So BBC4’s Saturday foreign crime slot is currently being occupied by Salamander. This is a Belgian drama. I know! I don’t think I have even watched a Belgian film before, although I am a big fan of Belgian culture, especially chips, mayonnaise and Poirot. Wait…
Anyway, Salamander. It’s political! Oh yes, it turns out politicians the world over are sneaky little piglets scratching each others backs and being corrupt. Shame. Fortunately, there are some vigilante robber guys (in a super audacious opening scene) who are keen to expose them. Or make their lives hell. I’m a week behind so it’s not fully clear to me yet. Meanwhile, policeman Paul Gerardi has inadvertently stumbled upon the murders that are occurring the wake of these robberies and he is not happy with the idea of just leaving it be, as all the big cheeses think he should be. Cue some very real problems for him, none of which are holding him back in his quest for justice. In fact, they only seem to be spurring him on. When will these bad guys learn than mavericks do not respond to threats?
So yeah, it’s kind of generic, particularly in the gender department. Perhaps I have been spoiled by the Scandi-fantastics where men and women occupy equal numbers of roles, but Salamander has six women in it so far by my count. Before you get excited, three are wives, one is a daughter, one is a woman who decides to shag someone who pulls up next to her looking sexy (spoiler, it’s a pretty solid error) and the sixth appears to be a sneaky mean PA whose sole joy in life is tripping up one of the wives. Yep. Super feminist. There might be some lady politicians, but if there are they’ve spoken so few words that I’ve missed it. Maybe they’re merely mirroring life in modern Belgium, but I’m not convinced. Plus, Paul Gerardi seems to be ultra sexy to all the ladies. Maybe…
Regardless of my criticism, I’m really enjoying it. There’s a lot of action, and it’s not too complex. Plus, I think there might be a WWII link which we all know is right up my street. I think the last two episodes are this Saturday so it should be on the iPlayer for another week and a half. There are worse things you could do with your time.
The World According To Laura 
This looks good!! Wonder if it will be available on Netflix too..
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Sadly I don’t think it is yet, at least not on the UK version. Maybe in the future though!
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