Pluribus : The Present As Dystopia.

That Vince Gilligan just didn’t get enough of the bleak, desolate suburban spaces of Albuquerque despite the sprawling slow burn seasons of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, is the feeling that I first had when I was mid stream, watching the first episode his new show for Apple TV, Pluribus. In fact, the proceedings early on had me wondering if this was a Kim Wexler spin-off again set in the Breaking Bad universe, for obvious reasons. On to this landscape, this time around Gilligan decides to paint a dystopian, post apocalyptic world, which I admit is not exactly a favorite genre of mine. Now that I am done with the first two episodes, the Albuquerque setting does make sense, there’s an unsettling palpable calmness to the air, that you almost want to be a part of, even in the midst of Armageddon. Especially if you happen to reside in a bustling city subjecting yourself to the corporate grind.

I think Contact when I see giant radars, as any sensible movie buff is expected to and Gilligan looked like he was in X- Files territory again, as the show unravelled. For a moment I wondered if Gilligan was straying into an absurd Kubrickseque setting, far removed from the grounded gritty transactions between characters that we are accustomed to as viewers of his brand staple. It also threatened to invoke memories of the pandemic. I found myself asking if I would’ve watched the show knowing the genre, if it wasn’t for the tag – “from the makers of, you know what”. That’s when the brilliance of the premise hit me, somewhere in the middle of the second episode, when I finally “joined” Gilligan’s vision.

Rhea Seehorn’s cynical, disenchanted fantasy fiction author probably is a representative of every individual on this planet today where we are connected to each other at unprecedented, unfathomable levels. Our thoughts, desires, dislikes and opinions are not just commodities to Silicon Valley giants but also ammunition to feed the rhetoric for political organisations and if nothing else just reasons for a stranger from the farthest corner of the globe to hate us outright. Leaders, thinkers and artists from Lincoln to Lennon have been attacked and assassinated throughout the history of mankind, for their ideas and opinions, just because they had a stage and a platform to reach far and wide. Today, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are those platforms to every individual on the planet with access to basic technology. Which is why Pluribus’s dystopia feels elapsed, not imminent.

Early Season’s Favorites : Paradise, Prime Target and Zero Day.

That all the hottest shows of the season seem to have something to do with tech or a tech wiz to feed the average viewer’s paranoia and interest is just more than coincidence considering the times we live in, I can’t but help presuming.

To reveal the genre of Paradise would be a spoiler in itself and unravels as a gripping thriller right from the first few scenes. Sterling K. Brown makes an impression and is in the company of James Marsden who refuses to age, apparently along with Julianne Nicholson and Sara Sahi – yes, she does her thing. The show does take a leaf out of the GoT book and put it to good use, IYKWIM. Can find it on Disney +.

Prime Target on Apple TV+ is probably best described as A Beautiful Mind meets The Da Vinci Code meets Good Will Hunting and have the likes of Leo Woodall, Sidse Babett Knudsen and Quintessa Swindell keeping us interested jn the proceedings on screen. Starts out like a slow burn nerd fest but shifts gears soon enough.

The latest to debut on Netflix, Zero Day marks the entry of none other than Robert De Niro to the streaming business – technically yeah Scorcese did that already – and you get to see an in form De Niro. “Meth Damon” makes a toned down appearance. The rousing monlogue early into the first episode is probably De Niro’s the finest moments in recent times though you may tend to disagree with the political rhetoric on display.

The Madness : The Times We Live In.

Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani were shot at in a bar in Olathe, Kansas by Adam Purinton on February 22, 2017. Purinton hurled racial slurs and asked them to “get out of his country” before opening fire. Another American, Ian Grillot was hurt when he attempted to help the Indian duo. Srinivas succumbed to his injuries. The parents of the victims would later blame the rhetoric of the Trump administration for the tragedy. If you think this is an American problem, look up videos and news of North Indian candidates being thrashed and driven away by “activists” in Maharashtra under the guise of protecting the employment opportunities of the locals. The Madness, that debuted on Netflix the other day delves into the human costs of such rhetoric and the “us-them” political narratives.

The politics of divisive narratives have always worked the way it did in Olathe. The individuals in the high towers whisper and the extremists with their heads to the ground prick their ears. Some dogs bark as they say, some bite and some are plain rabid. From BLM to Antifa to variations of 4Chan, catchphrases and hashtags that we have come to associate with uprisings and tools for instigations find a place in the plot line of The Madness. The show probably feeds on paranoia but the timing is eerie almost considering the influence big tech and social media have on politics and outcomes of elections these days. To speak of coincidences, the Alex Cross reboot on Prime too has an African American lead pitted against cabals of influence and power.

