For your weekend viewing pleasure: The Team, a multilingual Euro TV crime drama with a layered storyline that takes place in several cities across the Continent.

I’ll be honest. When I first read about The Team, I thought the premise sounded intriguing but wondered if it was another international crime drama series that would under-deliver in trying to appeal to viewers in various countries. So, after watching the first season, I’m pleased to say that it’s worth investing your time in.

The Team follows the members of a special Europol joint Danish-German-Belgian investigation team who are working to solve a series of murders committed in Copenhagen, Antwerp, and Berlin. Leading the team is Harald Bjorn (Lars Mikkelsen, The Day Will Come, 1864) of the Danish police. His counterparts are Jackie Müller (Jasmin Gerat, SOKO Köln, Küstenwache) of the German police and Alicia Verbeeck (Veerle Baetens, Code 37, Beyond the Walls) of the Belgian police.

Each of the three murders has the same modus operandi: the dead prostitute was shot through her left eye and had one of her middle fingers cut off. And each of the women was visited by Belgian journalist Jean Louis Poquelin (Carlos Leal, The Undertaker) just hours before she was killed. Naturally, Poquelin is their prime suspect.



But the case goes in a different direction following the kidnapping of Poquelin and the murder of another woman, which doesn’t follow the same M.O. New leads point to Marius Loukauskis (Nicholas Ofczarek, Old Money), a sleazy Lithuanian billionaire who heads up a multinational criminal organization.

On the home front, Alicia has her hands full trying to look after her alcoholic mum and sex worker sister, Harald’s wife Liv (Alexandra Rappaport, The Sandhamn Murders) is expecting the couple’s first child while trying to downplay her suspicions, and Jackie’s husband Elias (Andreas Pietschmann, Dark) is taking care of their kids but isn’t even trying to pretend that he’s not upset. In the latter two situations, the spouses know about some, but not all, of the history between Harald and Jackie. (Ahem.)

Meanwhile, from Berlin to Copenhagen, Antwerp to The Hague, and the Austrian Alps to Lithuania, human trafficking, illegal immigration, prostitution, slavery, money laundering, tax fraud, bribery, and corruption crimes continue.

Some of the crimes are closer to home for the detectives than they thought, and all of their work is dangerous. Nearly fatal, even.

Written by the team of Mai Brostrøm and Peter Thorsboe (Modus, The Protectors, The Eagle, Unit One), the eight-episode first season features Ida Engvoll (Rebecka Martinsson), Koen De Bouw (Professor T.), Miriam Stein (Generation War), Hilde Van Mieghem (Tabula Rasa), Filip Peeters (Salamander), and Sunnyi Melles (Hotel Adlon).

The Team is currently streaming in the US on MHz Choice and the MHz Choice channel on Amazon. The drama is shown in English, French, Flemish, German, Danish, and Swedish, with English subtitles.

Viewers in the UK can stream Season 1 on Walter Presents and Amazon Video, and download it from iTunes. It is also available on DVD in the UK.

__________________

Add your comments on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Share this post/page.











