The Mechanism

This series talks about a very polarizing and hot topic in Brazil. The Car Wash investigation is still ongoing, and nearly half the country believes some of its allegations are "fake news". As a result, despite the show's bipartisan view, many party loyalists are furious about the show and have flooded it with 1 star ratings and bad reviews. On the other hand, people who agree with the show's message are giving it an overly good rating without judging the actual quality of the show. Overall, the show follows the same formula as Padilha's more famous Narcos, so if you're a fan, chances are you will enjoy this one as well. The only difference is the lack of action-packed gun fight scenes and focus on politics and money laundering, but the narration and the police investigation aspects are still there. The show really takes off after the end of episode 2, where it loses the introductory aspect, so I recommend making it past those first episodes before making any conclusions.

The show does not portray any of the real life persons and parties as super heroes. In fact, it has an openly anti-ideology overall message, and every character in this show has significant flaws, so personally it's really hard for me to believe this show would be somehow biased towards any party or ideology. My guess is if you believe the facts involving the car wash operation are legitimate, and don't happen to be loyal to any of the people who inspired the show, you'll find this a great political thriller with interesting characters (some entirely fictional, some based on real people) and beautiful cinematography of multiple Brazilian cities.

Padilha understands deeply the reality of the country and knows how to adapt it to the fiction. Unfortunately, sometimes, the reality here is worse...

This is such a quality production. Its cinema quality in every aspect. I've seen six episodes so far but if this show keep this up I give it an even higher grade. Netflix is now really starting to compete with HBO and this is much better than Netflix anchor House of Cards for example. This is a very classy production. Everything from the detective who is the narrative voice to the quality of the camera work. The actors are spot on and the scenes are amazing. Good job!

Intrigating t.v show that criticize not only brazilan political system but also all latin america corruption model. As you can notice on reviews below, many are giving a low score for the show based on what they call "fake news" about a popular leader in Brazil. The truth however is that despite the show is not 100% loyal to the real events (as expected for a tv show, not a documentary), it gives enough information to understand how the entire system is corrupted. The show is thrilling and educative.

Just reading through the different reviews here and you can get an idea how the audience is divided (or lost) accusing the series of being biased to the left or right political parties propaganda. But this is because the country's population is divided and blinded now and cannot see anything beyond their political parties agenda and ideologies

What the series show in reality, specially in the second season, is that corruption in Brazil dates as far as democracy and that, unfortunately, it is not an exclusivity of the left or right parties, but all over the country's political system.

But by doing this, saying everybody is corrupt, it fails to please both sides interests, because if corruption is all over it, there are no victims or villains, everybody is to blame.

But contemporary Brazilians are unable to see this, just because the polarization is convenient for both sides, and politics became passion, just like soccer in Brazil, with supporters hating and accusing each other all the time, unable to see or recognize their own team mistakes.

As for the series quality, it is a quite enjoyable well crafted and well acted series, although it lingers the events a little too long sometimes for dramatic purposes, or the lack of new events in the Car Wash operation.

Watch it with an open mind and get over your own political convictions.