Colman Domingo plays the man who finds himself being drawn into the web of conspiracy around which the plot of The Madness has been spun. His family isn’t spared either and the character is torn between his desire to seek accountability and the urge to protect his family. John Ortiz seems to be the popular choice these days for supporting characters from the law enforcement community. Tamsin Topolski plays another central character in the show that attempts to empathise with the victims on both sides of the conflict. It is definitely not one of those feel good shows for the holiday season, rather a well timed one, with the US election results and impending swearing in. Whether you like it or not, there is no escaping the madness, as The Madness suggests.

Netflix #TheMadness

Kate is fun!

Despite what the internet might tell you Kate is an engaging Netflix Original with some pretty slick action sequences and a car chase that reminded me of the motorcycle chase from Gemini Man though I’m not quite sure if the Kate sequence was 120fps too, no I don’t think so, considering the fact that it’s a Netflix film ultimately, costs and all.

What’s with French directors and the assassin genre? Or is Cedric Nicolas-Troyan paying a tribute to his favorite Luc Besson films from La Femme Nikita to Leon to Lucy ? Kate might even be Mathilda all grown up. That being said, Kate doesn’t exactly have a new story to tell you here but some really good writing by Umair Aleem has aided the director who almost won an Oscar as a visual effects supervisor, in pulling off a decent action flick. Interestingly, I felt that underneath, Kate is also a political film. A film set in Tokyo where western assassins aid warring Yakuza clans finish off each other. The writer talks through the ageing Yakuza boss when he says that the westerners take all from cultures they do not understand until there’s nothing left and that they then empty their bowels on the whole world. And you expect the western media to shower petals on this film, Mary Elizabeth Winstead or not?

Speaking of Mary Elizabeth Winstead, she carries the film entirely on her shoulders. She’s not exactly Keanu Reeves but she’s got some mean “gun- fu” skills if you know what I’m talking about. I felt that she was a tad slow in the action sequences when it came to movements but she more than just makes up with her swag. And the camera moved like it had a black belt of it’s own so that helped too. Woody Harrelson plays Leon to Mary Elizabeth’s Mathilda – Kate and is his smouldering self. Miku Martineau just might be the next teen star and she did hold her own with the talented Winstead. With the action genre trying to re-invent and realign itself with the shift in gender politics of late, that pairing helps the film’s cause in more ways than one. And it would be a crime not to mention Jun Kunimura and I can’t but help say this – കിളവൻ ആള് കൈരളി ആണെന്ന് തോന്നുന്നു!
Watch Kate and find out why.

kate #Netflix

Godfather Of Harlem : Forest Whitaker brings you a show you can’t refuse binging.

From the creator of Narcos Chris Brancato comes this heavily fictionalised account of the life of the African American mobster Bumpy Johnson. The show starts off with Bumpy’s return to Harlem after a decade in prison and chronicles his attempts to reclaim his neighbourhood from the Italian mob. Bumpy portrayed here by Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker finds his arch nemesis in Vincent “ Chin” Gigante played by Vincent D’Onforio. Set in New York City of the early 60s, Bumpy is seen to be closely associated with prominent figures of African American community of the era, namely Malcom X and Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., the first African American Congressman from New York. JFK and Martin Luther King are other historical figures who do not appear on the show but are constantly referred to and are major influencers of the socio political situation that Bumpy Johnson and his crew thrives in. There’s even a scene where Muhammad Ali when he was still Cassius Clay reaches out to Bumpy Johnson at a crucial juncture in his career. The show indulges in a bit of magical realism when Bumpy Johnson, Malcom X, Adam Clayton Powell and the Italian Mob are seen cheering for their favorite contender in the 1963 bout between Cassius Clay and Doug Jones. Though there’s no actual record of Malcolm X or Bumpy being present at Madison Square Garden to watch the match, it’s almost as if we are reliving history, that’s how well made this show is.

