massa-2

I join with the incomprehensibly small minority who have panned this farce. Even if I had been willing to suspend disbelief (which I found impossible), I could find no redeeming features. A far-fetched, contrived premise, awful writing, patronising attitudes, cliched characters, and sloppy/wooden acting by most of the cast, not counting the efforts of the great Celia Imrie and Penney Downie.

I rarely watch Netflix and this experience certainly has not encouraged me to go on subscribing. I could not even finish the first episode and regret the waste of time. I did find the number of 9 and 10 star reviews a revelation however.

Many thanks to MHz for showing the TV adaptations of Jan Guillou's Carl Hamilton novels. Commander Hamilton is a most attractive creation. Born into nobility but politically progressive, highly intelligent and technically competent but self-effacing, disciplined and principled but not averse to evasion and deception, he's deeper and more complex than Fleming's Commander Bond.

I found the first mini-series, Enemy's Enemy, thoroughly engrossing, with complex plotting, nail-biting suspense, still relevant geopolitical background and intriguing details of political and technical strategy as well as the super cool but simpatico central character, played beautifully by the young Peter Haber. In fact I didn't think Haber could be bettered but in Vendetta Stefan Sauk has proved me wrong, adding more thoughtfulness and vulnerability to the compelling looks and natural elegance. I wish Sauk had made more series, ideally with the first Eva-Britt, the lovely Maria Grip.

Apparently, MHz plans to air all the Hamilton series. It will be interesting to compare the leads and the directors but I can't imagine the quality of the first two being surpassed. I hope whoever holds the rights will put them out on DVD -- soon.

PS: I would like to register my disagreement with Morristang-1's comments regarding the Italian series shown by MHz. I welcome the diversity of MHz's programming -- the more the better.

I'll just endorse Laura's excellent review above and keep this very short.

Der Tatortreiniger is outstanding -- a seriously funny series with plots that are a wonderful combination of the surreal and the mundane and writing that is breathtakingly clever. Bjarne Madel and the guest actors in each episode deliver the rapid-fire lines with perfect throw-away understatement.

It's rare to find myself laughing out loud almost all the way through any show, let alone each one in a series. What a treat! Thank you MHz indeed. Can't wait for the DVD release.