IMDb meta-data is 24 episodes of 60 minutes rated 7.3 by 950 cinematizens.
Genre: krimi.
DNA: Schweizerdeutsch.
Verdict: More.
Tagline: Full circle.
A picturesque winter valley in the Bernese Alps holds many secrets in its small, enclosed community of Oberwies, never to be confused with Unterwies. We watched Season One’s six episodes following a single story arc that came full circle. Despite its total length there is no padding. Everything you see fits into the plot, including the very mountains themselves, which – as one character says – are a cage trapping those within. If you pay attention it will pay off.
While in outline the story is a tired old chestnut in this reworking it is fresh and engaging. The eponymous police officer returns home for a visit to find strange things and teams up, reluctantly, with another officer who is on a personal quest, into an odd couple. They deal with a manipulative superior and closed-mouth witnesses. But the twists and turns are fresh and the acting by one and all is superb. Everyone down to the cook in the cafe with half a dozen lines lives the part, not something I can say about much of what I watch when I have the feeling the player is playing, not living.
Oh, and we particularly enjoyed seeing the ever so cynical private eye Philip Maloney in a new incarnation.
We intend to follow up with the next season (there are four six-episode seasons), but first need some respite from this Swiss climatic melancholy and psychological intensity.
The scenery is a long way from Newtown but it reminded me of the year I spend in Logan Canyon surrounded by the Wasatch Mountains.
I came across it on TV5Monde+ and watched the first episode then I discovered it on SBS On Demand and continued there. While there are no commercials on TV5Monde+, transmission can be erratic so I bore the cretinous commercials on SBS for the convenience of a smooth screening.