In a way, this is the most provocative season. As subversive as it may be, the first referred to the 1990s and earlier periods, the second moved to Istria and moved somewhat away from the centers of power, while the third is at their very center.
The third season of the series "Rest in Peace", which has ten one-hour episodes, will start broadcasting on the First Channel of HRT on January 15 at 9 pm. Enough reason to book an appointment to spend time with the TV, and if you miss a few episodes, I guess it will be available on the HRTi service.
"Rest in peace" really deserves attention. The first season, after a long delay, started in the program at the beginning of 2013 and quite surprised us with its content. In the general story, a young journalist Lucija Car (Judita Franković) arrived on assignment at the Vukovšćak prison, which is about to be liquidated, and in the yard she finds a pile of graves of people about whom nothing is known. She has no choice but to turn for help to the former prison guard Martin Strugar (Miodrag Krivokapić), who reluctantly becomes her ally. Lucija also has problems because no one in her editorial office is interested in the story of the dark side of Vukovšćak. People there suffered because they resented someone, because they naively tried to take revenge on society, and sometimes because of their wrong nationality. Lucija, with Martin's help, finds the files of those who now rest in peace, so in each episode - at least for most of the series - incredible stories are revealed, especially shocking when it comes to the ideological standards of our television productions. Not only the period of transition but also socialism was dissected here and getting to prison during the 1990s seemed to be the scariest thing that could happen to you. There is no talk of justice and guilt, more misfortune that befell you without you deserve it.
The series did not cause excessive controversy, yet the new millennium guaranteed that much had changed since the 1990s, but it aroused considerable interest and was well received at the Seoul International Television Festival. There, the world's rights were sold to the Swedish company Ecco Rights, which seemed great, because it persuaded the American Lionsgate Television (they produced, among other things, the great "Madison Boys") to buy the format for a possible American remake. In the meantime, none of that happened, but since it is known that hundreds of such world series enter Hollywood television workshops and only one-tenth (and maybe less) ends up as "Homeland" (the American version of the Israeli series "Prisoner of War"), but the very fact that the Americans became interested in the Croatian product was a remarkable success.
Ring Production, led by Dario Vince, the former creative director of the prestigious marketing agency Digitel, has meanwhile produced a second season, which had two episodes less, a total of ten. While the first season was directed together by Goran Rukavina and Kristijan Milić (each took a same number of episodes), the second was made entirely by Goran Dukić, a graduate of the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Arts, who is still remembered for his brilliant short feature film "Mirta Learns Statistics". Dukić went to America in the mid-1990s and managed to make a fantastic independent comedy “Pizzeria Kamikaze” with a pretty respectable cast (it also included Tom Waits). The new jobs didn't shower him, it's hard to round up the budget of the next film, even when your debut is praised, so Vince's offer came at the right time.
The novelty is that there were no more time jumps between the present and the past (that is - a little), while the plot was linear and did not take place in Zagreb and its surroundings, but in picturesque Istria. There, Lucija Car was sent on a new mission, she had to write a report on a cult, ie a religious sect that offers human sacrifice on its altar.
This time there is no reliable Martin Strugar with her, he died at the end of the first season, but the sympathetic policeman Romano Soršak (Goran Navojec) soon found himself next to the enterprising journalist, and it seems that Mate Šušnjara (Dragan Despot), a former UDBA killer, was not such a black devil as he seemed at first. Disobedient Lucija quickly loses interest in reporting on the cult (although it is obvious that it exists), she is more intrigued by the story of an asbestos factory in which workers are allegedly poisoned and around which the interests of high politics intertwine. This is already worth reporting on, which, of course, infuriates its Zagreb clients. Also, it turns out that almost all the assessments that Lucia initially made were wrong and that this time she is in greater danger than she has ever been.
The second season also attracted a lot of attention from foreign buyers, but Ring Production has already learned a lot from the experience of the first season. Their Swedish distributor at first pushed “Rest in Peace” very well, however, it turned out that in the meantime they discovered the world of Turkish soap operas and everything else ceased to interest them.
Vince sold the series to Belgian television, where there were also unexpected viewers, for example, one Spanish journalist on his blog drew parallels between Spanish history and the Croatian transition and came up with incredible coincidences. More importantly, however, it was probably seen there by Walter Iuzzolino, editor of the Walter Presents service on BBC4, which broadcasts interesting series that you have to watch with subtitles because they are not in English and bought it for his program. In his opinion, the second season is even more attractive because it takes place in incredibly expressive Istrian landscapes and has elements of the occult. Last year, Walter Presents was launched in America, where the market is not easy because the war between large streaming companies has just flared up. Both seasons were always among the top five thrillers (for a short time "Rest in Peace" was even third), which is a remarkable success.
