Pod prikritie

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.

OK, first things first - these TV series are Bulgarian. This is very important, since, even if at some point you are able to find a localized (translated) version, maybe you will understand the plot, but won't be able to feel the movie and re-live (some) of the story. Unless you come from a post-communist Eastern Bloc country.

The plot is a classical gangster action-drama, similar to "The Godfather" or "Brigada". It features nice, realistic, almost fully believable characters - actually, most of the Bulgarians can easily recognize someone they know in the movie characters: Be it the mighty, well-connected boss; or his spectacularly sexy wife; or his lieutenants, fit with the appropriate black SUVs; or maybe the cops, filled with hatred for the world they can't understand. The series don't lack action - on the contrary - in every episode there is some eye-candy: for example a hot pursuit or gun-fight. Not too much, but still enough to take you out of the theater-style in-room-only dialog drama. Actually I love the way it was shot - combined with the intriguing plot it can be considered the best Bulgarian-made production ever.

The only downside of the series is the persistent desire of Bulgarian actors to over-do and over-act and over-pronounce. Especially if compared to a Hollywood-style counterpart, the differences in the acting are just annoying. For example, all the characters use excessively heavy grammar structures and just so perfectly correct pronunciation, even in the most intimate or action-filled parts - which might be applicable to the 8 o'clock news, but simply destroys the credibility of the scene. Leaves you thinking about the bad acting, not the story, not the plot, not the intrigue. This is such a major fault for me, that the movie would get 6/10 if it wasn't Bulgarian. That is some kind of chauvinism - but I believe the otherwise almost flawless "Под прикритие"'s creators should be encouraged to keep up the lovely work.

All in all, if you are Bulgarian, you are going to love it. Otherwise, it is very probable that you will at least enjoy it.

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!

Mihail Bilalov (Djaro) is the PERFECT actor for a mafia boss. His looks, his manners, his form of speech, there's nothing wrong with how he portrays his character. He's just incredible. So is the rest of the casting crew (with few exceptions). I'm happy that the Bulgarian taxpayer's money are finally going into something worth watching. In the series there are a lot of Bulgarian inside jokes, so I assume it would be slightly harder for international viewers to understand the jokes from time to time. Otherwise the show may not be introducing new things to the genre (is that even possible nowadays?), but it's perfecting on the most important parts. TV series like Breaking Bad have much more higher budgets and their production quality is way better, but Pod Prikritie (Undercover) is still a worthy opponent.

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!