Godfather of Harlem is an incredibly well written show and it strikes the right balance between drama and history. Bumpy Johnson is no saint though he is portrayed as a mobster with a philosophical bent of mind, who plays chess and has a liking for literature. But he is ruthless and doesn’t blink an eye when he has to take a life. He also destroys the very community that he stands for when he indulges in the drug trade and ultimately sows the seeds for the opoid crisis. The show also dwells on how this in fact affects his personal life through the character of his estranged daughter. Johnson’s wife Mayme Johnson whose biography supposedly provided much insight for the writing is an influential figure in his life and the community and is portrayed by Ilfenesh Hadera. Another influential New York socialite Amy Venderbilt who had a soft spot for Bumpy and whom he turns to for help on more occasions than one is played by Joanne Kelley.

Chris Brancato believes that Goodfellas rather than The Godfather is closer to reality when it comes to the mafia and he says that ultimately they’re all driven by money and the idea that dealing in drugs was against a code of honor was actually a myth. According to him it was the harsher prison sentences that made the Italians wary initially. Bumpy Johnson wanted to study law but he couldn’t simply because the college wouldn’t accept him on account of his ethnicity. For a person like him in those times, a life of crime was one way to climb the social ladder. The Italian mafia being the mafia never holds back when it comes to expressing their hatred for other ethnic groups and their approach to the African American community is no different , there’s no veil here. It’s against this system that Bumpy goes up which makes him the hero figure in his community and the story. Thrown in the midst is a love story between the mob boss’s daughter and an aspiring African American singer, the repercussions of which Bumpy uses to his advantage. Most of the story is set against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement. Malcom X who believes that Islam is the path of emancipation for his community is at loggerheads with Martin Luther King as well as Rev. Powell who is a Christian minister. In fact the final episode of S01 is named “Chickens come home to roost” , which was Malcom X’s response to the JFK assassination. Nigel Tatch plays Malcom X here and interestingly he played the same role in Selma. Giancarlo Esposito is a revelation as the flamboyant and controversial Rev. Powell. All of these characters have their own agendas and a symbiotic relationship too and the show is as much about them as it is about Bumpy. Ultimately they’re all fighting oppression in their own ways and at the end of the day that’s what the show is ultimately about and there couldn’t be a more apt title. Godfather of Harlem indeed. It would be a crime not to mention the brilliant soundtrack of this show, which is one of best albums to hit the screens after Black Panther. Look out for Forest Whitaker’s “gangsta walk” to the tune of Cross the Path in opening scene of S01 E02. The show also won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Title Design.

To Binge Or Not To Binge : Nine Thrillers.

If you are experiencing a binge withdrawal syndrome because you’ve already streamed the hell out of the likes of True Detective, Mindhunter, Line of Duty, Money Heist, Stranger Things, and Unbelievable to name a few of the main”stream” favourites and the play something button isn’t helping much either, this might help. Or not.

Giri/Haji I Netflix I Japanese/English

Has it all, the Yakuza, London gangsters, good cops, bad cops, conflicted cops, daughters, moms, wives, girlfriends and grandmothers battling their demons between London and Tokyo. Breaks a few racial stereotypes to an extent and is grim, witty and poignant at the same time. Definitely binge-worthy.

The Innocent I Netflix I Spanish

Orio Paulo who’s totally capable of pulling off decent twists on his own collaborates with Harlan Coben whose plots have more twists than a steel reinforcing bar, so to speak. Some of these can be quite outlandish though the pace makes up for plausibility. Features Orio’s regular cast here too and manages to keep you hooked to the end.

Safe I Netflix l English

Harlan Coben has a Netflix deal and he’s on a quest to find out if languages and cultures are a barrier when it comes to plot twists. This series is about a girl who goes missing in a gated community and her dad played by Michael C. Hall sets out on a frantic search for her, uncovering more secrets than he would have liked about the people in his perfect life.

The Stranger | Netflix I English

Harlan Coben again and this time it’s about a stranger who seems to be on a mission to disrupt the lives of some decent folk. It doesn’t have any of the dark humor Coben has infused in his other shows on Netflix and is rather grim and there is this sense of impending doom throughout. Oh yes, twists too.

The Alienist I Netflix I English

A period thriller set in New York just before the dawn of the 20th Century. Based on a bestseller by Caleb Carr, Dakota Fanning steals the show literally from her co stars Luke Evans and Daniel Bruhl. The mood in general is that of the umpteen Jack the Ripper spin offs and Sherlock Holmes shows that we have seen before but still makes for an engaging watch and S02 would rank higher than S01 in my book in terms of closure.

Erased l Netflix l Japanese

Based on a manga and Netflix has listed both the manga and live action versions. You could call it the Japanese Stranger Things. A compelling watch of a thriller that pushes all the right buttons. All it takes to be a hero is a heart, says the show.

