Two Graves

Every year we get new criminal drama TV series or mini series released on streaming. You have so many really well made crime TV series from Scotland, Ireland, England, France, Germany, and Denmark as well. It doesn´t really matter if it´s about murder cases, sexual molestation cases or any other very serious crime i always find it fascinating seeing how police detective´s investigate each case. I am a fan of criminal TV series in general and i do have a personal favourite on Netflix and that is the 2017 psychological crime thriller TV series known as Mindhunter. One of the reasons why this series is so damn good is because of director´s such as David Fincher ( director of classic thrillers such as Seven and The Game ) and Tobias Lindholm ( who directed the powerful Danish 2015 war drama film A War, definetely worth renting on VOD or pick up a physical copy ). Each director add something unique to each episode that they directed and they clearly understood the importance of capturing the time period to look realistic. The biggest reason why Mindhunter is such a well crafted TV series is the main plot. We follow FBI Agents Holden Ford ( Jonathan Groff ) and Bill Tench ( Holt McCallany ), along with psychologist Wendy Carr ( Anna Torv ). Together they launch a research project to interview imprisoned serial killers to understand their psychology with the hope of applying this knowledge to solve ongoing cases. Knowing that this criminal TV series is based on retired FBI agent John E. Douglas interviews with well known serial killers makes this TV series even more interesting. It must have been incredibly rough hearing these serial killers describe details about their disgusting crimes, and even if we don´t hear too much details in each interview we get a wider picture of each crime. The three main actors Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany and Anna Torv all deliver strong performances. Definetely worth watching both seasons of Mindhunter on Netflix. Let´s stay within the Netflix community for a while. I sat down and watched a Spanish criminal TV mini series called Two Graves that looked like something i might appreciate. I am a huge fan of Spanish films in general but have not seen that many Spanish TV series yet. Is this a must watch before Christmas arrives or should you watch something completely different on Netflix?

During a night out on town 16-year-old Veronica ( Nadia Vilaplana ) and her friend Mandy disappear. While police begin an investigation trying to track down where the girls were last seen, Veronica´s grandmother Isabelle ( Kiti Mánver ) is completely devastated. Not knowing if her granddaughter is alive or not, she decides to dig deeper into the truth doing her own investigation since police doesn´t seem to find many answers. The more details she finds about the real truth, this also put her in a very serious situation were certain criminal people don´t like nosy people.

One of the things i feel is very important when you are telling a story of a criminal case is that you make the case interesting. Im not talking about you have to show any dead body, but you have to be able to build suspension regarding the investigation. This helps the mystery of the case become more interesting for the viewer. In the case of this Netflix mini series Two Graves i will say that i think they did a pretty good job telling the story regarding a mystery of two teenage girls. At first you may think you know what exactly happened, but as we get to dig deeper into the investigation we see the real truth finally coming out to the surface. Even though the story is well told there is especially one detail that really makes this TV mini series work and that is the acting performance from Spanish actress Kiti Mánver ( who i especially remember from the 2003 Spanish domestic abuse drama film Take My Eyes  ) as the grandmother Isabel. Ever since her grandchild is gone missing she constantly looks for her, at any hours of the day and i personally feel that actress Kiti Mányer manage to capture the tortured soul of a grandmother who want nothing more than her granddaughter to be home back safe. I can´t even imagine the pain you would feel going through something like this, so this performance feels both realistic and powerful. Another really good performance comes from Spanish actor Álvaro Morte playing the criminal character Rafael. This is the kind of character a TV mini series like this needs, especially showing a character that have no sympathy and just want to get the job done. The young female actors also does a good performance so in general i can´t really say anything negative about the acting. It´s a well made TV series that capture the colors of Spain as well as the atmosphere of the rich Spanish family culture. The only detail i do feel could have been more interesting is if we got to see some more intensive police interrogation, there are a few scenes but for some reason i was hoping for a little bit more with some more edge put into the police interrigations. Overall i would say this is a solid TV mini series if you enjoy criminal cases and especially if you enjoy Spanish quality acting. Director Kike Maillo clearly know how to tell a story of a criminal case and proves this by delivering a quality TV mini series on Netflix. Worth a watch if you are looking for something in this category of TV series.

Rating: DDD