Author: Mark Glass

“The Bridge” Season 4 – TV series review

Sofia Helin as Saga, in “The Bridge” Season 4. Director: Rumle Hammerich. Photo: Jens Juncker. Produced by Filmlance International AB. Courtesy of MHzChoice

“The Bridge: Season 4” is likely the final chapter in this crime drama from Sweden and Denmark. As before, it’s based on a complex crime scenario at their border affecting both countries, providing another round with a new menace for Saga (Sofia Helin) and Henrik (Thure Lindhardt) to confront. That’s hard to get off the ground, since Saga has been in jail for the eight months since Season 3’s events for allegedly killing her allegedly psycho mother. Since her release occurs in the first episode, it’s no spoiler to inform you that she’s cleared and returned to duty, albeit with some difficulties. Even knowing that, the method of getting there is intriguing enough for a good watch.

For the usual eight episodes, the cop combo and their bi-national team deal with what appears to be a serial killer. That’s in doubt because the manner of dispatching each victim differs (most of them have more of a signature style, at least in the realm of fiction), and there’s no discernible pattern of how they’re targeted. As the season progresses, multiple suspects ebb and flow, along with numerous theories about the killer’s or killers’ motivation. The murders are dramatically staged, but mostly occur off-screen, with the gory details shown rather discreetly to keep the faint of heart from turning away.

Along with the main crime plot, the season delves deeper into the natures, backstories and personal lives of several principals than was the case in the first three seasons. That makes the overall tone even more somber than before. Perhaps that’s due to the influence of the few new writers added to the prior staff. I recommend holding off on this season until you’ve seen the others, due to the considerable carryover in all the character-arc subplots. Bingeing is also preferable because of the large number of players and issues swirling around before anyone figures out which of them are relevant to this killing spree. There are also several surprising developments affecting many of the principals. Here’s the link to my review covering seasons 1-3 to refresh your memory, or provide some insight on what to expect:

“The Bridge: Seasons 2 & 3” TV Series Review

Since Season 4 aired in 2018, it seems likely to be the finale. Without details, I can advise there are no cliffhangers or loose ends detracting from a sense of closure. It was presumably written to end on that laudable note, expecting it to be the last hurrah for this celebrated, oft-imitated series. The characters and their audience deserve no less.

“The Bridge” Season 4, mostly in Danish and Swedish with English subtitles, is available streaming on MHzChoice starting Tuesday, Jan. 30.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

Sofia Helin as Saga, in “The Bridge” Season 4. Director: Rumle Hammerich. Photo: Jens Juncker. Produced by Filmlance International AB. Courtesy of MHzChoice

BAD HOMBRES (2024) – Review

A scene from BAD HOMBRES. Credit: Screen Media.

BAD HOMBRES is a gritty little action drama based in the drug trade and illegal immigration along the US/Mexican border in the dusty southwest. We start with Felix (Diego Tinoco) and his cousin competing for day labor in a Home Depot-type of parking lot. The cousin, who’s been here a while, is showing him how to get by despite his almost complete lack of English. The two get separated, leaving Felix haplessly like a fish out of water. A friendly, chatty Aussie (Liam Hemsworth) approaches and hires him, along with a surly old guy who has a truck, Alfonso (Hemky Madera). The job is doing some digging in the desert, supposedly at his uncle’s ranch.

When they get to the remote location, they’re told to dig a big hole and start shoveling. They soon learn there ain’t no uncle and there ain’t no ranch. The hole is for dumping the bodies of rival drug thugs Hemsworth and his partner dispatched. The old guy realizes that they’re about to become loose ends who know too much, and will probably wind up joining the stiffs in this unmarked ad hoc cemetery. Never good for one’s career plans or life expectancy. Alfonso realizes the urgency of escape, and swings into action to get the two away from their “employers.” The rest of the movie is the pair dashing around, trying to avoid getting killed by those guys or a rival gang’s hitter (Tyrese Gibson) who is on his own quest for dudes to eliminate. Oh. There’s also a missing few million in cash to ramp up everyone’s motivation and zeal.

