Comrade Detective

No one is being exploited. Every actor that was involved got the double, double, entendre. It is done so straight faced, however, that it only adds to the elements of comedy and drama. This is wonderful, clever, television.

The bare faced communist propaganda presented so matter of factly, viewed now through the lens of history, is gold. The take on the 1980's buddy cop scenario played out hundreds of times in American Films and TV is incongruous to the 'behind the iron curtain' setting but, in being so, works. The material is a cartoon style take on the threats communist Romania may have faced from the West. The dialogue is done in an American style with Eastern European content - again this adds to the unlikely seriousness.

The whole six episodes are a blended mix of the above ingredients. The dubbing into English adds to this the idea of a throw back to another era. The camera direction is superb. The whole thing from start to finish riffs on all of the above elements to provide gloriously knowing entertainment.

The show also manages to add in ideas that will make you think on the whole failed communist experiment but also makes you think on the failures of the capitalist experiment that we are living.

That whole thing nearly, completely, failed too around 2008.

Yes I am from Romania, so maybe I am a little biased. But this show made me remember some times which were hard for us but for me as a kid, were some of the happiest in my life. If you like history, or have lived and "enjoyed" communism in your life,or you are from Romania and can appreciate a smart TV show, then this is something that will make you an instant fan. Having said that, this is maybe too niche in a word dominated by superpower shows , horrible murders TV episodes or MTV Ridiculousness like shows. The so called "found footage of lost TV shows" mixed with the propaganda tag that the so-called founders are putting on it is for once exactly what the show is . This is a propaganda TV series about 2 cops trying to find the killer of their detective friend and fighting with the West Communism ideology in a 1980's Bucharest Romania ( still under the strong arm of the communist party ). It recreates a 80's propaganda atmosphere with minute attention to details that only a few might fully appreciate like for example the televised chess matches, the Nadia Comaneci craze , the old Dacia cars, the clothes that the actors are wearing, the police methods , the guns , the over-repetition of communism ideals and tropes, the demonizing of the west. While I agree that the show "looks too good " for the so-called propaganda style, I quickly forgot about it while watching. Don't expect over the top villains or action ( although it does have a lot of it ). It's like watching the first Expendables. All the 80s glory with all the new that the present has to offer. But from the other side of Iron Curtain. The show is what Miami Vice would have been if made in Romania before the fall of communism. I would give it a 10/10 just for the aftertaste and for making me smile so wide but I am giving it a 9 just to try and curb my enthusiasm. I am pretty sure it's not going to be the next GOT, but I am pretty sure it will develop a small but devoted cult following. I love the actors and they are doing a very good job. Special kudos for the big names in Hollywood which were involved for the dubbing. It was the biggest surprise I had this year.

it is a good try and a great spoof series but even Communist propaganda was a bit more subtle.

The Communist propaganda movie heroes did not drink heavy or sleep around carelessly ( albeit seducing an imperialist women in the service of the Party would have been perfectly fine ). The filmmakers there were also all too conscious that the Soviet block realities were grittier so usually the movies would show more prosperity and modernity than was the case for the vast majority of the population. Only the best buildings and the nicest parts of the city would appear on screen. The main character of a Communist propaganda movie would be a happy worker or collective farmer (if he was a policemen he would have started as factory worker and then promoted for his qualities), wise and good-mannered, uninterested in material wealth and devoted to the building of the "multi-lateral developed socialist society and steady advancement toward the golden dream of humanity - the Communism". His parents would have been also of "healthy social origin" - also workers, peasants, socialist intellectuals, etc.

Albeit snitching for the regime was encouraged it would have been glorified - the persons reported to the authorities would be portrayed in a more negative manner and the person reporting to the authorities would appear more heroic and occupying the higher moral ground ( eventually he/she would have tried to educate the "traitor to the people" but be rebuffed/ laughed at).

Communist movie makers watched Hollywood movies and would know how to tweak its recipes in the service of the Party.

Wow, this is a great new show. Bravo to Amazon for taking a risk on this – and it must have been a risk if only from a marketing standpoint considering how the writers have blurred the lines between different genres and tropes. The amazing thing is how well it works. Satire is so hard to pull of convincingly, and yet Comrade Detective pulls this off AND develops a gripping cop- procedural/thriller at the same time. This is nifty, ingenious artistry, and you can tell how the whole crew threw themselves into the project. The directing is sharp and moody, the Romanian actors are incredible, the dubbing cast hilarious... even the score is remarkable – a true orchestral sound with real themes and variations the likes of which you don't hear much anymore, even in big screen films. The writing is a masterful mix of the ham-fisted comedy that marked this era's (1980's) cop dramas and subtle satire that works on multiple levels – it lampoons both Western capitalism and Eastern communism but does so in a way that is never snarky or mean-spirited. All of which is to say that even though it's high-concept, it's got a big heart. The only thing left to do now is wait for Season Two... Please, Amazon, you got behind something unique & fresh, keep giving the people what they want!

I really enjoyed Comrade Detective a lot more than I thought I would. Others have referred to it as a comedic version of Miami Vice, but from the communist perspective and set in Bucharest, Romania. This is a very good way to describe it.

I wanted to give this show a 10-star rating, but I had to hold back a couple of stars for a very important reason - it is clearly propaganda. It is meant to poke fun at socialism and the socialist countries; as you watch this will be quite obvious. However, if you can forget everything you think you know about socialism and the Cold War and pay close attention to many of the statements of the protagonists of the show, you might find that they make quite a lot of sense. In fact, they are stating a lot of indisputable facts such as how the socialist countries really were targeted by the US and the capitalist West with propaganda, sabotage and subversion. If you doubt this, then I suggest you check out the documentary, Chuck Norris vs. Communism. Also, in many instances, our hero cops convincingly explain key points and arguments in favor of socialism and against capitalism.

Don't just turn off your brain and laugh when you watch this. Pay close attention and you might just learn something.