Penoza

Penoza means underworld (also crime scene as in 'the criminal world', not 'the place where a crime took place'). It's a superb Dutch series with incredible acting, a great storyline and an incredible cast. At the beginning of the first season, it soon became very obvious that Penoza was not an average series but one that had much more to offer. The series gained a lot of fans and critical acclaim all over. As a result of this, a second season was produced. The second season - of course - continues where the first one stopped and takes the viewer even deeper in the world of the leading character Carmen and her family and friends and all they experience when she unwillingly becomes more and more involved in the world of crime. I have to admit that the second season is even better than the first one. I'm very happy too, that a third season is being produced right now. This is very high quality stuff. Fact: the American TV Network ABC has produced the series Red Widow, based upon Penoza. The first few episodes have been broadcast only a couple of days ago. Even though I haven't seen Red Widow yet, usually nothing beats the original (even though for some people the fact of a series being subtitled keeps them from watching it). A real pity, as there are many non-English-language series out there, that are just too good to be missed (like the Danish series The Killing, The Bridge and another fantastic Dutch series called Overspel, the Dutch word for adultery). If you get a chance to watch this, do so!

After watching season 3 of Penoza, I increase my rating from 9 to 10. This season is even better than the first two, believe it or not. Amazing!

'The Godfather' explored the problems of an essentially good man trying to escape from his criminal family; 'The Sopranos' explored how such a family might live amongst the ordinary upper-middle classes. Dutch drama 'Black Widow' blends both these themes, as its protagonist is a mafia widow who finds herself lumbered by her murdered husband's criminal debts. It's strength is in displaying the ambiguous relationship that such this person (and the other non-combatants in the family) might have with their bread-winning relatives. But it lacks the operatic quality of the Italian drama 'Gomorrah' (my favourite mafia story of the year), and it's also lacks that drama's rich portrait of how organised crime permeates civil society. Overall, it feels mostly plausible, and well-plotted, but I found it a little hard to care about Carmen, our semi-innocent heroine who merely wants to continue her good life without having to pay for it.

Fantastic. The best series I have seen in a very long time. Neither given to write reviews, nor watch two entire series in two sittings yet here I am. Often brutal but utterly communicative with a sensational lead performance, this is a story of good people doing very bad things in an ever desperate downward spiral toward oblivion. The juxtaposition of the viewers empathy toward a mother utterly betrayed and her acts increasingly destitute of all morality, is perfectly poised.

I was only able to view the first two series here in the UK, so any further series are an unknown quantity to me.

This is not The Sopranos, and has only the theme of crime families in common. Like the Sopranos, this is quality TV of the very highest calibre.

Most recommended.

... really a series to have been watched week to week when first aired, for streaming makes it increasingly-repetitive, tending towards very boring when viewing more than a couple episodes at a time... and there is no 'crime-family'-story, just the female lead character continually saying she-wants-out but never leaving her life of crime-death-suffering

... what the show does do to some degree is to showcase the absurdity of wars-on-drugs, as they are futile beyond any-all measure... as with any class of drugs billions of dollars are involved, and whenever a small, unscrupulous-element seizes control, there will always be unending numbers of others wanting to take over... bodies piling up very quickly

... there are several very strong as well as weak performances, the weaker ones don't really sink the couple early seasons, but eventually the entire production suffers under their negative weight... so watch the early years, enjoy them for what they are, then quit or you'll-get-what's-coming-(to-you)

The first two seasons of Penoza are definitely worth the while. Good story, good cast and they kept everything somehow realistic. However, the decision to give the kids of the main character Carmen a more prominent role from season 3 on really killed the show for me. They are such poor actors (especially the girl) that I found myself not able to watch the show anymore. Twice I have tried to finish season 3 but everytime I just find myself so annoyed about these actors performances that I have just given up. Too bad because I held the show in such high regards the first two seasons.