This one’s gory all the way, with a high body count in terms of the percentage of the small cast that doesn’t survive to the roll of the credits. They may have spent more on fake blood and blanks for the guns than on lighting and craft services combined. There’s suspense about who will be more or less important to the story, and who will wind up on the good side or bad when the dust settles. I must advise that the biggest names in the cast – Gibson, Hemsworth and Thomas Jane – don’t necessarily get the most screen time. If you’re drawn to this one because they’re in it (as was I), you may be disappointed. Fortunately, you won’t be surprised by that as well, if you’ve read this far before watching; all part of our friendly service here at the ol’ reliable website.

Apart from that, director/co-writer John Stahlberg Jr. maintains a good pace as the scene rotates among numerous arenas of contemporaneous action, sustaining several aspects of suspense throughout, with a couple of twists along the way. That’s about as much as one can reasonably ask for from low-budget, guilty-pleasure crime flicks like this.

BAD HOMBRES, in English and Spanish with English subtitles, opens in theater and on-demand on Friday, Jan. 26.

RATING: 2 out of 4 stars

WOLF PACK – Review

A scene from the Chinese action flick WOLF PACK. Courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment

WOLF PACK is a fast-paced, subtitled action flick from China that’s well worth having to read the dialog – partly because there isn’t too much of it in proportion to the shooting and fighting time. An elite mercenary unit of ex-soldiers (hence, the title) opens with rescuing a young humanitarian doctor (Aarif Rahman) kidnapped by terrorists. The main plot involves the bad guys’ effort to destroy an oil pipeline that’s vital to China’s needs, both foreign and domestic.

The leader (Jin Zhang) is a hard-nosed veteran of many battles. Luxia Jiang co-stars as the attractive female member of the team that’s become almost mandatory in recent action flicks from all countries who crank them out. Diego Dati plays the typically brilliant, ruthless head honcho of the terrorists. All three mentioned in this paragraph fill their roles in excellent style.

Writer/director Michael Chiang delivers a taut package of action and suspense that seems shorter than its 105 minutes. That’s always a plus in my book. The last act includes a literal and figurative ticking bomb scenario with time running short for our heroes to save the day. Action sequences are mostly gun battles, except for a few well-staged hand-to-hand fights. No expense was spared on special effects and sets, adding a layer of complexity to the crisis. No romantic subplots or nudity. The violence is large-scale and frequent but not particularly graphic.

If there’s a nit to pick, it’s the humanitarian doctor’s character arc. He’s a scrawny pacifist who initially hates the mercs that saved him and all they represent – rentable soldiers for any price, regardless of principle. But finding himself enmeshed with them in extreme peril rapidly turns him into a super trooper, joining their ranks and somehow possessing weaponry and fighting skills, with absolutely no explanation of how he could have gone full Rambo so quickly. Fortunately, the plot moves quickly enough to keep you from dwelling on that question. It also includes a couple of surprising elements that help separate it from others in the genre. Not special, but certainly worth a look to fill your adrenaline needs without overtaxing the cerebral.

WOLF PACK, in Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles, is available on Blu-Ray DVD starting Tuesday, Jan. 23.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

“The Shift” Season 1 TV Series Review

Sofie Gråbøl in the Danish TV hospital drama “The Shift.” Courtesy of MHz Choice

The Danish TV hospital drama “The Shift (originally Dag & Nat)”offers some interesting contrasts with our domestic fare. Ella (Sofie Grabol) stars as the chief midwife for the highest-rated maternity ward in the city. She’s single, in her 40s and besieged by problems on all fronts. The worst of them is the hospital’s money guy who consistently ignores her pleas and arguments to add staff for the sake of her overburdened crew and their patients. Several of the midwives and aides present an assortment of personal and professional issues to manage. She’s boinking a married doctor (Pal Sverre Hagen) on the down-low, and constantly worried about her public facility that serves the underclass losing colleagues to upscale private hospitals and clinics catering to the wealthy. Those places can pay more while working them less.

Over eight 45-minute episodes we get to know quite a few regulars’ evolving story arcs along with the steady flow of new patients every day through about 10 months of scripted time. There’s little humor and considerable dramatic tension with the variety of delivery complications that arise, as well as the relationships among the staff. As to the series’ tone, it’s less turgid than our medical soap operas; less sexy and glamorous than “Gray’s Anatomy”. “Nurse Jackie” might be the closest analog. Grabol, who was excellent in three seasons of “The Killing (Forbrydelsen)” as the lead police detective, reminds me of Edie Falco’s character – minus the drug addiction. She’s excellent at her job but emotionally stunted with everyone except the patients, while regularly having to scramble for solutions to whatever crisis occurs. This role is more complicated her top cop’s gig, so her solid performance is somewhat more of an achievement.

