User Reviews

Prague is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever visited and I always enjoy a good mystery so I viewed the entire first season of Prague Mysteries in short order and with great interest. The stunning old city of Prague glows gem-like as three police officers (Hynek Budik and his two assistants, Rudy and Novacek) investigate suspicious deaths in all sorts of venues around the perimeter which is their jurisdiction. Prague was bitterly cold in springtime when I visited but most of these episodes were filmed in warm weather. Of the 10 mysteries I viewed, 8 were resolved satisfactorily but two left me unconvinced. Overall, the show resembles the PBS series about Hercule Poirot in its retro appeal - nattily dressed investigators, stunning architecture, quaint telephones, vintage transportation - and the puddles and muck of farmland where some of the incidents take them. The one drawback of the Prague series is, for me, the excessive amount of viewing time lavished on the soap-opera lives of the women connected with the officers. Having read and watched numerous fictional murder mysteries, in my opinion the best focus on unmarried invesigators who dabble in useful hobbies. In the Prague series, the only activity these men engage in, apart from card-playing at The Club or downing drinks after work, is maintaining active sex lives, married or not. I would have rated the series higher but these distractions dampened my enthusiasm for the show, particularly the shocking scene of a grown man sitting in bed with a very young girl.

Seeing this Czech crime series set in the early 20th-century is both mildly interesting and refreshingly different compared to most shows of this genre. The acting is fairly solid but not worthy of any awards. The details of the period, the scenery and dialogue are quite authentic and give a good insight into this part of Eastern Europe at that time. There are some characters that are very believable yet others that miss the boat. I do find the housekeeper to be both well portrayed and amusing as she goes about her many duties for the commissar. Being originally from Vienna, I can appreciate the buildings and cuisine as being very similar and can 'feel' and recognize the inner city life they portray. The various crimes are sometimes a bit too obvious and others more unpredictable. Overall a kind of mix of occasionally excellent stories and other times very unbelievable ones. The main complaint I have is this overwhelming focus on smoking. It is either a very important detail in many scenarios, almost everyone indulges in this (and other 'vices'), or it takes up so much camera time that you lose interest in what's being said or done. It's at least worth watching but not worth a high rating.