''Epitafios'' ( en, Epitaphs) is a 2004 13-episode,

Argentinian Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish ( masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

TV mini-series with the tagline: ''El Final Está Escrito ... The End Is Written''. The series, which takes place in an unnamed

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

n city, was shot in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. The series was produced by HBO Latin America and Argentinian TV/ film company

Pol-Ka Producciones Pol-ka Producciones is a television and film production company in Buenos Aires, Argentina, commonly referred to as Pol-ka. The company was launched in 1994 and is owned by Adrián Suar, Fernando Blanco and Artear (Clarín Group). The first te ...

. It was written by Marcelo Slavich and Walter Slavich and directed by Alberto Lecchi and

Jorge Nisco Jorge Nisco (born March 6, 1956, in Bernal, Buenos Aires) is an Argentine director and assistant director best known for Killer Women (2005), Epitafios (2004), and Malparida (2010ref> Career Jorge Nisco started his career in 1997, when he m ...

. Although all of the actors were Argentinian, a neutral

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

was used instead of the local

Rioplatense Spanish Rioplatense Spanish (), also known as Rioplatense Castilian, is a variety of Spanish spoken mainly in and around the Río de la Plata Basin of Argentina and Uruguay. It is also referred to as River Plate Spanish or Argentine Spanish. It is ...

, avoiding colloquialisms such as the local ''vos'' in favor of the more common ''tú''. The series debuted in Australia on SBS in May 2007 under the title ''If The Dead Could Speak''. It premiered in

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Cinemax Cinemax is an American pay television, cable, and satellite television network owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Developed as a companion "maxi-pay" service complementing the offerings shown on parent ...

on November 6, 2008. In

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, it premiered on November 6, 2009 on pay TV channel

Fox Channel The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations and ...

under the title ''Epitafios - Tod ist die Antwort'' (''Epitafios - Death Is The Answer'').

Plot

Bruno Costas (played by Antonio Birabent) seeks revenge on the people involved in the death of four

high-school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

students during a hostage situation gone bad, five years before. The show's two protagonists are ex- detective Renzo Márquez (played by Julio Chávez) and psychiatrist Laura Santini (played by Paola Krum). To add a further twist to this

whodunit A ''whodunit'' or ''whodunnit'' (a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction in which the puzzle regarding who committed the crime is the main focus. The reader or viewer is provided with the c ...

(although it has many elements of a ''whydunit''), Márquez and Santini are on-again, off-again lovers. In the second half of the series, Renzo is aided by a homicide detective, Marina Segal (portrayed by

Cecilia Roth Cecilia Edith Rotenberg Gutkin better known as Cecilia Roth (; born August 8, 1956) is an Argentine actress. She is the winner of two Goya Awards and a European Film Award. She is known for being an " Almodóvar girl" and the "muse" of Fito P ...

), who herself is eventually held hostage by Costas. During her captivity, the psychopathic murderer forces her to kill her mother who had left the family for another man years before, causing Marina's father to commit suicide. Her troubled childhood has led Marina to seek thrills by playing high-stakes Russian Roulette. It's as the corpses of her defeated adversaries begin to surface, she is assigned to the case.

Cast

* Julio Chávez: Renzo Márquez * Paola Krum: Laura Santini *Antonio Birabent: Bruno Costas *David Masajnik: Martin *

: Marina Segal * Luis Luque: Commissaire Jiménez *Villanueva Cosse: Marcos Márquez *

Mercedes Scápola Mercedes Gloria Scápola Morán (born April 25, 1975 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an Argentine actress. She became famous thanks to the 2012 soap opera ''Graduados'' and the 2014 soap opera ''Guapas'', both telenovelas''.'' She is the daughte ...

: Serena

Second Series

A second season of the series - this one's tagline being: ''El Final Ahora Tiene Dos Caras ... The End Now Has Two Faces'' - began airing on HBO Latin America in Argentina (and elsewhere in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

), on April 19, 2009. It premiered in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

on HBO on September 22, 2010. As with the first, this series stars Julio Chávez and

, this time on the trail of a killer played by

Leonardo Sbaraglia Leonardo Máximo Sbaraglia (; born 30 June 1970) is an Argentine actor, with extensive credits in both Argentina and Spain. He has also worked in Mexico, and was cast in his first English-language role in '' Red Lights''. Biography Sbaraglia was ...

.RealTV (Spanish), March 3, 2009

References

External links

* *
Official website
{{HBONetwork Latin America Series 2004 Argentine television series debuts 2009 Argentine television series debuts 2004 Argentine television series endings 2009 Argentine television series endings Spanish-language HBO original programming HBO Latin America original programming Argentine television miniseries Argentine crime television series Argentine drama television series 2000s Argentine television series Television shows set in Buenos Aires 2000s television miniseries