The sniffer

This is an incredible series. Well-plotted, with brilliant acting, it's a joy to watch even with subtitles.

The premise to the story is original and the actors do really pull it off. This is not the average crime show, the investigations and crime stories on every show are refreshing and there is real humour to the police force.

The main actor is the attraction to the whole show, his relationships to all the other characters are very funny, there is not a single line that he doesn't deliver with a straight face.

This show never gets gory or violent and still stays entertaining - which is why I think it deserves an 8/10.

Despite the blatant workplace sexual harassment and sexy medical examiners showing up to a crime scene to investigate a body in a short mini-skirt and high heals, the show has some depth and entertainment to it. The acting from some is mediocre, and great from others, like the lead character. Due to the subtitles, not a show you can just relax on your couch and watch.

This series is a mixture of genres all rolled into one. It's a detective series with a guy who uses his uncanny sense of smell to solve cases, it's a "Buddy" film with a "Bromance" between the two male leads, it's a comedy with an element of slapstick and a couple one-liners. It's entertaining most of the times but eventually becomes formula driven with the inevitable wind up at the end. It does give a perspective of modern Russia not often seen in other series. It's not particularly "noir" like many of the Scandinavian series but the sets and outdoor shots are more often monochrome. I guess this makes the brilliant green and red cars, driven by the lead actors stand out more. It's a good watch when you want something silly and light, yet entertaining and fast moving.

The lead actor is convincing as a man with a preternatural sense of smell. His extra-sensory nose is beyond phenomenal as a human sense organ, and he uses it as a positive skill to solve crimes. His ex-wife is gorgeous but she goes a bit over the top to portray a witch with a capital B. Hopefully, she will tone down her "acting" in her next films.

In the opening scene, "the Sniffer" detects an ominous-looking man who boarded the plane has a bomb hidden in his arm cast. The Sniffer tells the flight attendant to alert the pilot Captain, etc...

I wondered how the man with the bomb in his arm cast got past security? Wouldn't the X-ray machines and walk thru's have detected the explosive device?...and arrest him for "packing heat?"(how did he even get on board the plane?) The red sports sedan the Sniffer drives is hot. It looks like it's a newer model Mustang.

The film was made in the Ukraine and shows a lot of local color in Kiev, its capitol city. Entertaining, clever film.