Detective Forst - Review. Netflix's Show is a Decent Crime Series and... Festival of Wasted Potential

It's not that Poland lacks decent crime-related productions. We have quality series avaliable to watch such as Raven, Angel of Death, or The Mire. Unfortunately, the classics such as the original Pitbull from Patryk Vega or Glina from Wladyslaw Pasikowski are still unsurpassed. When it comes to our crime fiction, usually there is something missing blocking us from achieving complete satisfaction. Detective Forst, directed by Daniel Jaroszek, is another example of a good series, but with a "but". Well, in this case even a bit more "but". It's a bit like with Remigiusz Mroz's books - Netflix's production is a work with potential, but a bit undercooked. It is somewhat of a paradox that Detective Forst, using amazing Tatra spaces, is overcome by... the actual lack of this space. And the plot is barebones.

Detective on trail

Brutal murders are taking place in the Tatras. The killer leaves victims in crowded places where they are sure to be found, and in addition, the crimes may have a religious undertone. Commissioner Wiktor Forst (very good Borys Szyc) takes on the case, and editor Olga Szrebska (equally good Zuzanna Saporznikow) also is interested in finding the perpetrator. Together they will scrape into old and new wounds to get to the truth - earning a few new scars along the way, of course.

Production photos, trailers, point of departure, and an excellent (and experienced) cast promised a really good crime series. Maybe even disturbing - inspired by Fincher or True Detective, or at least the final episodes of Glina (those really could leave you with a sense of discomfort). Unfortunately, the potential hadn't lived up to the expectations.

Don't get me wrong - Detective Forst offers a decent puzzle, quite interesting and meandering through sometimes surprising areas, well embedded in the history of Poland. The events can be explained logically, the action maintains a decent pace, and the characters are likable. The work also includes excellent photos showing the monumentality - but also the darkness - of the mountainous landscape, and it goes well with the music. You can rely on Detective Forst to provide a few hours of tolerable entertainment. The problem is that for every advantage of the series, there is a "but" - and moreover, the previously mentioned Polish and foreign productions show that at this stage we can expect a bit more from the genre.

Detective Forst, director. Daniel Jaroszek, Netflix 2024

The dialogues seem to be written well, but they lack life - and it's not the actors' fault, they work hard to get the most out of the source material, a few lines were really good or could make you laugh, but that's it. Conversations are, however, just a symptom of a bigger problem. Detective Forst's plot lacks life. Space, a moment to breathe. Heroes rarely have time to build a chemistry strong enough for viewers to care about the relationships between them. Most of dramatis personae play against each other on a note of antipathy. In the long run, it's tiring and too rarely interspersed with signs of even rough sympathy. I have the impression that not only for this, each episode would need a few extra minutes of material.

These Tatras seem a little cramped

The series builds atmosphere with moody shots (but there is one "but" about it, which I will mention in a moment) - only it rushes everything, and too much so. It does not leave room not only for relationships, but also for proper tying of some side plots. The director gives the impression of being afraid to allow the characters any digressions, to stray in thought, except for a few scenes with personal threads - which are ultimately used very instrumentally and along the line of least resistance in relation to the main plot.

It looks as if Jaroszek imposed too strict rules on how to conduct the action - as a result, no one can spread their wings. Because the intrigue sometimes really draws you in, but the strongest points and surprises also resonate without conviction - sometimes they lack appropriately marked underpinning. It's such a structure that works on the surface, it will lead us reasonably logically (some explanations and foundations for them are given here "last minute") from point A to point B, and while watching we may even have some joy, but behind all this lurks emptiness. Nothing about this series is really remarkable.

Detective Forst, director. Daniel Jaroszek, Netflix 2024

Paradoxically, sometimes even the camera work gets in the way. The operator seems to be playing for time. Typically, Polish films and series approach the scene in which the action takes place too casually - in Detective Forst, on the other hand, these shots drag on so long that any atmosphere of anxiety or alienation disappears from them. Sometimes they even look like they were thrown in randomly, and are poorly timed. A few times I caught myself directing my gaze towards the nearby stream, rather than the uniformed officers working on the fresh corpse.

Maybe I was too quick to judge?

These shots are nice, spectacular, but they often steal precious seconds of the footage that could be spent on character development. It's not always like this, usually, the action keeps a good pace, and the camera discipline - and the scenes of violence, macabre or expectations do the job. When the script works well with the image, it can be really good. Darn, in the plot, besides a bearable puzzle, there are also a few really interesting concepts. The director simply neglected them.

And so it is with the entire Detective Forst. You can still watch this and have real fun.It is clear that a lot of money and effort was put into certain aspects, but not evenly. Explanations make sense for the plot, but little from a semantic point of view. The actors are pulling this cart beyond their strength, they should get a bonus. We want to know who is the perp, and in the meantime, we can admire the views from the safety of our home, instead of paying excessively for winter holidays in the real Zakopane. The thing is that after the end credits, we are left with almost nothing, barely fleeting satisfaction after watching an atmospheric crime story and solving the mystery. That's why, despite the surprising ending, I don't feel the need to know what will happen in the second season, although there is potential for improvement here. The first one was good, but it has such low nutritional value that it's enough for me. Mroz fans should nevertheless be delighted, me myself will wait for the third season of The Mire.

OUR SCORE: 6/10

Hubert Sosnowski

Hubert Sosnowski

He joined GRYOnline.pl in 2017, as an author of texts about games and movies. He's currently the head of the film department and the Filmomaniak.pl website. Learned how to write articles while working for the Dzika Banda portal. His texts were published on kawerna.pl, film.onet.pl, zwierciadlo.pl, and in the Polish Playboy. Has published stories in the monthly Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror magazine, as well as in the first volume of the Antologii Wolsung. Lives for "middle cinema" and meaty entertainment, but he won't despise any experiment or Fast and Furious. In games, looks for a good story. Loves Baldur's Gate 2, but when he sees Unreal Tournament, Doom, or a good race game, the inner child wakes up. In love with sheds and thrash metal. Since 2012, has been playing and creating live action role-playing, both within the framework of the Bialystok Larp Club Zywia, and commercial ventures in the style of Witcher School.