EPISODE
Comrade Detective - Season 1
A series of issues dealt with by the Romanian police in the 1980s are shown in a dramatic drama series. These powerful events begin with a large murder case being investigated by Bucharest investigator Gregor Engel, who is collaborating with new investigator Joseph Paseo to search for the mysterious murderer. On the other hand, the case reaches a dead end, so Gregor must reconsider the unfavorable part of his past and is entirely related to the case, which will reveal a very large capitalist conspiracy.
12 August 1974, Kishinyov, USSR [now Chisinau, Moldova]
3 May 1970, Union City, New Jersey, USA
7 December 1976, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
18 December 1972, Nahant, Massachusetts, USA
4 September 1968, North Plainfield, New Jersey, USA
21 August 1990, Hamilton, Massachusetts, USA
16 May 1955, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA
22 February 1945, Braila, Romania
16 February 1974, Oakland, California, USA
9 April 1990, Suceava, Romania
1950
4 December 1966, Valley Stream, Long Island, New York, USA
11 September 1965, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA
17 September 1972, San Diego, California, USA
August 07, 2017
You could call Comrade Detective a one-joke affair, but that could also be said of Airplane. Inside that one joke, series creators Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka have built a deep reservoir of comedy.
August 16, 2017
It's a sketch the size of a miniseries, a molehill made into a mountain.
August 09, 2017
It feels silly and outdated, yet the Communist propaganda parody is full of Marx references and witty nationalist gibes.
August 07, 2017
The case itself is full of twists and suspense and plenty of 80s cop drama cliches, but the real genius comes with the political edge.
August 08, 2017
Faux-'80s Romanian cop series is a thought-provoking hoot.
August 07, 2017
This six-episode series is meant to make us question the ways propaganda and slogans can infiltrate and influence society; a timely message wrapped tightly within an effective comedic conceit.
August 07, 2017
The jokes are more prickling than hilarious, though I do cherish the recurring gag of the extras -- street vendors and security guards -- being given the dopiest lines, voiced by the weakest actors.
August 04, 2017
It slips in commentary under the guise of laughter, but the point of the joke, whether you chuckle or not, sticks with you.
August 07, 2017
The result is a kind of Mad magazine parody of tough-guy 1980s cop shows crossed with a Marxist-Leninist version of Woody Allen's hilariously counterfeit Japanese spy thriller What's Up, Tiger Lily?
August 17, 2017
And yet for all its off-the-wall wackiness and occasionally rococo caricatures, Comrade Detective is, in its own unique way, quite a serious little bit of telly.