It is only this year that the series will be in his program in the UK so we will see how Iuzzolino’s domestic audience will react.
The third season is just coming to an end, Vince is satisfied with the slot on HRT, and the production conditions. For the first time, they worked without too much stress, they didn't have to patch up individual episodes with their own money, they got everything they needed, even the types of cars driven by individual protagonists.
He kept the position of showrunner (we weighed for a long time which of Croatian words would correspond to that expression for a man who makes decisions on creative issues in Hollywood series, but we couldn't decide on any), he wrote the script again with Saša Podgorelec according to the American writer's room system - two or three writers edit one scene until everyone is happy with it, and the director is Goran Rukavina, who has been in the project from the very beginning, only missed the second season.
In a way, this is the most provocative season. As subversive as it may be, the first referred to the 1990s and earlier periods, the second moved to Istria and moved somewhat away from the centers of power, while the third is at their very center. Who are the protagonists? General Josip Koretić (Dejan Aćimović), who gained the rank in the war, but used it to create a business empire around bottled water. You have the impression that in an instant he will liquidate anyone who hinders him in realizing his plans.
There is also Vjeran Bedrica (Sreten Mokrović), a Dalmatian without a special background, who first became the owner of television and then the news portal. however, all this is slowly falling apart, as is his health. His daughter Nevena (Katarina Strahinić), the Croatian champion in figure skating, died five years ago, allegedly in a suicide, but maybe her father's business machinations are also to blame, which many did not like. Finally, among the powerful who are unaware of what they did wrong is Nikica Stančec (Damir Šaban), a Supreme Court judge: one wrong step cost him family tragedies.
It is also a riddle from which Lucija Car starts this season. Each of the three mentioned lost a loved one not so long ago and it is obvious that this is not a coincidence: someone is killing members of the Golden Youth, but it is not known why and whether this chain will continue. Flashbacks are quite freely related to the current action, but if this is not a problem for you in foreign series, you will easily find your way here as well.
The main problem is that Lucija should not deal with all this, disappointed with the Istrian experience in which her dear Romano proved to be a double player, she became an archivist on television where she spends working hours gossiping with a colleague from work (Nina Erak). She conducts all investigations in private, trying to use the Internet as much as possible and talk to witnesses as little as possible. Besides, she has completely changed. According to Vince, in the first season, she was like a function that connected key characters, she was not a heroine of flesh and blood, in the second season something between a girl and a boy, and only in the third did she grow into a real woman using bright red lipstick and attractive clothes. Judita Franković understood this concept very well and she seems incomparably more feminine than in the first two seasons. The most interesting thing is that she started learning martial arts, she is already good at boxing, and her coach is Slavko Štimac, who has not lost anything of his charisma.
Not only Lucija gave up active journalism, her friend Ines Polić (Nina Violić), who we once claimed resembled the late Jasna Babić, now runs a café and it is obvious that she does not know too much about this business. Lucia gets information from her on a dropper and it is not certain whether everything she says is reliable.
Mate Šušnjara, on the other hand, has completely changed, he is ready to cooperate with Lucija. In the first episodes, he wears long hair and a beard and looks more like a homeless man, but when he needs to, he will turn into a reliable, make-up driver who looks like he works for the mafia. In his later job, he has to work with Sep (Mladen Vulić), general Koretić's war friend, who is in an awkward situation because he is looking after his flirtatious daughter Buga (Tena Nemet Brankov) and it does not occur to him to cross the border with her. The interplay between Acimovic and Vulic, two very strong actors, is especially good, as they would impose themselves too much in certain scenes if they did not control each other.
I ask Vince if the series is based on authentic events, yet there have been quite a few similar cases in our country that have remained unresolved to this day. By no means, he says. While in Digitel, he met a multitude of people resembling his heroes, a social cream that got rich overnight, and that’s exactly why he avoids any coincidences. The series is the fruit of imagination, and the fact that reality occasionally reminds us of it is not direct.
Judging by the first four episodes, the third season of the series "Rest in Peace" will be a real television event, excellently written and acted, excellently filmed (Darko Drinovac), the production is first-class in all aspects, and the novelty is that this time there's rock music. In the first season, the not very ambitious soundtrack was supposed to cover up the shortcomings of the production, but it seemed to be made for a soap opera. The second was a step forward thanks to the distinctive Istrian musical sound, and the third uses songs by Pips, Chips & Videoclips. Vince contacted band leader Dubravko Ivaniš Ripper, he was interested in the conditions under which he could use the motives of his song "K1", but it turned out that Ripper was a big fan of the series, he watched both seasons, and he would be glad to include his other works. The result is excellent, so "Rest in Peace 3" can boast of the first successful dramatic use of rock soundtrack in our country.