Review of Wataha

This Polish series is centred on a group of Polish border guards who monitor the remote, heavily wooded border between Poland and the Ukraine. In the opening scenes a bomb rips a guard post; the only survivor appears to be series protagonist Wiktor Rebrow. A text message he received moments before the explosion leads investigators to suspect that he may have been involved. Wictor is determined to prove his innocence and discover who was really responsible for the murder of his friends. There are plenty of suspects as smuggling is rife in the area and any one of the smugglers could have targeted the border guards. As time progresses it also looks as though one or more of the guards could be in the pay of the smugglers and to make matters worse a serial killer has escaped from a Ukrainian asylum near the border.

This is a fairly six part series set on the EU's eastern border; the remote setting adds to the atmosphere; there is a real feeling that the guards are one their own there. The story is interesting with a few twists and shocks along the way. I was somewhat disappointed with the non-ending but was pleased to hear that a second season is either in production or will be soon. The cast do a solid job making the characters believable. Overall I'd recommend this to anybody looking for something a little different; just don't expect much to be resolved by the end of the sixth episode… hopefully it won't take too long for us to get season two.

These comments are based on watching the series in Polish with English subtitles.