an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The first two seasons of "Smeris" were lighthearted fun with some decent action and suspense. The third season however is riddled with clichés and stereotypical characters. A fat and incredibly annoying new colleague for instance, is so one-dimensional it's impossible to take him seriously. The same goes for a woolly therapist, a perky female journalist, and even Willem, one of the two main characters, with his barrage of lame jokes, cock-ups and go-to expletives like "fuksels!" whenever something goes wrong. He's the dorky type, we get it. Enough already with the constant over acting. His partner, Theo, is the cool and serious type, which is probably easier to get right. It's all become way too much 'panto' now to be taken (relatively) serious any longer. Especially since the series is also dealing with serious issues like crime, terrorism and a cop dealing with deeply traumatic experiences. That does not sit well with (over the top) comedy. You can't do both at the same time and expect people to believe you. Perhaps it's due to the apparently ever changing directors, as some Dutch directors tend to direct for the theatre, where everything has to be bigger. For TV and film however, smaller is better. Unfortunately, for some of them 'naturel' appears to be unattainable. Or perhaps it's due to the attempts to be contemporary with a topic like terrorism, but it does not sit well with the lighthearted tone of the show. Also, it's rather unrealistic. Show me a copper who will comfort a criminal who just gunned down two people with an AK47 because he accidentally killed his brother too, instead of 'just' the seventeen year old girl he intended to murder. "Poor guy, you didn't know your brother was also in the car, did you? I really feel for you". Yeah, right... (!) ISIS terrorists (on their way to a mass murder of innocent people) are frequently described as "annoyed kids who are being used" and especially Willem goes out of his way to keep the 'poor kids' out of harms way. Apparently that has priority over the safety of the general public. Too bad it went all down hill to a comedy/panto wannabe detective series. I used to like it as a lighthearted yet entertaining and sometimes thrilling cop show. Now it's all become too ridiculous. If this is the tone from now on I won't mind if this is the last season. If they plan to go on, they'd better shape up.