Somebody had an intriguing idea for a fun series: Cold War nostalgia, a bit like "The Americans" or "Deutschland 83", but more comedic. What came out is a mess. (1) It's supposed to be a Romanian series from 1983, but is totally unconvincing as such. A communist TV series would not include swearing, blood and gore (of which there is a gratuitously large amount) or rampant crime and corruption in the police. Also the visual style is not that of eastern European TV or film in the 1980s. (2) If it's meant to be a comedy, it isn't anything like funny enough. "Top Secret" (made in 1984, from the "Airplane" stable) could get away with making a joke of the oppression in East Germany, because it was completely wacky. This show is too close to reality to succeed as a comedy - even if it had enough jokes. (3) Romania in the Ceausescu era was no comedy at all. For example, in its supposed role as a communist production, this show mocks religion and believers, which is a very bad move in this case. Romania treated religious believers with unimaginable cruelty (Look up Richard Wurmbrand on Wikipedia). (4) The show, again purporting to be a communist production, puts forward cogent criticisms of the shallow and exploitative culture and politics of America and the west. Yet the show itself is a prime example of all this. (5) Whatever were the Romanian actors thinking of when they agreed to take part in this? I couldn't help feeling again and again that they were being exploited and debased.
Review of Comrade Detective
