Detective Forst isn’t a mindbending, totally original crime thriller that would revolutionize the detective genre, but sometimes we just want something familiar. The thriller adaptation of Remigiusz Mróz’s book series mostly sticks to the classic tropes, with eerily strung up bodies being investigated by the gruff, hardened detective, portrayed well by Borys Szyc. It’s not immediately clear what brought Forst to the mountains– whatever it was, it’s enough to gain the mistrust of his new station, and it’s possibly the reason behind his splitting migraines– but that’s part of the fun, as an additional mystery alongside who is behind the murders. That being said, the show plans to depict a whole series, so the ending of its first season might exasperate viewers who just want a complete story. Still, with the striking scenery of the Tatra Mountains, Detective Forst is at least stunning enough to watch, even with all the moody murder mystery tropes onboard.
Atop a Polish mountain, a gruff detective with unusual methods investigates the bizarre murder of an unpopular professor.
After being banished to the remote Zakopane station, the gruff detective Wiktor Forst teams up with journalist Olga Szrebska to solve the sudden string of murders that strikes the Tatra Mountains.
Detective Forst has a familiar story of a detective hunting down a serial killer, and it doesn’t really present something new as it is an adaptation of 2010s Forst novel series. But the show understands what works with the genre, pulling in all the cold and wintry style choices familiar in European noir thrillers. The score slips in and slips out with ominous bass notes, while the outside scenes are lit in cold blue to match with the snow. And of course, the camera has to get as much of the gorgeous mountain scenery as they can, to highlight both the danger and the beauty of the Tatra Mountains. The show might not be totally novel, but if you enjoy detective thrillers, you might enjoy Detective Forst.
It’s not anything new, but it’s fairly well done.
