“Lake Trilogy” TV Series Review

In the past several years, I’ve reviewed a bunch of TV series – mostly crime dramas – from many European countries. Here’s my first from Slovenia. “The Lake Trilogy” is a collection of three miniseries (“The Lake”, “Leninov Park” and “Valley of Flowers”) following veteran police detective Taras Birsa (Sebastian Cavazza) and his team through an array of homicides and major crimes in their city

The first is six 50-minute episodes; the others are only three. Each set features a new case (or set of cases) with mostly the same cast on the law-and-order side.

The package reminds me of our Harry Bosch series. Both are led by gray-haired, street-savvy cops, usually in a dour mood. Both have grown daughters and romantic complications in their lives. Both have contacts outside the department who help our heroes because of respect earned earlier in their careers. Both also start as cops before winding up as private eyes, due to frustrations with “the system” and unreasonably intrusive bosses hampering their efforts. One major difference is that Birsa relies on his squad more than Bosch, providing a broader protagonist base, and lightening the mood a bit.

As ”The Lake” opens, Tina (Nika Rozman) is imposed on the existing unit of Taras, Brajc (Gregor Cusin) and Osteric (Matej Puc). She’s got computer skills but little field experience, which makes Taras skeptical about her value. As the title suggests, a young woman’s body is found at the lake shore, nude, decapitated and unidentifiable. It takes several episodes just to ID the body, during which other killings occur and several possibilities evolve of connections and motives among them. Passion or profit? One perp or more?

“Leninov Park” picks them up several months later, switching the scenery from snowy winter to sunny summer. A bag lady is shot in the head in a park near the police station, raising questions of whether it’s due to a personal conflict or a hate crime, and embarrassing the department, either way. Neo-Nazis maybe in the mix.

The third, “Valley of Flowers”, involves the triple homicide of an old rich guy, his hot young wife and her lover, just as Taras is starting his new career as a private detective. That unfortunately lands him in the suspect pool.

Locations in and around the capital city of Ljubljana make fine use of the mountains and environs in this northwest section of the former Yugoslavia. All the scripts are well written, keeping the suspense alive until the end. The pace is somewhat slower in the first set than in the latter years. None are long on shootouts or fights, as the stories mostly unfold on mood, logic and character development.

The personal stories of the principals are intertwined well with the crime plots, steering clear of soap opera overload. No annoying cliffhangers, but not all end with tidy wrap-ups of the subplots. You don’t need to binge, but watch the sets in order for ongoing plot threads and recurring characters to make the most sense. Some questions remain that tease a tetra-logy extending the trilogy. The last aired in 2022, so hope remains for another round.

“Lake Trilogy,” in Slovenian with English subtitles, is available streaming on MHzChoice starting Tuesday, Oct 22.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars