Comrade Detective
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''Comrade Detective'' is an American
buddy cop Buddy cop is a film and television genre with plots involving two people of very different and conflicting personalities who are forced to work together to solve a crime and/or defeat criminals, sometimes learning from each other in the process. ...
series created by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka. The show follows the premise of popular US action/cop-buddy films and television shows from the 1980s and presents the episodes as a fictional lost
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
n television show commissioned by the
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
to promote a
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
worldview during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
. Every episode was filmed in Romania using local actors and then dubbed into English as part of the effect. It was released on
Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...
on August 4, 2017.


Plot

Channing Tatum Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor. Tatum made his film debut in the drama ''Coach Carter'' (2005), and had his breakthrough role in the 2006 dance film ''Step Up (film), Step Up''. He gained wider attention for ...
and
Jon Ronson Jon Ronson (born 10 May 1967) is a British-American journalist, author, and filmmaker whose works include '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'' (2001), ''The Men Who Stare at Goats'' (2004), and ''The Psychopath Test'' (2011). He has been desc ...
present the show as if it were an actual influential Romanian television show from the 1980s. Produced by the Romanian communist government, it served as a device to promote a
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
worldview opposed to Western capitalism and imperialism during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
. Lost over the years, producers recently found surviving copies of the episodes. With the help of the fictional Romanian Film Preservation Society they have restored the episodes and dubbed them into English. Within the show hard-boiled but troubled
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
police detective Gregor Anghel and his partner respond to a drug bust against the orders of their Captain. This results in a man in a
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
mask killing his partner in front of him. Anghel, along with his new partner from the countryside, Iosif Baciu, must solve his partner's murder. In doing so, they uncover an insidious
western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
plot to indoctrinate Romanian society with capitalism and religion.


Cast

Each character is portrayed by a Romanian actor, as well as an English-language voice actor. The show was first filmed using Romanian actors speaking
Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
. Actors then over-dubbed every role in English.


Main

* Florin Piersic Jr. as Gregor Anghel **
Channing Tatum Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor. Tatum made his film debut in the drama ''Coach Carter'' (2005), and had his breakthrough role in the 2006 dance film ''Step Up (film), Step Up''. He gained wider attention for ...
as English dub of Gregor Anghel * Corneliu Ulici as Iosif Baciu **
Joseph Gordon-Levitt Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt (; born February 17, 1981) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his leading performances ...
as English dub of Iosif Baciu


Recurring

* Adrian Paduraru as Captain Covaci **
Nick Offerman Nicholas David Offerman (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor, writer, comedian, producer, and carpenter. He is best known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'', for which he received the Television Critics A ...
as English dub of Captain Covaci * Olivia Nita as Jane **
Jenny Slate Jenny Sarah Slate (born March 25, 1982) is an American actress, comedian, and author. Born and raised in Milton, Massachusetts, Slate was educated at Milton Academy and studied literature at Columbia University, where she became involved in the ...
as English dub of Jane * Florin Galan as Dragos **
Jason Mantzoukas Jason Mantzoukas (, el, Ιάσων Μαντζούκας; born December 18, 1972) is an American actor, comedian, writer and podcaster. He is best known for his recurring role as Rafi in the FX comedy series ''The League'', and as one of the th ...
as English dub of Dragos * Diana Vladu as Sonya Baciu **
Chloë Sevigny Chloë Stevens Sevigny (, born November 18, 1974) is an American actress, model, filmmaker and fashion designer. Known for her work in independent films, often appearing in controversial or experimental features, Sevigny is the recipient of se ...
as English dub of Sonya Baciu * Ion Grosu as Stan **
Jake Johnson Mark Jake Johnson Weinberger (born May 28, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, film producer and screenwriter best known for his role as Nick Miller in the Fox sitcom ''New Girl'' (2011–2018), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Ch ...
as English dub of Stan * Tipsy Angelo as Tipsy **
John DiMaggio John William DiMaggio (; born September 4, 1968) is an American actor. His various voice roles include Bender on ''Futurama'', Jake the Dog on ''Adventure Time'', Marcus Fenix in the '' Gears of War'' series, Dr. Drakken on '' Kim Possible'', ...
as English dub of Tipsy and several other miscellaneous voice parts * Channing Tatum as himself *
Jon Ronson Jon Ronson (born 10 May 1967) is a British-American journalist, author, and filmmaker whose works include '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'' (2001), ''The Men Who Stare at Goats'' (2004), and ''The Psychopath Test'' (2011). He has been desc ...
as himself


Guest stars

* Richard Bovnoczki as Father Anton Streza **
Daniel Craig Daniel Wroughton Craig (born 2 March 1968) is an English-American actor who gained international fame playing the secret agent James Bond in the film series, beginning with '' Casino Royale'' (2006) and in four further instalments, up to '' ...
as English dub of Father Anton Streza * Cristian Popa as Nikita Ionescu **
Beck Bennett Christopher Beck Bennett (born October 1, 1984) is an American actor, comedian, and writer, who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' for eight seasons (2013–2021). Before then, he performed in AT&T "It's Not Complicated" commercials in ...
as English dub of Nikita Ionescu * Odin Neilsen as Andrei Baciu **
Colleen O'Shaughnessey Colleen Ann O'Shaughnessey (born September 15, 1971) is an American voice actress. She is best known as the voice of Sora Takenouchi in the ''Digimon'' anime, Jazz Fenton in ''Danny Phantom'', Wasp in '' The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes' ...
as English dub of Andrei Baciu * Vali Pavel as Petre Bubescu **
Bobby Cannavale Roberto Michael Cannavale (; born May 3, 1970) is an American actor. He is best known for various television roles, including leading roles in ''Third Watch'', ''Vinyl'', and ''Mr. Robot'', as well as recurring roles in ''Will & Grace'', which wo ...
as English dub of Petre Bubescu * Radu Romaniuc as Orzan **
Fred Armisen Fereydun Robert Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen was the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series ''Portlandia''. He ...
as English dub of Orzan. * Ille Gâliea as Vasile **
Tracy Letts Tracy S. Letts (born July 4, 1965) is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He started his career at the Steppenwolf Theatre before making his Broadway debut as a playwright for '' August: Osage County'' (2007), for which he received ...
as English dub of Vasile. * Ruxandra Enescu as Sally Smith **
Kim Basinger Kimila Ann Basinger ( ; born December 8, 1953) is an American actress and former fashion model. She has garnered acclaim for her work in film and television, for which she has received various accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Glo ...
as English dub of Sally Smith * Silviu Geamanu as Coach **
Mahershala Ali Mahershala Ali (; born Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore, February 16, 1974) is an American actor. He has received multiple accolades, including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. ''Time'' magazine named him one of th ...
as English dub of Coach * Ana Ciontea as Iona Anghel **
Debra Winger Debra Lynn Wingerhttps://www.pressreader.com/usa/closer-weekly/20200511/282084868951188https://www.discountmags.com/magazine/closer-weekly-may-11-2020-digital/in-this-issue/99961 (born May 16, 1955)https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Inter ...
as English dub of Iona Anghel * Cornel Ciupercescu as Vlad Anghel **
Richard Jenkins Richard Dale Jenkins (born May 4, 1947) is an American actor who is well known for his portrayal of deceased patriarch Nathaniel Fisher on the HBO funeral drama series '' Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005). He began his career in theater at the Tri ...
as English dub of Vlad Anghel * Paul Octavian Diaconescu as Nastase **
Jerrod Carmichael Rothaniel Jerrod Carmichael ( ; born April 6, 1987) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and filmmaker. He has released three stand-up comedy specials on HBO: ''Love at the Store'' (2014), ''8'' (2017), and ''Rothaniel'' (2022). He ...
as English dub of Nastase * Mihai Stefan as Sergiu **
Bo Burnham Robert Pickering "Bo" Burnham (born 1990) is an American comedian, musician, songwriter, actor, and filmmaker. His comedy work often combines musical, sketch, and stand-up elements with filmmaking. Following his success as one of the earliest ...
as English dub of Sergiu * George Burcea as Todd **
Mark Duplass Mark David Duplass (born December 7, 1976) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and musician. With his brother Jay Duplass, he started the film production company Duplass Brothers Productions in 1996. Duplass has written and directed films, i ...
as English dub of Todd * Magda Dimitrescu as Tatiana/Trisha **
Katie Aselton Kathryn Aselton (born October 1, 1978) is an American actress, film director and producer. She directed and co-starred in ''The Freebie (film), The Freebie'', which was shown in the non-competition "Next" category at the Sundance Film Festival i ...
as English dub of Tatiana/Trisha * Nicu Banea as Stefan **
Mark Proksch Mark Proksch ( '; born ) is an American comedian and character actor. He is best known for acting in the television series ''The Office'', ''Better Call Saul'', ''Dream Corp LLC'', '' What We Do in the Shadows'' and as a fictionalized version o ...
as English dub of Stefan and several other parts * Madalin Mladinovici as Markos Miklos ** John Early as the English dub of Markos Miklos and several other parts. * Cozma Eugeniu as New York Degenerate **
Bobby Lee Robert Lee Jr. (born September 17, 1971) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and podcaster. From 2001 to 2009, Lee was a cast member on ''MADtv'', and he co-starred in the ABC single-camera sitcom series ''Splitting Up Together'' alongside ...
as English dub of New York Degenerate.


