Hound's Hill

"Hound's Hill" (original title "Wzgórze psów") is an excellent Polish dark drama about some tragic events occurring in the small Polish town Zybork. Watching the trailer may give the impression that it is some kind of mystic dra-ma, but it is not. The drama is about people and how they relate to different events that has occurred in Zybork a long time ago. In the first episode you get to know the different characters which can be a bit complicated and in the last episode everything gets clear. The end is unpredictable.

And please watch this drama in the original language, Polish, with subtitles in English or whatever language you prefer. (I watched it with Swedish subtitles.) Otherwise, you will miss out the excellent acting and the atmosphere in the drama.

If you loved The Mire, The Killing etc, avoid this because it's both utterly incoherent and so badly directed that it's almost a pastiche of dark crime shows of the type. Indeed there's one scene in the first episode where the new partner of the central character is left by him alone with his moody father and, getting up alone in the house she opens the fridge so 'momentously' that I wondered aloud if they were really going to use the old cliche of revealing him standing beside her when the door shuts. And, guess what, that's exactly what they did. The only things that you can follow here, you've seen a thousand times before. Everything else is a mess. Sorry, Poland, though it's mired down in bad acting and worse direction, The Mire this isn't!

The cast are great & Jasmina Polak shines as the most important character in tying the story together as she is on the outside similarly to the viewer. Lot's of plot threads that turn out to be decoys and the ending is hurried and closed without enough explanation of how the decoy threads finished. It had so much promise so I stuck with it but now I just feel annoyed that the story didn't honour or reward the viewer for engaging on a deeper level.

The writing is not great. The pace is very slow.

The characters are not very complex. There are twists, but takes a bit to get there. It is not as easy of a binge watch as others with the same listed genre. Acting: some good some not so good. The scenery is very nice and beautiful. I cannot give more than 4 stars.

Fantastic editing, pacing, tone and writing. If you have enjoyed previously series like The Killing, The Mire, True Detective and Fortitude, you will enjoy this. It has the same kind of mystique about it, it makes you feel like pausing every scene and look for clues - this is what i personally look for is series like these, they envelop you like a cold blanket and you just keep fidgeting and looking for closure.

It builds up real slow, letting you sink and soak it all in, before it gets deep. The handwriting of the visual, audio and writing reminds me of The Mire, also a fantastic and underrated Polish series on Netflix, an undiscovered gem.

You, who you were in charge of this, i salute You + all the actors, animators, colorists and sound designers - Masterful storytelling and excecution, bravo.