Beyond Evil I Netflix l Korean

The K-Drama obsession with serial killers and food continues. But the show elevates itself here with some consistently good writing across episodes and performances to back from a couple of incredibly talented actors. Of course that’s again a perspective subject to cultural sensibilities.

Bosch I Amazon Prime I English

I had been skipping Bosch for the longest time and once I streamed it, had me wondering why. If you are a fan of The Wire, you might end up loving Bosch just because more than a few actors from that show makes appearances here thanks to show runner Eric Owermeye . Based on books by Michael Connelly the show is about a relentless detective on the mean streets of LA, Harry Bosch played by Titus Welliver. You might just end up like Bosch, relentlessly streaming the seven seasons.

La Mante I Netflix I French

It is essentially a French twist to the Hannibal Lecter lore, The Silence Of the Lambs to be
specific and has been around for a while. Despite the inevitable comparisons the show might still work for you if grim thrillers are your thing.

Game Of Thrones, The Indian General Elections and Some Late Theories.

Consider the predicament of an average Indian who is also a GoT fan. The election results would be out on May 23 and HBO would be airing the final episode on May 19. That’s one mass post partum syndrome, if I may, I’m curiously looking forward to witness and yeah, experience too. If you can still remain sane after dealing with the kind of speculation that’s going round in both cases wherever you turn to, that in itself is an achievement, I’d say. Come to think of it, the Indian Elections and GoT are not too different from each other, given the ruthlessness and deceit rampant in either, for starters. Loyalties switch before you blink in both realms too, so to speak.

The most stark -pun of course unintended- of similarities is the fact the common man or the masses do not matter at the end of the day in Indian politics and GoT. The Indian politicians know what buttons to push to make the populace dance to their tunes and when it comes to GoT the masses serve little other purpose than to be blown up or burned down in hordes. Ultimately both are about the ruling classes and their struggles to stay in power. The one and only difference that I can think of is the fact that GoT has at least one honorable character, that being Jon Snow.

Theories about the fate of the characters in GoT have been dime a dozen since the first season aired and though I held out from succumbing to the speculation frenzy for long, looks like I’ve finally given in. Now that the Bran- Night King angle has died a cold death, it’s back to game of thrones, literally. It’s men and women against each other. There are ones with rightful claims to the throne and there are ones with ambitions and aspirations, this is an early instance of one such display of pure naive desire. Let’s see how that plays out for Jon, et al.

True Detective | S03 |

After a stellar Season One and a rather lacklustre Season Two, True Detective returns to form in Season Three. The characters played by Woody Harrelson and Mathew McConnaghuey may not have had closure personally or professionally, nor did the show and neither did they offer us the audience any but we still loved them anyway in the first season, which ultimately ended up making life difficult for every other proponent of the genre out there. The makers changed the rules of the crime thriller genre at least for television with the slow burner show. Season Two had Colin Farrell playing lead and the fate of the show was not much different from the state of his once promising career, to say the least. Season Three features Mahershala Ali and, he is the new Denzel Washington I’d say. Reason enough to binge and that’s exactly what I did.

Deaths, abductions and grief are what drives the tale forward in the third installment too. It’s not exactly a battle of wits in True Detective, it never was. There’s no Moriarty out there to outwit and the detectives are no Sherlocks either. These are troubled indviduals with emotions and failings not too different from the lives, rather deaths, they investigate and get immeresed into utlimately. Much like the first season, the third deals with an investigation that has gone cold. That’s not the only similarity, though there are differences too, one being the fact that the tale switches between three different timelines in the lives of the investigators played by Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff, compared to the two timelines in Season 1. Maybe I should stop talking about Season 1. Yeah. The series starts off with the disappearance of two siblings in smalltown Arkansas. Pizzolatto weaves an intricate tale around the incident, that spreads over three decades.

One would be tempted to say that the series sits squarely on the shoulders of Mahershala Ali but that would be immensely unfair to Stephen Dorf who is literally a powerhouse of talent if you ask me. He more than just holds his own in what’s mostly a show that’s almost built for Mahershala to show off his acting chops. The show is as intense and brooding in tone as they come though it opts to go easy on the viewers towards the end this time around and offers some closure. But true to the spirit of the anthology, it does make the audience work for it and demands just more than passive engagement from it’s viewers. Nic Pizzolatto I think it’s safe to say, has salvaged whatever he lost in Season 2 here with the eight episodes of Season 3. The one thing that stands out is the making, especially the make up department. It’s amongst the best you would ever come across irrespective of screen sizes. Mike Marino is the man responsible and he has probably showed Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff exactly how they would look in another 30-40 years, without resorting to CGI. You have to see it to believe it and trust me you would notice it. When Mahershala Ali delivers an astounding performance as a man in his post retirement years with all that prosthetics, I’m not quite sure what’s to be lauded here, his skills as an actor or the skills of Marino.

