Shadows of the City: The Spanish Crime Series on Netflix Blends Suggestions and Archetypes
A pair of police officers investigate a series of mysterious murders unsettling Barcelona. Six episodes mark the last appearance of the late Verónica Echegui.
Milo Malart perfectly embodies the archetype of the brilliant but tormented detective: suspended from duty for disciplinary problems – he assaulted a colleague – and haunted by an unresolved family tragedy, he is called back into service following a brutal murder. The lifeless body of a wealthy entrepreneur was found on a ledge of La Pedrera - Casa Milà, one of Antoni Gaudí's most iconic works, and he is given the arduous task of investigating the case.
In Shadows of the City, he will be joined by Rebeca Garrido, an inspector from the Policia Nacional, in an investigation that will soon prove more complicated. The first crime was only the beginning, and another series of macabre executions begins to shake Barcelona, just days before Pope Benedict XVI's arrival in the city. Furthermore, all the deaths occurred in symbolic locations of Catalan modernist architecture, and all the victims were prominent figures of local economic and political power. For the two detectives, discovering the truth will be far more difficult than expected.
Shadows of the City: Real and Fictional Dramas
The six episodes of Shadows of the City represent the last on-screen appearance of Verónica Echegui, the Madrid actress who prematurely passed away last August 24th at just forty-two years old after a battle with cancer that she had kept hidden until the very end. This tragically resonates in a dialogue that appears sadly premonitory, even if it refers to a collateral figure. This posthumous awareness makes viewing a bittersweet experience for those who knew and appreciated the Spanish actress, imbuing every sequence in which she appears with an unprecedented melancholy.
Leaving aside this tragic anecdote, we are faced with a miniseries that more or less faithfully follows the imprint of indigenous genre productions: a direct and no-frills detective story, where the investigators themselves hide skeletons in the closet and the plot moves on social motivations that drive the actions of the presumed villains, who find themselves embodying the eternal ideological and class struggle between the common population and the elite of high society.
From Page to Screen
An adaptation of Aro Sáinz de la Maza's novel El Verdugo de Gaudí, the first chapter of a saga starring Inspector Milo Malart of the Mossos d'Esquadra, Shadows of the City is a technically competent and narratively functional thriller, but lacking that distinctive spark capable of making it stand out in the ever-growing catalog of similar titles. The screenplay, co-written by the director and creator Jorge Torregrossa along with Carlos López and Clara Esparrach, plays with stereotypes without ever completely subverting them, with solutions that recall the much more inspired The Red Queen and a reference to Freemasonry and modernist artworks that tries to spice up the heart of the story from a visual and narrative point of view.
As in Rodrigo Sorogoyen's memorable film May God Save Us (2016), the investigations coincide with the imminent arrival of the pontiff in the city (there it was a visit to Madrid, here in the capital of Catalonia), although on this occasion the expedient is used less cohesively with the context. And the chemistry between the two protagonists only emerges in glimpses, despite the evident commitment from Echegui, probably already aware of the fate that awaited her in a few months.
The series works decently, with a touch of tension and a good number of plot twists, including flashbacks. At the same time, however, it offers no truly original solutions, merely recycling consolidated formulas without particular stylistic flourishes to elevate it above average.