My concern was that limiting a series to one specialized ward, rather than the full spectrum of medical challenges that most domestic dramas thrive on, would wear thin. Thankfully, the deliveries had more diversity of surrounding problems than expected, keeping the episodes from seeming repetitive. That worked well for one season but may be hard to maintain over a long run. Creator/head writer Lone Scherfig and her five credited fellow scribes deserve a nod for whipping up an engaging variety of scenarios. A second season is in the works, so all who enjoy this set will hope they can sustain that level of creativity.

Here’s where opinions may differ. A number of the deliveries are shown in gory detail that some will find riveting, while others may be grossed out. None of it seemed gratuitous. No nudity in the deliveries or the linen closet quickies. The moderate attractiveness of the overall cast provides more realism and less hype around their romances than many of ours thrive on. That tenor was reinforced by reflecting real-world healthcare hassles – especially the underfunded and understaffed conditions many providers face everywhere. Although the number of episodes was suitable for the material covered, some of the personal interactions were frustrating to watch. Conflicts dragged on needlessly from the failure to say something obvious in the moment. That grew a bit annoying. Perhaps it’s part of the Danish ethos to play feelings closer to the vest. Or maybe I’m aging out of empathy for such emotional struggles. Your mileage may vary.

“The Shift (Dag & Nat),” mostly in Danish with English subtitles, streams on MHz Choice starting Jan. 16, 2024.

RATING: 2 out of 4 stars

THE BEEKEEPER – Review

Jason Statham stars as Clay in director David Ayer’s THE BEEKEEPER. An Amazon MGM Studios film. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios © 2024 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

By now, Jason Statham’s fans expect his movies to have a generous dose of over-the-top action sequences, with little regard for the creativity (or even coherence) of the plot. Ka-ching! THE BEEKEEPER stirs up plenty of adrenaline in a standard story line that sets up a whole lot of Statham at his Statham-est.

There’s a bit of JOHN WICK in the premise of THE BEEKEEPER. Statham is a retired super-secret, super-skilled government agent, trying to live quietly, just tending to his titular hives. He rents space from a kind, elderly lady (Phylicia Rashad), who promptly gets conned out of all her savings and $2 mil from a charity she helps manage by a multi-million dollar internet scamming operation. They target victims via spyware that freezes computers and directs their unsuspecting owners to call a number for the remedy. That leads them to a massive call center, teeming with operatives who clean out whatever they can by getting account info and passwords from the innocents.

Thus begins Jason’s obligatory revenge course, progressively wrecking facilities and killing henchmen and honchos as he works his way up the ladder to the top dogs. Jeremy Irons adds a touch of class as a former head of the CIA, overseeing security and covering up the crimes and excesses of the pyramid’s despicable young leader (Josh Hutcherson). His character’s biggest challenge is hiding his contempt for that boss.

For a kicker, Rashad’s character just happens to be the mother of an FBI agent (Emmy Raver-Lampman) who doggedly pursues the same network of baddies, but strictly by-the-book, while honor-bound to stop Statham’s vengeance campaign. His heroism is amplified by (too many) speeches about protecting the helpless from their predators and disabling, rather than killing, most of the cops and clueless henchmen who don’t know the scum-iosity (scum-ishness? scum-ery?) of their employers.

The over-the-top action is properly exciting, except for director David Ayer framing many parts of the fights too close to the lens to fully appreciate the stunt work before us. The plot goes truly off the sanity charts as Statham zeroes in on the top bananas. I ain’t sayin’ no more about that. Better for you to learn the rest in the moment.

As one of the producers, Statham seemingly spent far more on F/X and stunts than on Kurt Wimmer’s script and cast salaries. Wimmer has penned quite a few action flicks, including THE EXPENDABLES 4, in which Statham co-starred.

Basically, it’s an amalgam of every revenge flick you’ve ever seen, especially by establishing Statham as an analog to Wick, by not being the boogeyman but the one you send to kill the boogeyman. I half-expected someone to describe him as the Baba Yaga.

Most cast members with speaking roles portray their personae adequately to adroitly. Those characters without dialog will be destined for orthopedic wards (if they’re lucky) or a coffin before the credits roll.

