If a series opens with a quote from Cormac McCarthy, you know you have a dark path ahead. McCarthy was the author of notoriously bleak and bloody novels like The Road and Blood Meridian; Raven follows his opening quote with a very creepy children’s rhyme, a van driving through a forest to an ominous destination, and a brutal stabbing during a party. This is not a crime series to be taken lightly.
In a twist, the stabbing is actually a flash-forward. Two months earlier, Polish detective Adam Kruk (Michal Zurawski) is trying to score opioids off a very dubious doctor. Kruk says it’s for his back pain, with a neck brace to prove it. Unfortunately, they’re not the only drugs he’s taking. “You have to choose which pain you cannot bear,” the doctor says, “the one in your back, or the one in your head”.
In a genre built on detectives struggling with personal issues, Kruk stands out. He’s been ordered back to his childhood hometown Bialystock to investigate a cigarette-smuggling case, but it’s clear from the start there’s much more going on. There’s a flashback to his brutal childhood in a group home, then suddenly he’s being bashed in his own bathtub by now-grown fellow orphan Slawek (Cezary Lukaszewicz). Whatever happened back there isn’t going to leave him alone.
For all his many personal problems, Kruk is no slouch when it comes to detective work. He’s sharp, observant, and not above using his bad back as an excuse to roll around on the floor gathering evidence. If you’re a fan of detectives with a near-supernatural ability to cut through to the heart of things – whether it’s chatting with a suspect or checking a scene for clues – then Kruk is your new favourite investigator, especially as Zurawski gives him a charming world-weariness that’s hard to resist.
Kruk's neck brace is a reminder of everything else he's dealing with. Credit: Robert Palka
In the grim world that surrounds him, he’s a likable underdog who gets the job done. It’s just that the job keeps on spiralling out of his control. Once he arrives in town the illegal cigarettes case takes a back seat to his personal investigation of the molestations that happened at the orphanage. Then a young boy is kidnapped and everything else has to go on hold.
Throughout the first season, and the two that follow, Raven has two constant elements. One is Kruk, determined to face down corruption and betrayal whether it’s out in the community or inside the police force. The other is Bialystock itself. Eastern Europe can be known for its grim architecture, but Kruk’s home town takes it one step beyond. The forbidding tower blocks and bleak malls are one thing, but the sinister, almost gothic countryside that surrounds the town? That’s something else. You’ll never look at a scarecrow the same way again.
The landscapes and light add to the drama as Raven returns for season 3.
Raven is the first Polish television series to be shot in 4K, and it shows. The cinematography is strikingly atmospheric whether the focus is a grimy bathroom or a bleak stretch of barren landscape. Bialystock is presented to us not just as a town of secrets, but one where malice and evil have sunk into its bones. It often feels like the setting for a horror movie, as if the brutal crimes Kruk has returned to avenge have poisoned the atmosphere and tainted the water.
Which is why it’s so surprising when the second season begins with Kruk having moved back home for good. He knows better than most that it’s no place to raise a child, but now his wife and young son are right there with him. And even by his side isn’t a safe place to be any more, as he’s facing a new demon; ever since his son was born, he’s been struggling with sudden outbursts of aggression, ones he fears are putting those around him at risk.
The first season had its moments of mysticism, where Kruk’s keen senses seemed to brush up against something bigger than the physical world. As Raven progresses, the hints of the supernatural – or just the darkness that lurks within the town and everyone there – grow stronger.
Searching for answers in season 3. Credit: Robert Palka
The second season has him battling to both take down the illegal tobacco gangs tearing the town apart and solve a string of mysterious crimes linked to red-haired women, even as he’s increasingly relying on a local “healer” to quench his anger. And after that season’s shocking conclusion, the third season sees him giving over to his dark side and going on a cold-blooded mission of revenge – one that could put the life of the woman who loves him in deadly danger.
People can be haunted (or possessed) by all manner of things. Kruk may never be free of his past or who he is; his battle now is to find a way to use that side of himself for good. Which may not be so easy in a world where the bad is always closer than you think.
All 3 seasons of Raven are streaming now at SBS On Demand.
