Pakt

Didn't expect much before watching polish series, but they turned out to be one of the best series ever seen. The plot is thrilling and unpredictable. Will wait for next seasons for sure.

This is a slow moving series. Typical of many Polish series, the dots do not connect the storyline very well. It's as if they writers don't want to give away anything to the viewer, even if it means that the plot becomes totally incomprehensible. The lead characters are not charismatic, and with a weak and confusing storyline, it is difficult to become invested in the characters or the story. How it lasted 2 seasons is anyone's guess.

I didn't bother with Season One as it's a remake of Mammon (originally a series from Norway) which I had already seen. However, I'm glad I watched Season Two. It's an original storyline about corruption in a small Polish town and its mining company. These small beginnings push the main characters to investigate and challenge the very pinnacles of Polish political and corporate life.

On the way, there are subplots, obviously, all of which connect in some way to the storyline. There are derring-do and twists that genuinely do surprise. Nothing is what it seems.

There's a love story too that is an integral part of the plot, not just an add-on.

I hope there is a Season Three.

The theme is very very interesting and keeps you hooked till the end...but then the end sort of goes limp and leaves you wishing it was more robust.

"The Pact" (2015 release; 8 episodes of about 47 min. each) is a TV mini-series from Poland. As Episode 1 "The Sacrifice" opens, we are in the offices of the well-respected newspaper Kurier. The fate of a hard-hitting article accusing the financial director of Hydro, a high-profile company, of financial embezzlement rests in the hands of the newspaper's lawyers. The lawyers oppose publication without more independent confirmation of the allegations. Hydro denies all allegations, but financial director quits anyway. The Kurier reporter gets the additional confirmation that was needed, and the article is published... At this point we are 15 min. into Episode 1, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it ll pays out.

Couple of comments: "The Pact" is a highly stylish TV series, check out the opening scenes and also later throughout the various episodes where Warsaw is presented like a city from the near future, with its endless glass skyscrapers and neon-lit multitude of highways. "The Pact" is also clearly inspired by the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy, which you may recall was originally a TV mini-series from Sweden. But the parallels stop there. Episode 1 of "The Pact" starts actually quite promisingly, that is until about 10 minutes before the end of Episode 1, where a particular story line concludes, and we then go to "Ten Months Later', where things pick up and then quickly become byzantine-like complicated. By the end of Episode 3, I couldn't quite follow the exact plot. But worse, I simply wasn't invested emotionally in any of the main characters. (Remember how invested we were in the Lisbeth and Mikael characters in the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy?). I gave it one more try but admit to calling it quits after Episode 4. Still I don't regret having stuck it out for 4 episodes.

Given the COVID-19 Stay At Home Order currently in effect, I am catching up on various TV series that I missed when they aired originally. Hence I watch these 4 episodes in one sitting recently on HBO On Demand. If you are in the mood for a stylish journalistic crime drama from Europe, you may want to check this out on VOD, and draw your own conclusion.