Whenever Statham is kicking butts on the screen, mine will most likely be in a seat watching it. Suspend a bit more than usual of your disbelief and enjoy the fun stuff.

THE BEEKEEPER opens in theaters (or, for England’s Mr. Statham, cinemas) on Friday, Jan. 12.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

THE NIGHT THEY CAME HOME – Review

Danny Trejo in director Paul G. Volk’s Western THE NIGHT THEY CAME HOME. Courtesy of Lionsgate

THE NIGHT THEY CAME HOME is a western offering that is a pretty good recycling of several classic themes from the oaters of yesteryear. The great Danny Trejo plays the local gravedigger, but most of his screen time is spent telling a young couple from the East the story of the last outlaw gang to be eliminated, ushering in their current relatively civilized era in a wraparound narrative.

It’s the 1890s. The local Creek tribe members are bitter about being driven off their lands and receiving a lot of broken promises. They also resent their children being forced to attend white schools to learn the settlers’ language, culture and religion at the expense of their own. One of them, Rufus Buck (Charlie Townsend) is brilliant, psychotic and charismatic enough to lead a mixed-race gang on a campaign of murders, maimings, burnings, abductions and rapes against all in their path.

Grizzled old Marshal Heck Thomas (Tim Abell) is tasked with running them down and ending their reign of terror. He reluctantly accepts the assistance of Indian peace officer Paden Tolbert (Tommy Wolfe) as they start tracking the ruthless killers.

Many atrocities occur, though they’re discussed more than shown. Considering what happens throughout, the blood and gore level is relatively mild. There’s no nudity in the assaults on women, or otherwise. The R rating is more for hearing what happens and seeing some of the aftermath than witnessing the worst of the carnage. There are a number of upsetting scenes but the presentation is less gory than what a Sam Peckinpah or Sergio Leone would have filmed.

The foes are not only on different sides of the law but Thomas is the classically laconic lawman, while the college-educated Buck frequently pontificates intelligently and at length about their grievances, on the personal level and in the big picture. He firmly believes his brutality is justified and essential for the survival and maintained identity of all Native Americans.

The film is longer on dialog than many in the genre but won’t disappoint action buffs. Or Trejo fans (I quickly accepted the offer to screen this when I saw his name). Danny was a perfect choice for his role, bringing a world-weary fatalism to his account of events, amplified by his distinctive, gravelly voice and hard-life visage.

There’s some anticlimactic footage that could have been trimmed but the overall package is one of the few westerns being made these days, and worth checking out for genre aficionados.

THE NIGHT THEY CAME HOME opens in theaters on Friday, Jan. 12.

RATING: 2 out of 4 stars

“Arctic Circle” Season 3 – TV Series Review

Iina Kuustonen in the Finnish crime TV series “Artic Circle” (Ivalo) Season 3. Photo credit: Mitro Härkönen. Courtesy of Topic

When I covered the previous two seasons of the Finnish police procedural “Arctic Circle,” I was down on the first for stretching 6-7 episodes worth of a season-long crime story out to 10. I accordingly praised the second for trimming its single mystery to a tight 6 episodes. They’ve kept that in mind (assuredly not due to my opinion; they surely got the same feedback from more influential sources), again presenting a worthy tale with plenty of subplots in the same number of episodes.

Since that previous review was 22 months ago, below is a link my review of the first two for a memory refresher:

Arctic Circle – TV Series Review

As Season 3 opens, we watch the jacking of a sleek experimental car with a handful of killings in the process. Cut to Nina (Iina Kuustonen), who is on the verge of promotion to police chief due to her boss’ imminent retirement. Shortly after this opening crime, and seemingly unrelated, a local pharmacist is found fatally shot in an apparent robbery of his cash and street-valued drugs. Nina senses a connection, but no one up the ladder agrees.

The stolen car belonged to a nearby cutting-edge car manufacturer, Pharada, with a huge test facility with plenty of armed security forces, and political clout to cover up their actions and obstruct any investigations. They can’t let anyone know their electric, self-driving game-changer is missing just before its scheduled roll-out, relying on their own personnel to track it down before a public embarrassment that would cause its stock value to plummet.

Pharada is also planning a major expansion of the premises that will create many jobs but requires approval by the town council. Of course, there’s controversy because of its environmental impact – especially affecting the reindeer that are important to the community. An imminent vote will decide that hot-button issue, generating machinations of all sorts.

