Pod prikritie

I have watched all four seasons, thanks my wife for a translate, and I'm impressed! Extraordinary realistic movie! There is no "superman", "batman", vampires, witches and similar bullshits! This show must to receive reward! I know - the situation in ex communist countries is not good, but now I understand why those people are so sad. Because of this movie, I searched more info about Bulgaria, history, culture... Did you know that Bulgaria is one of the oldest countries in Europa? Did you know that Bulgaria invented Cyrillic alphabet? Did you know that "yogurt" is authentic Bulgarian milk? Did you know that PC has been invented by Bulgarian scientist Atanasov? Oh, my God! We thinking those people are stupid! How can so far I have not seen the Bulgarian cinema!

The series are great. The plot, the conception, everything. Except one HUGE thing.

The main character is portrayed by an actor that clearly doesn't even look like a criminal or act like one. That baby face, that ridiculously bad acting and that lack of realness in his character kills a big part of the whole idea. They should have switched him for Zdravko "Kosam" Kiselov actor (Alexander Sano). It would have been a perfect 10 !

Under cover (Pod prikritie) are a real top world class TV series. The only real problem for it to become hit in other countries is that it's in Bulgarian language. That's not actually something that I consider as "bad".

The plot of the movie is quite classical - there is a mafia organization and there is a cop which is undercover. What makes it really different than other "hollywood" movies is: 1. There is no "absolute" (good or bad) characters. Everybody has his own good and bad characteristics. You can see corrupted cops and corrupted judges on the side of the "good guys" and you can see good sides of people in the mafia side.

2. The connections between the different groups is at a very deep level. The series have a good plot.

3. There is always a surprise! The scenarists are definitely feeling what the audience thinks and they are taking well-balanced notes. They definitely know when one character is exhausted and they know when to take it off (killed).

As a summary - the first season is awesome. Very realistic. The second season is not worse, despite the little moving away from the realism. The third season focused more on the action (shootings, chases, etc). It's definitely for a little bit different audience taste, but again - it's not worse than others. What could make a little bad impression in the third season are the "hidden" advertisements. They are not too "hidden" at all...

It's surprising how the producers managed to keep the top level of the series for such a long time with such a low budget. That's a production which deserves to be watched!

I've read the other user reviews and I must disagree with those who say that these TV series are bad in any way! The actors are very well suited for their parts and you can see the characters' development along with the evolution of the cast's acting skills. The plot is edgy and well written, with minor flaws, but which movie doesn't have flaws? There are a few actors/actresses who fail to depict a proper character and whose language skills while being a part of their dialogues, are purely awful (Irena Miliankova "Sunny" and Milena Nikolova "Adriana"), but the rest are doing a great job.

The screenplay is extremely close to the world of modern Bulgaria- the political games, the judicial system problems, the corruption, the underground mob hiding behind the dirty world of business, the drug markets... Whoever says this is far away from our reality, is someone who lives in a pink soap bubble and has no real idea about the contemporary world in our country! Even some of the scenes are based on actual events and scandals, involving famous political figures and mob bosses.

I give it a 9/10 because I know it's not perfect, but it still is the best from Bulgarian cinema I've seen since the mid 1990's.

Personally I like the show very much. The main character Martin/Zahariev is great looking guy, very well chosen for the role and yet he leaves me frustrated because he has such a good appearance but very poor acting skills. I believe with some help he can improve though.Sunny is no good sorry is devastating how stiff she is. Djaro/Bilalov on the other hand is great I've never thought it's possible. If this was an American show he can be most definitely considered for Emmy nomination. As for Ivo/Baharov...well I can't think of anything bad to say for him either! He is sexy, bad...every woman's fantasy. His acting is very convincing. When a bad character makes you root for him that definitely means he's doing his job very well. Popov, Kosuma, Kukata are also great characters in the show, very memorable. As for the story I would not change a bit of it. Every Bulgarian knows that's like a true story. I sure hope that more people will be able to see it in the future. I can't wait for the 3th season!