(Review based on watching the whole of the second season.)
I saw only the second season, having missed the first because I was watching something else at the time. Still, the first and second seasons tell completely different stories.
It's a pretty good series, made with a lot of care and professionalism. The locations are interesting and evocative and there's some good acting going on. Still, it's a pity that the series consistently tries to be modern, slick and urban ; at times it works, at times it feels lazy and facile.
It's not the most sunny or funny thriller series around - on the contrary - but there's a modest vein of satire. For instance, the Belgian team member is a woman who works for the department of state security and who spends much of her time analyzing wars, bloodbaths and atrocities. She lives together with a male partner, whose life ambition is to promote biologically grown vegetables. As a result the household consists of one partner who talks to informants, crawls through the most dangerous corners of Belgium and guards state secrets, plus one partner who fills the house with prize leeks.
However, the series does have the great big b*lls to tackle the big contemporary subjects, such as the wars in the Middle East and the resulting waves of refugees (and pseudo-refugees) travelling through Europe. The subject of the second season is the theft of a historical object of great beauty and significance ; while watching the season, the viewer learns a lot about the tactics of groups like ISIS, who fund part of their activities by trading in stolen antiquities. And yes, it is a fact that much of this artwork makes its way to the West, where it is gobbled up by collectors.
I'm a Belgian. As you know, both France and Belgium were victims of a series of terror attacks and raids by Islamic extremists. The more one studies these groups, the less palatable they become. For instance, one of the brains behind the attacks was caught, and brought to trial in Belgium. He refused to participate in the trial, declaring staunchly that he rejected Belgian/Western justice and that he was answerable only to God. At the very same time he was being defended by one of the best (and most expensive) lawyers in Belgium, who pleaded liberation on the grounds of a possible procedural error... So much for noble ideological consistency. Unless I'm mistaken this was the same man who survived perpetrating two or three suicide bombings, by walking away while his comrades blew themselves up. Again : this is one of the guys who foam at the mouth about the moral duplicity and emptiness of the West.
Personally I think it's only fair that the various perpetrators and masterminds of these attacks pay something back to Europe, for instance by serving as subject matter in a successful thriller series. ISIS and its sister organisations are obsessed with bringing down European economies ; so let them work on behalf of these economies, by supporting the cultural sector and the entertainment industry.
I saw only the second season, having missed the first because I was watching something else at the time. Still, the first and second seasons tell completely different stories.
It's a pretty good series, made with a lot of care and professionalism. The locations are interesting and evocative and there's some good acting going on. Still, it's a pity that the series consistently tries to be modern, slick and urban ; at times it works, at times it feels lazy and facile.
It's not the most sunny or funny thriller series around - on the contrary - but there's a modest vein of satire. For instance, the Belgian team member is a woman who works for the department of state security and who spends much of her time analyzing wars, bloodbaths and atrocities. She lives together with a male partner, whose life ambition is to promote biologically grown vegetables. As a result the household consists of one partner who talks to informants, crawls through the most dangerous corners of Belgium and guards state secrets, plus one partner who fills the house with prize leeks.
However, the series does have the great big b*lls to tackle the big contemporary subjects, such as the wars in the Middle East and the resulting waves of refugees (and pseudo-refugees) travelling through Europe. The subject of the second season is the theft of a historical object of great beauty and significance ; while watching the season, the viewer learns a lot about the tactics of groups like ISIS, who fund part of their activities by trading in stolen antiquities. And yes, it is a fact that much of this artwork makes its way to the West, where it is gobbled up by collectors.
I'm a Belgian. As you know, both France and Belgium were victims of a series of terror attacks and raids by Islamic extremists. The more one studies these groups, the less palatable they become. For instance, one of the brains behind the attacks was caught, and brought to trial in Belgium. He refused to participate in the trial, declaring staunchly that he rejected Belgian/Western justice and that he was answerable only to God. At the very same time he was being defended by one of the best (and most expensive) lawyers in Belgium, who pleaded liberation on the grounds of a possible procedural error... So much for noble ideological consistency. Unless I'm mistaken this was the same man who survived perpetrating two or three suicide bombings, by walking away while his comrades blew themselves up. Again : this is one of the guys who foam at the mouth about the moral duplicity and emptiness of the West.
Personally I think it's only fair that the various perpetrators and masterminds of these attacks pay something back to Europe, for instance by serving as subject matter in a successful thriller series. ISIS and its sister organisations are obsessed with bringing down European economies ; so let them work on behalf of these economies, by supporting the cultural sector and the entertainment industry.