Selection Day | S01 | Netflix

Yet another Indian Original has debuted on Netflix and is based on Aravind Adiga’s eponymous novel. A Booker prize winner, cricket and Netflix, sounds like a match made in Indian binge-heaven. I haven’t read Adiga’s work and knew little of the book when I slouched on the couch and decided to netflix (v) the other day. For a nation obsessed with anything related to cricket, it’s a bit surprising that we do not have as many movies or shows based on this favorite sport of ours as we would have liked to have had. I mean, considering the number of movies that the Americans have made on Baseball and Football and Basketball and Boxing, we pale in comparsion given the fact that we are equally obsessed with the showbiz too. If I must name one, Nagesh Kukunoor’s Iqbal is the only film that did justice to the true spirit of the game I feel.

Selection Day chronicles the lives of two young boys from a village in Madhya Pradhesh, who are groomed by their father to be the best batsmen cricket has ever seen. Rajesh Tailang plays the father and you see him telling another character early on that he married the mother of his children because she was a star hockey player who could mother champion sons for him. Grooming is a subtle word, considering his obsession with the cause and that being the Under- 16 selections for Mumbai. The show starts with him moving the kids to Mumbai as the day edges closer. Yash Doyle and Mohammad Samad play the champions to be. Samad was seen in the rage of the season, Tumbaad recently and is one actor to watch out for. Karanvir Malhotra is another new face. Mahesh Manjrekar reinvents himself as the reluctant coach Tommy Sir. Giving him company is television and stage veteran Ratna Pathak Shah. Shiv Pandit appears and disappears, literally. Akshay Oberoi plays an industrialist chasing dreams of a different kind. Making an impression in a couple of scenes as “Gulshan” is Dibyendu Battacharya and something tells me we are going to see more of him in the industry. The strength of the show is perfect casting and earnest performances from these actors with some great writing to help them do that too. I have to read the book before Season 2 comes out to tell you if it’s Adiga or the writers who have done the work here.

Much like the T20 version of cricket that’s being marketed by cricket boards these days, Selection Day too keeps the episodes short, this helps when you binge on a regular weekend. In fact the whole running time is lesser than that of a Bollywood film. But that doesn’t take away any of the fun or the charm of the series. I think it’s safe to call it the Malgudi Days of our times. You’d infact find yourself wanting Selection Day to return faster than you want Sacred Games to. Adiga’s writing has been branded Dickensian by critics I’m told and Selection Day is no different from what I have witnessed. Udayan Prasad, the director has done a fine job of translating Adiga’s vision on to the screen. I’m divided now though, like a batsman eyeing the fielder and looking for that second run. I could wait for Season 2 to find out the fate of the characters or I could go get the book off the closest shelf and something tells me I’m not the only one in that predicament.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7He5XaQKuc

Dogs Of Berlin | S01 | Netflix

The 90s opened the Hollywood floodgates to India thanks to Mr.Manmohan Singh and his policies. Major American movies were hitting local cinemas without much delay. The advent of Cable TV that followed soon ensured that you were hooked early on with the trailers that popped up on the Star Network. No, teasers weren’t a thing back then. Con Air was released in 1997 and was a personal favorite for a long time. Nicolas Cage it seemed, was done with serious Cinema and was trying to turn himself into an action hero. Wouldn’t blame him, something as intense as Leaving Las Vegas could do that to any actor. There was a slew of action films that starred Cage in his macho avatar from The Rock to Face-Off to Gone in Sixty Seconds and they remain favorites from a time when everything awed me. Cable TV back then was the internet, to put things in perspective. Con Air even had me taking upside down push ups, yeah. The movie had a lot of bad guys who said a lot of cool lines, at least it sounded cool to me back then. But I was in for a shock when I watched the film recently, two decades later. The movie reeked of racism and prejudice. I guess this is what happens when your world view changes. You don’t actually need to look for “subtexts” in Con Air to see all that’s wrong with the film, it’s been laid out blatantly, unapologetically. If Con Air was criticised for its racist content at the time of it’s release, it didn’t reach my part of the world. These days everything is scrutinised, some deservingly, some not. Irrespective of intentions, the scanner is working round the clock. If you are a serious student of Cinema and the society, you tend to look for it, at times it hits you right away. And I don’t take upside down push ups anymore either.

