I bastardi di Pizzofalcone

I have not yet seen the first two seasons of this series, and my experience is limited with the start of the 3rd one, so I will not be rating it.

Even though we may be new to a concept and a set of characters, there are certain things that are supposed to work within the framework of a single episode. And they definitely did not work in the opening of I bastardi di Pizzofalcone S03.

First and foremost of all: The basic premise is that this band of renegade cops survive a bombing as they were celebrating at a fine restaurant. We see how the location is devastated, we learn that a waitress has died. The explosion is a huge one. However, none of the lead characters (who are suspected to be the target of the bomb attack) has died. Furthermore, they have ridiculously small injuries. The whole thing just does not add up. Regardless of who bombed the restaurant and for what reason, the visible, physical "knot" that we are expected to emotionally and mentally invest in simply does not function.

That's one huge problem. So huge that, you lose interest in the whole mood and the individual histories of the characters. The way the outcome of the bombing is depicted reminded me of the dynamite explosions in the Looney Tunes cartoons. Bomb goes off, we see dust and smoke all around, and the character reappears intact, with small bandages on his head. That was almost exactly how the physical outcome of that key attack was handled in that very first episode of S03.

And it was not the only "physically improbable" thing that annoyed me as a viewer: In one scene, we see Gassman walk a back street as some guy is tailing him from 7-8 metres behind. Our cop turns a corner, obviously to ambush or shake off his follower. Then the guy turns the same corner, cannot see Gassman and moves forward looking around for at least 50 meters. At that point, Gassman reappears from behind, as he had hid in an alley.

Now, that is the laziest and most stupid way of trying to convince the viewer how a cop can handle such a situation. It is a simple abuse of the editing process. Gassman could not have have gotten 50 meters ahead of his follower within the time frame in which he had disappeared from eye sight. For some viewers, such things may not matter as they extend the suspension of disbelief to every single aspect of a fictional narration. However, it matters for me. Especially if the concept is one that kind of intends to build up a realistic world of cops and criminals.

Of course a single episode is never enough to judge a TV series by, however the kind of approach I got to see in this one honestly raised quite a few red flags.

So far, this one falls way behind not only the majestic "Il commissario Montalbano", but also behind mediocre Italian cop show like "Nero a meta".

The series presents itself as an atrociously shot early 00s soap opera with romantic crime series dreams. It fails miserably at being anything else than a perfect example on how to waste production budget. The dialogues are bland, most shots are cringeworthy extreme close ups, photography sports what looks like a 12 y.o.'s first attempt at creative color correction, and one of the songs in the O. S. T. Is a blatant plagiarism of Hanz Zimmer's Time. Everything else is subject to personal tastes and interpretations, and even in this I've never happened to like fiabesque representations of the city of Naples, which is a city whose soul, in order to be properly narrated, is something that requires a narrative craft that this series could only dream of.

This is a poor attempt to copy "Montalbano", right down to the quirky cop at the entrance to the police station. The characters are not as rich as many other detective series. Attempts are made to make them seem interesting by giving them problems and issues with which they deal outside of work. As with many French and Italian series, there is the inevitable lesbian relationship (one seldom sees gay male relationships, maybe because they with to preserve the image of Machismo or the French lover, who knows). The episodes drag, and become very formula driven as the series progresses. The sets are either very grubby, crumbling old buildings, or crumbling old buildings filled with ornate carvings, frescoes and furniture.....very Italian!

It's watchable but just expect mediocrity, nothing else!

I'd watched the first two seasons of this on MHZ before I'd started on the series of books. If you love this series, you absolutely must get the books and read them! Start with "The Crocodile" which takes place before any of the "I bastardi" episodes, but is an absolute marvel of a book, introducing you to Lojacano and Piras, as well as Maurizio De Giovanni's style of writing. I came to love Sicily through the Montalbano books, and these, though quite different, give one a great appreciation of Naples, much more than one gets by visiting the Musei or going to see Pompeii.

Then the first actual "bastardi" book, where you are introduced to the other police officers you will know through the series is a must. That book is essentially covered by Season 1 Episode 1, but adds in much of the background from "The Crocodile." The casting is fantastic--I can't imagine anyone seeming more like Lojacano than Alessandro Gassman. And the rest are similarly well cast, down to the idiotic flashing of sunglasses than Angrisiano does playing Aragona. He's perfect, as are the rest. Very well done. This series is as well-matched to the books as the Montalbanos, or the Campion series, or Suchet as Poirot.

Assolutamente perfetto!!

Seems like every other detective series out there starts out with a troubled detective w/personal issues. The cheaper series then follow the formula of a mostly panning camera of talking heads (lots of talking). In this series we get the usual cheap found dead body in the beginning followed by lots of incidental "just everyday talking"; dining, wine, light romance w/no seen sex. Usual detective team conflicts & off beat personalities to relieve boredom. This series adds, probably an Italian cultural thing, extra model attractive females; extra dining & wine; a few long camera shots of a bay; lots of scenes of bland building facades. But, scenes of the usual Catholic inspired emphasis on excessively ornate & furnished interiors.

Plots differ for each agonizingly long episode (90+ min) until the brief confession (usually least expected) at the very end. Really poor forensics, and highly improbable sleuthing. Series film quality seemed '70s like w/audio that was poor (almost dubbed like), and video just as bad.

Suggest watching their E.U. neighbor's series "Spiral" or most Swedish/Danish.