Besides the main plot, Nina is having relationship problems, trying to dump her beau Toni (Mikko Mousiainen) because he wants kids and she doesn’t. That’s partly due to the demands of her job, but also influenced by fears that her teenage daughter’s Downs Syndrome will recur in any other progeny. A number of other character arcs and plot-lines are adroitly woven into the main thread, creating a slew of suspense elements. Bingeing is advisable.

Compared to the prior seasons, personal issues take up a higher percentage of the running time even as the action scenes are ramped up. Some of the supporting roles add considerably to the suspense elements and our emotional investments in their characters. Several are from the U.S., so more of the dialog is in English than before. That should appeal to subtitle-averse fans of imported crime dramas. And for those of us who crave closure, the season ends without cliffhangers, so viewers can feel satisfied if it’s not renewed, while leaving the door left ajar for a fourth season.

“Arctic Circle: Season 3,” mostly in Finnish with English subtitles, is available streaming starting Thursday, Jan. 11, on Topic.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

“The Bridge: Seasons 2 & 3” TV Series Review

A scene from the Swedish-Danish crime TV series “The Bridge.” Courtesy of Topic

Back in 2011, the Scandinavian crime series, “The Bridge,” was not only hugely popular in Europe but spawned quite a few remakes and derivatives on both sides of the Atlantic. The now oft-used premise is that a body is found straddling the national border of a bridge joining Denmark and Sweden, creating jurisdictional confusion. That gets worse when they discover that the top and bottom halves are from two different women. Successor series have been set on the US/Mexico, Singapore/Malaysia, Greece/Turkey and the Russia/Estonia borders. A France/England version used the Chunnel in the same way. That list may be more illustrative than complete, since variations exist under non-bridgey titles. In each, a cop from one side partners with one from the other, despite cultural and personal differences that add tensions and friction to the whodunnit component.

This original paired Sweden’s detective Saga Noren (Sofia Helin) with Denmark’s Martin Rhode (Kim Bodnia). Since all cop duo dramas or comedies must begin with irritating differences, Saga is somewhere on the high-functioning end of The Spectrum – brilliant, hyper-focused, feeling virtually no emotions in her professional or personal lives, and blunt with everyone about what she’s thinking – unable to use normal sensitivities in any conversation. What she thinks will be what she says.

Martin is the grizzled, world-weary Dane who can be soft and supportive when the situation calls for tact. The two don’t particularly like or understand what makes each other tick, but mutual respect evolves during this somber season of shared sleuthing, weaving their way through a maze of political and financial motives and suspects.

Season Two opens 13 months after the first and introduces some new detectives before settling in with the first pair. This year’s plot escalates from the realm of crime to international terrorism. Even so, there’s a significant carryover from Season One affecting roles and actions in the new case. Without providing details, the season ends in a way that might preclude the two sharing any other cases.

Season Three, another 13 months later, pairs Saga with a younger Danish partner, Henrik (Thure Lindhardt) and returns to the more familiar realm of civilian murders, with a serial killer dispatching victims in apparently ritualistic, attention-seeking displays. Really gory, too, with each posed differently. Both seasons are filled, if not overrun, with characters and subplots, giving viewers more of a challenge than average. As usual, I recommend starting from the beginning to understand the carryover elements. Bingeing each season is advisable for keeping their plots and players in mind. As one expects from a Scandinavian drama, the tone is somber – longer on mood than action, and even lower on moments of levity. Both sets do a pretty good job of living up to Season One’s level of quality in scripting, acting and production values. A final fourth season aired abroad and is sure to follow here shortly. Stay tuned , as they say…

“The Bridge: Seasons 2 and 3,” mostly in Swedish and Danish with English subtitles, streams on Topic starting Tuesday, Dec. 26.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

“Deadly Tropics” Season 4 (French) – TV Series Review

A scene from the French crime series “Deadly Tropics.” Courtesy of MHz Choice

Regular readers know how much I’ve enjoyed the first three seasons of ”Deadly Tropics (Tropiques Criminels),” a relatively light-hearted police procedural set in Martinique, starring two attractive, yet totally opposite in every way, detectives and a recurring cast of colleagues, family members and the occasional romantic sidebar.