Production

When first conceiving the series, executive producer Channing Tatum asked the creators to bring him the worst ideas they could think of, with the reasoning "When you try to find something that is not working, you figure out what's cool about it, and you can find some really hidden gems." Gatewood and Tanaka pitched a satire series that spoofed Communist propaganda from the 1980s. The two had become fascinated with Soviet propaganda television after seeing a mid-1980s
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
documentary on Soviet broadcasts. They initially looked into dubbing over real
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
television shows but realized it would be easier to make their own show rather than procure the rights. The series takes inspiration from the
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
n show ''
Thirty Cases of Major Zeman ''Thirty Cases of Major Zeman'' (''Třicet případů majora Zemana'') is a Czechoslovak action-drama television show intended as a political propaganda to support the official attitude of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. The series were f ...
''. They also took inspiration from the idea that growing up, American 1980s movies like ''
Red Dawn ''Red Dawn'' is a 1984 American action drama film directed by John Milius with a screenplay by Milius and Kevin Reynolds. The film depicts a fictional World War III centering on a land invasion of the continental United States by an alliance o ...
'' served as both entertainment and propaganda. It also took inspiration from the
East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
series ' and the American film ''
Lethal Weapon ''Lethal Weapon'' is a 1987 American buddy cop action comedy film directed and co-produced by Richard Donner, written by Shane Black, and co-produced by Joel Silver. It stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover alongside Gary Busey, Tom Atkins, Darle ...
''. By making the propaganda and inaccuracies obvious to a western audience, they hoped to make the subtle nature of modern propaganda more clear. Tanaka stated that the goal was to create the inverse Soviet equivalent of the type of Russian-villain entertainment common in 1980s America. Episodes were initially written in English before being translated into Romanian. The shows were filmed in Romania with local cast. Other than the
director of photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...
, writers and director, the entire cast and crew were locally recruited in Romania. The English-language actors were only cast after the series had been filmed and edited. In an unlikely coincidence worth mention, the main Romanian actor, Florin Piersic Jr. is the son of
Florin Piersic Florin Piersic (; born 27 January 1936) is a well-known Romanian actor and TV personality. He is particularly famous for his leading roles in ''The White Moor'' and the ''Margelatu'' series films. He has a reputation, often parodied in popular ...
, the main actor of a pretty similar Romanian film series that appeared in 1980-1987, ''Mărgelatu'', which claims the settings of years 1840s-1850s in Romania in 6 episodes: The Road of the Bones (1980), The Yellow Rose (1982), The Mysteries of Bucharest (1983), The Silver Mask (1985), The Turqoise Necklace (1986), and Everything Costs (1987). In the third episode of '' Mărgelatu'', The Mysteries of Bucharest as in The Turquise Necklace, the two main heroes (
Florin Piersic Florin Piersic (; born 27 January 1936) is a well-known Romanian actor and TV personality. He is particularly famous for his leading roles in ''The White Moor'' and the ''Margelatu'' series films. He has a reputation, often parodied in popular ...
and stunt master Szabolcs Cseh) preempt an attempt by Austrian Empire to foment a revolution as a pretext to invade and take control of the Romanian state found at the time under king Bibescu, in somewhat similarly intricate intrigues and stunts as the ones recalled by Comrade Detective to be happening 150 years later with the atmosphere leading to the 1989 revolution. The police quarters scenes are also similar to the ones in the Brigade Diverse in Alert (1970-1971).


Episodes


Reception

''Comrade Detective'' received mostly positive reactions from critics.
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
indicated that 82% of critics gave the series a positive review. On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
the series received a score of 66 out of 100 based on 12 critics. Ben Travers of
IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
gave the show a positive review, calling it a sharp satire. He focused in on the show's goal of deconstructing propaganda, claiming, "They're not simply here to make you laugh. They're not here to upset you. They're here to make you think differently and enjoy your time doing it. By that gauge, ''Comrade Detective'' is a roaring success. By the basic metric of thoroughly engaging television, it's still a winner." James Poniewozik of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' gave it a less enthusiastic review, claiming that the show committed too much to its initial joke and ran too long. He concluded, "It's a brilliant idea. But it's not much more than an idea."


See also

*
Romanian profanity The following is a list of words and formulations commonly used as profanity throughout Romania. ''Pulă'' and ''pizdă'' The word ''wikt:pulă, pulă'' can be translated into English as ''dick'', ''cock'', or ''prick'' and is a vulgar way of ...


References


External links

* {{Amazon Video original series Amazon Prime Video original programming 2017 American television series debuts 2017 American television series endings Fictional Romanian police detectives Romanian comedy television series 2010s American parody television series 2010s American police comedy television series Communism in fiction Television series set in 1983 Television series by A24 Television series by Amazon Studios