“Petra” – TV Series Review

The title of “Petra” refers to the name of the lead character in this Italian procedural TV series, Petra Delicado (Paola Cortellesi). She’s a lawyer who became a cop, though more of a desk jockey than a case-working detective. When circumstances in her Genoa department thrust her into the field for a series of ritualized rapes, she rises to the challenge, despite having almost no discernible personality, as further evidenced by her drab gray apartment with stacks of unpacked boxes to match. Even so, tough and smart is a good place to start. She’s paired with an older, street-wise subordinate, Antonio (Andrea Pennachi), who is as reactive to the emotional elements of their work as she is averse.

In the first two of the eight episodes comprising this miniseries made available for review, the pair deal with crimes and a raft of personal issues, including romantic prospects for both – not with each other. The 90-minute stories are well-written, with more stimulation for the intellect than the gut, as moments of cop-on-perp action are sparse and brief. But the direction includes lovely shots of the city and area, including some aerial views in several transition scenes that are more artistic than usual for TV productions. Same for the cool, tone-setting animations before the opening titles.

It’s hard to project how the other six episodes will turn out from this limited sample but so far, the stories are solid and the characters are becoming more interesting, individually and as a team, as they progress. Petra’s name is oddly – and likely not by coincidence – oxymoronic, since it loosely means something like “fragile rock.” That encompasses her flat affect which suggests the high-functioning end of the Autism spectrum, with an underlying vulnerability that is likely to continue thawing as we learn more of the backstories for her and Antonio. Both leads do well in establishing flawed, human-scale protagonists we can root for.

“Petra,” mostly in Italian with English subtitles, streams all eight episodes on MHzChoice starting Nov. 8.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars