MS Jan Heweliusz sank on 14 January 1993, between about 04:10 and 05:12 (UTC+1) as the ship was crossing the Baltic Sea, en route from Świnoujście, Poland, to Ystad, Sweden. Out of 65 passengers and crew, 56 died in the disaster, making it the largest peacetime maritime disaster in Polish history. - Wikipedia
The show is a big production showing us the disaster as it unfolded and the feeble rescue efforts. Then we move on to the inquiry where the court is trying to pin the blame on the captain and the crew when the blame might be better placed on the state agency running the ferry company. We get a couple of good speeches from people during the inquiry, not that it makes any difference. The state maintains their stonewall defense.
The Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, so I imagine many of the old state agencies were still in operation due to inertia.
City of Shadows - Official Trailer | Netflix
MVSRS
This is like a remake of 1992. We're in Barcelona, Spain, where we have a determined madman taking gruesome revenge on various civic leaders over the urban redevelopment that took place in preparation for the 1992 Olympics. We have several of the standard Netflix players here:
Turns out the madman has a sister and they are working together to not only exact revenge for having their home taken when they were kids, but also for their treatment in the orphanage. The madman was a real firebug when he was younger and that aspect of his personality re-emerges when he sets out on his course of revenge.
Milo is under suspension for punching his boss. To be fair he's been having a hard time. He lost his father to schizophrenia, his nephew to suicide, his wife has moved out, and his brother is slowly losing his mind. Also, his boss is a jerk. Rebeca isn't much better off, she just lost her mother in Madrid and moved to Barcelona.
Cast
Isak Férriz: Milo Malart - Detective investigating the murders
Verónica Echegui: Rebeca Garrido - Investigator working with Malart
Ana Wagener: Susana Cabrera - judge who happened to sentence the madman to the orphanage
I suspect Jordi and Jordi play coppers, did not find any definitive information about their roles. Note they have real life brother and sister playing the sibling villains.
Verónica Echegui died of cancer in August of this year. She was 42 years old.
By coincidence I came across this photo of Gaudi's cathedral from 1906:
Alcoholic security guard is sleeping in his car when a bomb goes off down the block. The explosion kills a big-shot, but it also kills another man who was a friend and sponsor of our guard. The man's wife finds an unburned plastic Curro figure in her dead husband's hand indicating that someone put it there after the explosion. The Curro figure was the mascot of the 1992 World's Fair (Expo '92) that was held in Seville, Spain.
Amparo, the wife, is determined. Richi, the guard, in not the least interested in solving an unsolvable crime, but he keeps stepping up to help and/or protect Amparo on account of she keeps stirring up trouble.
The story has several accidents that befell the Expo. There were some accidents at the Expo, but they are not a 100% match with accidents in the story. Real accidents:
Bus Crash (August 1992):. A bus carrying 56 tourists from Barcelona to Seville, the site of Expo '92, skidded off the road and toppled down an embankment on the A-7 highway near Torreblanca. The accident resulted in 45 deaths and 11 injuries. The bus driver lost control while taking a bend at excessive speed.
Pavilion Fire (February 1992):. A significant pavilion, slated to house Spanish exhibits, was destroyed by a fire while workers were making final preparations. The blaze was determined to be accidental, and the pavilion was not rebuilt.
Viking Ship Disaster (May 1992):. Two replica Viking ships, part of Norway's exhibit, were swamped by a severe storm and wrecked at sea while en route to Seville. While the crew was rescued, the ships were lost.
The makeup / special effects people had their work cut out for this show with all the grisly bodies that keep popping up. We not all have the victims of arson and explosions, but our guard is hallucinating and his visions are not all lollypops and roses. The wife meanwhile gets some spectacular nightmares. And I haven't even mentioned the villain. He's particularly gruesome.
The Spanish series 1992, which premiered on Netflix in December 2024, is a thriller set against the backdrop of Seville's Expo '92. The story follows a widow and an ex-cop as they investigate a series of mysterious murders.
Here is a list of the actors and their characters:
Main cast
Marian Álvarez as Amparo. A widow who begins investigating a series of murders after her husband is killed in an explosion.
Fernando Valdivielso as Richi. An alcoholic ex-cop turned security guard who helps Amparo with the investigation.
Víctor Rivas as Victor. The serial killer, who is also referred to as "the Flamethrower killer" and "the hooded".
Paz Vega as Carmen. A character who aids Richi and Amparo in their investigation.
Carlos Santos as Fernando Victoria. An influential man who becomes entangled in the investigation.
Álex Gadea as Álvaro. Amparo's husband, whose death sets the story in motion.
Supporting cast
Gorka Lasaosa as Police Commissary Robledo.
Marieta Sánchez as Rosa. Victor's caretaker.
Jaime Ordóñez as Palacios. One of the killer's victims.