Now, the reason why I deliberated extensively on Con Air is because I chanced upon Dogs Of Berlin, a German Original on Nefltix the other day and was mid way into the first episode when I found myself asking if this too was biased and it bothered me because I liked what I had seen already. I didn’t want the urge to read into the subtexts to ruin this for me. More than being just a source of entertainment the most important aspect of cinema that fascinates me is the fact that it is the universal language that connects us human beings despite the geographic, genetic and cultural differences that we use to differentiate and identify eachother with, on a daily basis. I have said this aloud more than once. This is even more true in this age of unlimited exposure thanks to the internet. Netflix, Prime and other streaming portals have magnfiied this exposure by facilitating access to innumerable shows from other countries too. Dogs Of Berlin, which debuted on Netflix this month is the second German series to catch my eye, the other being Dark. Run Lola Run, The Lives Of Others and Der Baader Meinhoff Komplex are the only German films that I have watched and they were fine examples of German Cinema. Dogs Of Berlin showed promise early on and hence my apprehensions too.

Dogs Of Berlin looked different and relevant even with the minimal understanding I had of the present day German society. Cars and football are what comes to mind first when one thinks of Germany and of course it’s Nazi past. In stark contrast to that chequered past, Germany under Angela Merkel has had a different approach towards migrants and asylum seekers, especially in the wake of the Syrian crisis. Merkel’s policies were even blamed for having triggered the migrant crisis in Europe. Though it doesn’t exactly unfold against the backdrop of this migration, Dogs Of Berlin does deal with the German society that’s now a melting pot of cultures and the conflicts that are inevitable in such a scenario. The series is about an investigation into the death of a German footballer of Turkish origin on the eve of a football match between Turkey and Germany. There are multiple narratives woven into the story and they function in perfect cohesion as the series progresses, with the precision of a BMW engine. The death is discovered by a German police officer who has a gambling problem and is essentially the bad cop of the tale here. It does’nt help that he used to be a neo-nazi and that his brother who sports a moustache and a Hitler haircut and estranged mother are still very much a part of the organisation in Berlin. The good cop is another German, but of Turkish origin and is a representative of the Turkish diaspora in German, which I later found out, was substantial. The investigation is essentially a tour of the German underworld. We are introduced to the Lebanese Mafia in Berlin early on and they are the drug pushers, the Yugoslavs are not far behind with their grip on the football bookkeeping, there’s a Turkish biker gang who lament that they had to settle for the protection racket and of course there’s the Neo-Nazis who hate everything that’s not German by heritage.

The German Turk and the German German are forced to team up due to political reasons but they have no love lost for each other. The investigators have their own agendas and their share of personal problems which ultimately catch up with their professional lives as the tale progresses. The German cop’s wife has her set of demons that she is forced to deal with on her own, which doesn’t end well for him or her. The cop on the other hand is having an affair with his childhood friend. The Turk is gay and has daddy issues. His father refuses to accept him for what he is and he is an emotional wreck. His ex on the other hand is dating the Lebanese Mafia kingpin who in turn is dealing with a younger brother who wants to be top dog in the organisation. This brother also wants a piece of the betting business run by the Slavs and is tyring to turn a promising player of African origin who just debuted on the national team. Thrown in the midst of these are a couple of other characters who have a story of their own but they fit perfectly into the jigsaw that this series is. The series is highly provocative and even hints at corruption and coercion that goes up to the highest echelons of the German football administraion. Initially you cant but help notice that the makers have portrayed the outsiders as the ones on the wrong side of the law mostly or as the ones who are tempted to stray. The Neo-Nazis get a rather sympathetic portrayal I coudn’t but help notice and the series justifies their existence by the pitching them as a reaction to the menace the immigrant gangs have become. Though the series takes the Dan Brown way out of this web of deceit and deception at the end, what’s commendable is fact that despite the staggering number of parallel narratives, the series stays on course for most part. Apart from getting to know a bunch of talented German actors, thanks to the series, I did end up learning the German word for migrant workers, Gastarbeiter. One man’s Bengali is another man’s Gastarbeiter, to put things in perspective.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzcDBHjHePk