Schlafende Hunde (Netflix series, 2023)
Schlafende Hunde (international title: Sleeping Dog) is a riveting German crime series in which an unlikely duo searches to find the truth in a case that is so compelling it unites them in an unlikely way.
The dynamic way in which this series unfolds, makes for a thrilling expedition into the criminal world of Berlin.
The screenplay is written by Christoph Darnstädt, but the series is an adaptation of an Israeli series called The Exchange Principle (2016), which was written by Oded Davidoff and Noah Stollman.
It’s about former top police officer Mike Atlas (Max Riemelt), who is now living on the streets. He was severely traumatized by a case, The murder of Judge Herres. A case which is ironically brought back to life by a new murder.
His counterpart is Jule Andergast (Luise von Finckh). She is a young prosecutor, talented but insecure, who has her own reasons to be interested in the case, after the apparent suicide of the convicted murderer while serving his time in jail.
Jules’s mother was a famous prosecutor and she works hard to follow in her footsteps. Max still has a home to go back to, but he doesn’t want to, because he is scared he will hurt his family.
There are enough people who care about Max, but different people have different reasons to want to keep tabs on him. But Max is still a force to be reckoned with…
It doesn’t take long before we assume there might be something bigger going on, like a conspiracy inside the justice system, perhaps in connection to a terrorist attack that took place some eighteen months ago.
But then again, there may be some surprises in store that challenge those assumptions as well.
Directors Stephan Lacant and Francis Meletzky milk this set-up for all that it’s worth: within the first few episodes things get very exciting pretty quickly and you can see for yourself why this Israeli series got a remake.
The lead characters are great, and then I haven’t even mentioned the supporting characters, of which there are many. They all have their special traits and their flaws, and their believability gives the series a lot of extra mileage.
What I also like is that the drama is kept human, and that the visuals support the story without over shadowing it.
There is this saying ‘Let sleeping dogs lie,’ but in this case that would be a shame. My advice would be to let these Schlafende Hunde keep you up at night until you’ve binged-watched the entire entire six-part series. It certainly worked for me.