Capitani is a Luxembourgish crime thriller series that focuses on Luc Capitani, a cop who unpredictably falls under suspicion while solving a murder case.
Story
Luc Capitani is now an ex-cop just out of prison after serving a sentence of three years for the murder of De Costa. He receives a call from an independent prostitute, Bianca, who urges him to look for her friend who had gone missing for two days.
Luc agrees to the investigation in exchange for money. Soon Luc finds the missing girl dead in a forest with unusual ritualistic components around her body. Following this, Luc is hired by the owner of a Nightclub, Valentina Draga, as security personnel.
However, Luc also acts as an undercover cop for the prosecuting authority. Following this, several murders take place, leaving Luc baffled about the reason and source.
Sourcing among three authorities, Luc Capitani tries to solve the mystery of murders and the more significant reason behind them. Eventually, cases get solved, Luc gets his freedom, and a drug business’s greater story emerges.
Performance
The cast is amazingly good. The characters are generally good actors and have done justice to their roles. Luc Capitani, played by Luc Schiltz, has done a good job in both seasons. This season demanded more of a depressed, suffering character from Luc Capitani and was exceptionally well pursued.
Valentina Draga is also an exciting and savage character. It is very well played. It is good casting.
Elsa’s character, played by Sophie Mousel, has always been a decent one. However, this season explored more of her life, giving a fair idea about her character depth.
Furthermore, other characters such as Elsa, Paulette, Lucky, Dominik, and Bianca are also portrayed well by the actors. However, Bianca’s character could have been cast better. The intensity of expression was lacking in her.
Positives
The crime thriller was well written. The screenplay was in line and didn’t lose its grip anywhere in the narrative. The direction was decent.
The non-linear pattern of the last episode is a personal favorite. It was quite unpredictable and very well carried out. The eventual scenes and the pacing narrative were also decent and led to a satisfying ending.
Characters were especially very well explored to let the audience decide how to think about who. The change in Luc Capitani’s character was an interesting addition.
Negatives
Crime thrillers could be very interesting if the direction is great. Unfortunately, Capitani has always lacked great direction in it. There could be so many areas to explore from a director’s point of view that can add to the visual intrigue of the narrative, which was lacking.
The color palette was very non-expressive. Some colors didn’t mean anything and were used just to make the scene look beautiful, but it needed to be better as a thriller.
Another off thing about the second season was its sound design. None of the background sounds made any sense. At places that demanded a thrilling score, there was a meditative calming score and vice versa.
If the sound was an attempt at contrapuntal music, then it was a great failure.
Although the writing was quite good, the main culprit was predictable after a while and the fact that Luc, a great cop, could not even doubt it depicts lazy writing. However, some of the suspense remained intact, which is appreciable.
Verdict
Capitani is a decent watch. The second season completes the entire story and gives a somewhere satisfying ending. The screenplay is good, the suspense is okay, and the casting is great. So, if one wants to watch a not-so-baffling thriller, Capitani is perfect.
Rating: 3.5/5
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