The Team

Two episodes into season #2 I was fast forwarding constantly because I found it dragging horribly ... but was curious about the outcome. Sometimes it's hard to look away from a car crash as they say ...and season #2 was certainly that. Awfully cliched characters and some pretty hard to believe police procedural work.

I was a fan of Crossing Lines, another European import running on Netflix, and when I read an introductory blurb on MHz there seemed to be some similarities so I decided to give it a try. Both my wife and I enjoy it. The team of European cops assembled to find what appears to be a serial killer is quite good. While they are supposed to work together there are some internal rivalries and one of the countries seems to have its own hidden agenda which they expect to stay that way.

The episodes are short, one hour each, and the story moves along at a crisp pace. Harald Bjorn, the titular leader of the team, seems to have a past with another member; and she seems to be having some issues of her own with her husband. The subplots don't take anything away from the main story, and provide us with back stories on team members.

There are eight episodes you need to commit to if you want all the pieces to fall into place. The cast seems to be quite good and work together well. I would recommend it as it is so much better than the usual crap we see on American TV. If having to read subtitles is a turn off then you will probably take a pass; but I was amazed at how much of the dialogue was English.

This is one of those dramas, like 'Shetland' and 'Vera' where the location plays like a character. The parts in Austria are gorgeous. The story sort of goes occasionally 'off-piste' like the parts about fatherhood but this killed time nicely.

The casting is quite ok for the series, so that is a plus. The story for the first season is doing way more twists than the one for the second season, which seems to crumble under the burden of the message concerning the civil war in Syria. What is a bit sad about the production is that despite the international setup of the team, they never use the local language with subtitles. There are no communication issues between any members of the international team, nor are there any cultural differences leading to problems. Now the second season is a mess, since that season wants to unwrap all the issues related with the civil war in Syria - including the IS (in the series called caliphate union), cultural heritage, torture and the funding of terrorism. What was the worst is that more than once the members of the team go off by their own and endanger their lives. Also when they are going to arrest people, they never seem to be able to secure the back of a building as well, which makes the premise of an international team of top police people a ridiculous premise.

I typically gravitate towards European crime thrillers but The Team left me cold.

The key reason is the so called team are in fact dispirit groups in different nations, who mostly only come together remotely. Its disconcerting, undermining the possibility of any real group cohesion and chemistry between the cast.

Worse still, this approach makes the story hard to follow, constantly breaking up the flow, as it hops, in jarring fashion, between peace meal teams in different countries and geographic locations.

On the upside the acting is reasonable but I found the characterisations a bit clinical and matter of fact. The story is a good one once you get to grips with it but it takes real effort to follow along.

In summary I wanted to like The Team but the core concept is, in my view, flawed, creating issues I don't feel can really be remedied. 5/10.