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aragarnaI've watched 2 European shows in the past weeks: Panthers, and Occupied.
Panthers - aka The Last Panthers - is (supposed to be) about the Pink Panthers. So here, forget everything you've learned from White Collar, as about everything they say in WC about the Pink Panthers is wrong. Except maybe their ruthlessness. Anyway, firstly, the show was actually only 1/3 about the Panthers. And they appear as they most likely are in real life: your average, uninteresting ring of criminals from the Balkans. The series is divided into 3 storylines, one following the Panthers as they try to sell stolen diamonds, the second one following the French cops investigating the robbery, and the last one, an insurance investigator on the trail of the diamonds.
I know what you think. Said like this, it does sound like White Collar. Except it's not. It's probably a lot closer to the reality of European crime rings today - arm trafficking from the Balkans, violent criminals, and not so heroic cops. But even without the comparison, it was just plain boring. It had a lot of potential, but it fell flat. I love Tahar Rahim, he's a great French actor, but even him left me totally unfazed.
Occupied, on the contrary was a great, thrilling show. The starting point might seem a little bit of a stretch - Norway wants to stop their oil production and go green, but the rest of Europe doesn't like it and let Russia invade Norway to force them to restore their production to Europe - but from there, it develops a very interesting plot, where everyone tries to do what they think is the right thing, but struggles with the consequences - on a political and personal level, from the Prime Minister to the restaurant owner. And of course, months after months, as the Russians refuse to leave and the Norwegians start to resist more violently the situation degrades...
And on an unrelated note: WTF Fargo?!...aliens?! That was so unnecessary.
Panthers - aka The Last Panthers - is (supposed to be) about the Pink Panthers. So here, forget everything you've learned from White Collar, as about everything they say in WC about the Pink Panthers is wrong. Except maybe their ruthlessness. Anyway, firstly, the show was actually only 1/3 about the Panthers. And they appear as they most likely are in real life: your average, uninteresting ring of criminals from the Balkans. The series is divided into 3 storylines, one following the Panthers as they try to sell stolen diamonds, the second one following the French cops investigating the robbery, and the last one, an insurance investigator on the trail of the diamonds.
I know what you think. Said like this, it does sound like White Collar. Except it's not. It's probably a lot closer to the reality of European crime rings today - arm trafficking from the Balkans, violent criminals, and not so heroic cops. But even without the comparison, it was just plain boring. It had a lot of potential, but it fell flat. I love Tahar Rahim, he's a great French actor, but even him left me totally unfazed.
Occupied, on the contrary was a great, thrilling show. The starting point might seem a little bit of a stretch - Norway wants to stop their oil production and go green, but the rest of Europe doesn't like it and let Russia invade Norway to force them to restore their production to Europe - but from there, it develops a very interesting plot, where everyone tries to do what they think is the right thing, but struggles with the consequences - on a political and personal level, from the Prime Minister to the restaurant owner. And of course, months after months, as the Russians refuse to leave and the Norwegians start to resist more violently the situation degrades...
And on an unrelated note: WTF Fargo?!...
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