We're 70 episodes into the series. And then what can the creators bring us in the new season? New stories and new characters that will be revealed to the bone in the following episodes.
The very first episode focuses on the Slovak singer Lucia, who at the age of sixty-plus had a crisis that she had to solve by cancelling a concert.
You know Karl Roden, you already know what to expect from him. He sits quietly in his chair during therapy and outside his "therapy" room he has his son and his loving wife. His first case in six years took him by surprise. Lucia doesn't want therapy, but wants everything resolved in just one session.
We don't learn much about Lucia's whole problem (why she lost her voice) in the very first episode, rather we delve into the fact that her life is perfectly simple, her problems are taken care of by her husband, and that there may be a buried dog in the fact that she had a "bully" father
Director Petr Zelenka can make interesting stuff, it's been a long time since Year of the Devil. Him taking the plunge into directing for HBO is a good thing. European producers know how to pick and choose directors who can bring out the best in their directorial skills. Zelenka is one of the good ones, who can engage even during a short episode.
Screenwriter Robert Geisler, on the other hand, can craft good dialogue that the actors can be trusted enough to deliver.
The first episode is a Czech contribution to HBO, and so we can watch in good measure how a good director can lead good actors who we may not know so much (Studénková, Dyk... are the exception), but they know their characters well and play their story as realistically as it could possibly happen.
First episode: 90%
Original release of this article January 7, 2019 – Kritiky.cz
