Top Five Streaming Favorites: MHz Choice January 2024
© MHz Choice
MHz Choice tends to have a wide variety of shows coming in each month and, January happens to have a lot of strong women entering the ranks. From Italian Detectives to Mysterious Mothers, there is something for everyone. The first three recommendations are from this month’s newest entries, and the final two choices are two series currently running. A word to the wise: sometimes MHz choice ends the run of various shows to have more cash to bring in newer ones. So, if something sounds interesting, and it isn’t one of the most current shows, please go onto the platform and check it out before it leaves.
Island of 30 Coffins
The Island of 30 Coffins is based on the 1919 novel, The Secret of Sarek, written by Maurice Leblanc (creator of the Arsène Lupin short stories and novels). The story begins with Christine (Virginie Ledoyen) returning home to Sarek, trying to find answers about her baby that she believed died sixteen years ago. Her investigation uncovers a conspiracy and triggers (possibly) a prophecy that upon her return, 30 islanders will die. The more Christine uncovers, the more danger she encounters. It is a stark, creepy narrative that illustrates the misogyny of an island mired in religious and superstitious beliefs where the woman is always wrong even though it is the men’s need to control the narrative that causes misfortune for everyone.
Fosta Innocenti
Fosca Innocenti (Vanessa Incontrada) is the Deputy Police Comissioner in Arezzo, a town in Tuscany. She works with a mostly female police force, lives with her grandmother, and befriends a homeless dog, Alice. In other words, Alice’s world is female-centered. Her best friend, Cosimo (Francesco Arca), her secret love interest, seems to fall into bed with every woman except her. Fosca Innocenti is a feel-good crime show. Even though there is corruption and death, life-affirming moments and messages abound.
Agatha Christie’s Hjerson
Agatha Christie’s Hjerson is an 8-episode series featuring a spinoff character from the Agatha Christie novels, Sven Hjerson. If you don’t remember Sven, it isn’t that surprising. Ariadne Oliver appears in some of the later Poirot mysteries and vents her frustration about the Finnish detective character she created. Like Christie, she would love to kill off the character but there would be a huge fan backlash.
Sven Hjerson (Johan Rheborg) is now a ‘real’ person in this series that takes place in the present, although his world in the Finnish autonomous region of Åland, near Finland, is also ethnically more Swedish than Finnish, and feels like it is stuck in the 1960s and 1970s. That is probably because Hjerson is dealing with his mother’s death from the first episode forward and encountering key people from his past.
Where does the female crime fighter come in? She is the unlikely character of a reality TV producer trying to get Hjerson on board a new show she’s pitching about him solving crimes (since he is the Swedish version of Poirot). Klara Sandberg (Hanna Alström) is the frustrated producer constantly trying to get Hjreson to agree to join the project. Amid her attempts at signing him, the two encounter several crimes and murders they solve together.
Deadly Tropics
The French do a great job of setting many of their television episodes around the world and Deadly Tropics is a prime example of visiting a French territory in the Caribbean. Deadly Tropics, set in Martinique, features the crime-fighting duo, Commander Mélissa Sainte-Rose (Sonia Rolland), a by-the-books cop, originally from Martinique, who has come back after a divorce and Captain Gaëlle Crivelli (Béatrice de la Boulaye), a free spirit. Their policing styles are completely different but they slowly manage to forage a strong partnership after many false starts. While Saint-Rose is a single mom, Crevelli is a party animal, living on a boat and refusing to commit to a relationship. Every episode promises a solid amount of drama between the crime, the relationship between the two investigators, and a bit of French humor to lighten the load. It is something to look forward to and stream if you are in a bad mood and would like to have your world lighten up a bit.
Tatort: Vienna
Anyone from a German-speaking country is familiar with Tatort, a long-running German crime series that has been alive and well for over 50 years. There are Tatorts for West Germany, Switzerland, Austria, as well as Lichtenstein. While MHz Choice airs several of the Tatort Franchises, one of the newest entries for them is Tatort: Vienna. These mysteries (and detectives) seem to be both gritty and jaded, yet both investigators always have hope and try their best to see that good somehow triumphs over evil, although that is not always the case. Detective Moritz Eisner (Harald Krassnitzer) is a detective who prefers to follow most rules and wants to do a good job. He is teamed with Bibi Fellner (Adele Neuhauser), a hot mess. Bibi is an alcoholic who runs around with a criminal best friend but she has a good heart and does want to help people, even if she prefers driving a muscle car from another century. These are hour-and-a-half episodes. Some are lighter than others but always entertaining.