This is a SPOILER FREE review of season 1.
This was the first Ukrainian Tv show I have ever seen, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I watched the 16 episodes in a couple of days. Though the show had some issues (for me) which I will cover later, the overall emotion I was left with at the close was a positive one.
I have never been one to judge acting (never bothered me either way); but as I assume that people are kind of expecting bad acting from foreign shows, I have to say that in my opinion the acting was good (maybe even very good), and the cast was likable.
We have one very good-looking woman as the lead and a bunch of rather manly men as co-stars. There is some humor in this, and thankfully not too much unnecessary drama you tend to find in the US shows. Romance is part of it but not the entire focus. Emotions feel real enough, perhaps even underwhelming for someone who has grown up watching the fantastically overamped emotions of characters in all shows.
The male protagonist hardly ever even says anything - but it works: he's a silent tough guy with a softer side.
The female lead (thank god) is not a Mary-Sue. She does some stupid stuff at some times, but is punished for those actions. She's a profiler (a good one) but is not an action hero. She even seems to regret her bad decisions and learn from them. She's not afraid to admit it when she makes a mistake (which is so refreshing) and to rely on other people who have the skills that she doesn't. Overall she seems like a pleasant lady.
We also have an alcoholic detective who (after some drama at the start) is played off as the friendly one of the old guard.
We have a very handsome young detective who has some issues with the way the old guys behave and wants to make improvements in the police department.
And we have this guy (whose history remains rather secretive) who attempts to crack jokes, all the while being perhaps the most unstable of the bunch.
And then there is Spider - the hacker: he's pretty much what you'd expect a hacker to be, playing by his own rules.
Having a likeable cast is nr. 1 for me (even more important than plot) and this show scored high in that department.
It was also free of politics (identity or any other kind - another plus) and seemed to be free of agendas - the writer just wanted to tell a detective mystery.
As for the problems I had with this show!
The first one is irrelevant and has nothing to do with this show. I had to watch it with subtitles (I don't speak the language). So it comes down to the accuracy of the translator, and I feel like he/she may have failed to deliver all nuances. Sometimes very long sentences were reduced to just a few words. But that is just how it is.
The second thing (most important) is the lack of twists. But to be honest, it didn't bother me THAT much (thanks to likable cast).
Three. As you can see, I don't really use character names. They were almost impossible for me to remember. (I'm sure this is not the case for Ukrainian viewers, and they were surely the expected audience) but the names sounded very similar and the fact that they used full names and even titles in every conversation made it very complicated for me. In American shows, a group of detectives (when among themselves at least) refer to each other most often by last names. 'Beckett' 'Ryan' and so on in Castle for an example. Using full names and also titles makes in complicated.
Four, not to give anything away, I can just say that the writer did not trust his creativity enough - it's kind of lacking.
Five - the American influence. I hoped not to find that. I feel sorry that Ukrainians feel the need to train their main character in F. B. I. If she had been just and Ukrainian profiler, that would have been just as good for me.
I should mention that I did not create some new scale to rate this Ukrainian show: the 8 out of 10 is fair in my opinion (though it does have something to do with the fact that American crime shows are just getting worse and worse, forcing me to look elsewhere for something enjoyable); the writers need to trust themselves more and take more risks, but they nailed the characters (which as I said is nr.1 for me) and even though there weren't many twists and turns I would still like to see season 2. But (I guess, as it's been a few years now) season 2 might never come?
Alright! This is my edited review to be spoiler free. I also wrote one with more detail.
Take care!
