solid crime drama; the way it is spread over three countries only serves to make it more interesting. The investigators from each country were nicely varied. The case kept me gripped from start to finish and there are plenty of tense moments. The cast, especially the leads do a fine job making their characters believable. As others have mentioned when characters talk to those from the other countries they switch to English, which isn't subtitled, I personally didn't mind this to be a problem but understand that others might. Given the nature of the crimes there are some unpleasant sights; it doesn't shy away from showing the victims and the language is frequently robust. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of Euro-drama looking for something a bit different.

The story line was good and I didn't see it coming, but I found it all a little too disjointed. The dialogue was laughable in places and the acting stilted, but it was engrossing enough for me to see it through to the end.