"The Pact" (2015 release; 8 episodes of about 47 min. each) is a TV mini-series from Poland. As Episode 1 "The Sacrifice" opens, we are in the offices of the well-respected newspaper Kurier. The fate of a hard-hitting article accusing the financial director of Hydro, a high-profile company, of financial embezzlement rests in the hands of the newspaper's lawyers. The lawyers oppose publication without more independent confirmation of the allegations. Hydro denies all allegations, but financial director quits anyway. The Kurier reporter gets the additional confirmation that was needed, and the article is published... At this point we are 15 min. into Episode 1, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it ll pays out.
Couple of comments: "The Pact" is a highly stylish TV series, check out the opening scenes and also later throughout the various episodes where Warsaw is presented like a city from the near future, with its endless glass skyscrapers and neon-lit multitude of highways. "The Pact" is also clearly inspired by the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy, which you may recall was originally a TV mini-series from Sweden. But the parallels stop there. Episode 1 of "The Pact" starts actually quite promisingly, that is until about 10 minutes before the end of Episode 1, where a particular story line concludes, and we then go to "Ten Months Later', where things pick up and then quickly become byzantine-like complicated. By the end of Episode 3, I couldn't quite follow the exact plot. But worse, I simply wasn't invested emotionally in any of the main characters. (Remember how invested we were in the Lisbeth and Mikael characters in the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy?). I gave it one more try but admit to calling it quits after Episode 4. Still I don't regret having stuck it out for 4 episodes.
Given the COVID-19 Stay At Home Order currently in effect, I am catching up on various TV series that I missed when they aired originally. Hence I watch these 4 episodes in one sitting recently on HBO On Demand. If you are in the mood for a stylish journalistic crime drama from Europe, you may want to check this out on VOD, and draw your own conclusion.
Couple of comments: "The Pact" is a highly stylish TV series, check out the opening scenes and also later throughout the various episodes where Warsaw is presented like a city from the near future, with its endless glass skyscrapers and neon-lit multitude of highways. "The Pact" is also clearly inspired by the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy, which you may recall was originally a TV mini-series from Sweden. But the parallels stop there. Episode 1 of "The Pact" starts actually quite promisingly, that is until about 10 minutes before the end of Episode 1, where a particular story line concludes, and we then go to "Ten Months Later', where things pick up and then quickly become byzantine-like complicated. By the end of Episode 3, I couldn't quite follow the exact plot. But worse, I simply wasn't invested emotionally in any of the main characters. (Remember how invested we were in the Lisbeth and Mikael characters in the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy?). I gave it one more try but admit to calling it quits after Episode 4. Still I don't regret having stuck it out for 4 episodes.
Given the COVID-19 Stay At Home Order currently in effect, I am catching up on various TV series that I missed when they aired originally. Hence I watch these 4 episodes in one sitting recently on HBO On Demand. If you are in the mood for a stylish journalistic crime drama from Europe, you may want to check this out on VOD, and draw your own conclusion.