Here’s a link to my previous reviews for those starting anew with this 4th season, or wanting to refresh their memories:

“Deadly Tropics: Season 3” – TV review

As before, the season is eight hour-long episodes. Other than an opening two-parter, the rest present new crimes for our intrepid duo of Commander Melissa (Sonia Rolland, Captain Gaelle (Beatrice de la Boulaye) and their crew. Their oil-and-water personalities clash before they prove effective, as is customary for the genre. The elegant Melissa is still serious and by-the-book; tomboy Gaelle remains playfully indifferent to procedures while laser-focused on solutions. Respect and friendship have evolved, but friction between them over procedures and attitudes still flares up kind of regularly. And mostly amusingly.

The murders du jour occur in the context of other crimes, ranging from human trafficking and sexual websites, to a ritual serial killer, assorted wackos and illegal MMA fighting. There are more romantic byplay and domestic problems for both stars than before, including a couple of annoyingly surly teenagers (is that a redunmdancy?). Though the stories are stand-alone episodes, they’ll be much better appreciated by seeing the earlier years first, rather than starting with this set. Some prior characters and subplot threads recur.

There’s still levity coming from several sources complementing the dramatic side. There’s not much violence and gore on display – less than many of our prime-time network cop shows. A few aspects of Season 4 made it slightly less enjoyable for me (did I mention the annoying teenagers?), but others may differ. This round ends on a note that compels a fifth season for closure. Deal me in when it arrives.

“Deadly Tropics (Tropiques Criminels): Season 4,” mostly in French with English subtitles, streams on MHz Choice starting Tuesday, Dec. 19.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

“Professor T” (German) – TV Series Review

A scene from the German TV series “Professor T.” Courtesy of MHz Choice

Fans of European mystery series may find the “Professor T” title familiar. That could be because the Belgian original which began in 2015, has spawned French, Czech, British and German versions. This review covers the third season of the last of those listed.

It seems as if ever since the huge success of Tony Shalhoub’s “Monk,” the idea of crime-solving cops or consultants with major psychological issues has blossomed globally. He wasn’t the first damaged-goods sleuth but probably the most popular, here and abroad. Professor T (Matthias Matschke) teaches criminology and regularly assists Cologne’s homicide unit despite massive emotional problems and a painful history that gradually unfolds during the series. He’s brilliant but somewhere on the Autism Spectrum. That, plus severe OCD and recurring flashbacks and/or psychotic hallucinations, makes our Adrian Monk and lesser-known successors like Eric McCormack’s professorial sleuth in ”Perception” or Tom Payne’s haunted FBI profiler in ”Prodigal Son” seem like poster boys for mental health.

In the first two seasons, we learned that Professor T was traumatized as a child from discovering his father’s apparent suicide. Though always brilliant, other traumas related to crime limited him to the controlled environment of academia and away from real police work for years. Then a former student, Detective Anneliese Deckert (Lucie Heinze), coaxed him out of the hallowed halls to help her team between his lectures. All three seasons consist of four episodes, each with a new murder or murders to solve. As is typical of European fare, the shows are more cerebral and less violent than most of our counterparts. Murders occur almost entirely off-camera, and the stiffs are shown only as needed to understand the causes of their deaths. The tone throughout is mostly serious, though the Prof’s prickly nature provides sprinklings of droll humor. His visions add a strong visceral dimension – especially vivid and unnerving in Season 3. Plus he’s acquired a nemesis trying to destroy what’s left of his sanity. Presumably, every great Sherlock must have a Moriarty.

All the scripts are well-written, with suitably complex scenarios to unravel in a satisfying balance with the personal lives and issues of the principals. Though each episode is primarily a stand-alone challenge, the essential backstories, recurring characters and carryover plot threads make it highly advisable to see the first two seasons before diving into the third. Matschke’s Prof is equally brusque and tactless with students, colleagues and suspects, mostly displaying no emotions in his default facial expression of one who just sucked on a lemon while smelling something malodorous. Even so, he’s a fascinating and

empathy-arousing protagonist.

Season 3 ends with a couple of surprising developments but fear not, fellow closure cravers. We only have to wait a month, or so, for the arrival of the fourth and final season. Stay tuned… or whatever term applies to streaming.

“Professor T: Season 3,” mostly in German with English subtitles, streams on MHz Choice starting Tuesday, Dec. 19.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars