Salamander

Recent decade has seen so vast accrual of UK and Scandinavian crime thrillers, including political ones, that those coming from other European countries have often remained in the shadow. Being a fan of "modern" crimes series (i.e. without episode-based case settlements), I have tried to broaden my mind; thanks to Internet and IMDb, it is far easier than decades ago.

Based on some previous knowledge about Salamander, I was surprised at first as the first 1-2 episodes were rather slow and amply sentimental, although some events aside could create more robust and fixed approach. But then the characters and scenes became nicely fit for a crime thriller and the inclusion of past events made the storyline more versatile and with interesting twists. Both adversaries had their ups and downs and casualties, and even if you could guess some things happening next, there was still plenty of space for surprises. Beautiful urban and rural landscapes formed a nice background to otherwise nasty or sad events.

As for the performances, the males were more convincing and significant, particularly Filip Peeters as Paul Gerardi and Jo De Meyere as Armand Persigal; I have to admit that it was my first aware familiarisation with Belgian/Flemish actors. I will look forward to meet them again, eventually in another similar creation.

First, a synopsis, sine IMDb doesn't provide one: A private bank in Brussels has its locker room broken into, and the contents of some selected safes burgled, but only of their documents, not money. Turns out those safes belonged to prominent members of Belgian politics and society. The burglars use those documents to blackmail said prominent members. Enter Paul Gerardi, a Belgian police detective, who gets a whiff of the robbery and soon finds himself in over his head, as neither the robbers nor the victims care for a public police investigation.

The premise holds a lot of promise but the execution is by-the-numbers. People get killed for, in retrospect, no useful reason. A fair amount of investigative clues just conveniently fall into the detective's hands. The story doesn't make it seem as if he earned them. The main narrative arc of the first few episodes seems pointless, and could have been avoided had some of the main characters just talked to each other. The conclusion falls within the zone of predictability, and yet could only get there via a serendipitous series of developments in the final few episodes.

Having said all that, this is still a fairly watchable series. There are hit men to be avoided, car tails to be lost, criminals to be identified and caught, and the pacing is competent enough for a decent fortnight's romp.

One of the great benefits of streaming services is that the delve into the output from Europe and elsewhere and unearth some gems like this one. This is the story of someone trying to uncover and stop the plans of a secret society (not a Vincent Price/Hammer Horror style one) who are interfering in politics and the government.

Apart from good writing and filming, it gives us the opportunity here in the UK to see some new actors and many of them put the usual lot to shame with their acting ability. I don't know if it is common outside of the UK and America, but there is a tendency these days to give parts to ex comedians and other entertainers who for some unknown reason, think they can act. See Alan Davis for an example. Instead here we have people who have learned their craft and can deliver the story.

There are two series under this heading. The first one is the best in my opinion but the second is still worth watching.

Selected by BBC4 to replace the Saturday night spot traditionally taken by moody, brooding Nordic Noir series like "The Killing" and most recently "The Bridge", this Flemish cop-drama is very different in tone, but entertaining for all that.

I'm about three episodes in and while the plot lacks the darker undertones of its Scandinavian predecessors and there's far less character development too, both these aspects are commendable in my eyes in avoiding over-complexity in the plotting and the sometimes overdone quirkiness and personal problems of the main characters.

The central character interest is a transparently big, bluff everyday senior detective in the Belgian police, Paul Gerardi, who finds himself involved in sinister machinations when an underworld source tells him a major private bank has been broken into and yet has chosen not to report it to the police and indeed actively tries to cover up any sign of the break-in. Moreover, the robbery didn't involve money or bullion but rather the personal effects of some 66 highly connected individuals in Belgian society. Naturally, there's a malevolent, powerful network behind all this who will stop at nothing it appears to maintain the secret and who wish to silence Gerardi from bringing the matter to light.

Pacily filmed, more in daylight than the dark, I rather like the fact that it's more about the story than the characters' hang-ups although the latter may yet be invoked to pad out the next nine episodes but I'm hoping instead on a twisty-turny roller-coaster ride as Gerardi presumably avoids capture, finds out more about the mysterious "Salamander" group and their aims and the motives of the only scarcely glimpsed gang-leader behind the initial theft.

While I don't expect my insides turned outside-in, I am looking forward to enjoying the rest of this so far entertaining and involving production.

After watching the first couple of episodes, I was completely hooked, the guy who plays the lead is a fantastic actor and the more you watch, the more involved in his life you become and instead of being the usual crime/whodunit mystery, it evolves into a personal mission for Geradi to find the truth. I love Belgium, and it is a great country, so the fact that this story has the backdrop of such a great location and history adds to its appeal. This mini-series seriously competes with other US addictive thriller rides, and yet has something more endearing and genuine at its heart. I loved it, and only wish they would do a second series with the lead character solving another new mystery.