The Chestnut Man

The Chestnut Man | Official Trailer | Netflix
Netflix

Another European serial killer drama. It has all the standard elements: a several women in prominent positions, an clueless bureaucracy, a very clever, skillful and deceptive killer, a host of creepy characters and creepy locations, and some grisly murder scenes. I don't think there were any gay characters, at least none that I noticed, which makes it a little unusual.

We tried watching a couple of episodes of Longmire, but it just didn't have the edge we were looking for. I'm not quite sure just what that edge is, perhaps it was too pleasant, too mundane or maybe not complicated enough.

I think we watch these crime dramas because they are somewhat like putting jigsaw puzzles together. They dump all these pieces on the table and you are fitting them together and as time goes on you start to develop a picture of the situation, but with a good show, there is one section that does not come clear until the last episode. Naturally, there are red herrings to confuse the issue, and there are several characters who could be the culprit, but there is still that element of doubt. And sometimes, just when you think the case has been solved, one little clue turns up that upsets the whole applecart, the wrongfully accused is found to be innocent and the guy that was not even on anyone's suspect list turns out to be the killer.

6 episodes, one hour each.