Soap opera alert: Donald Trump is back in the White House, sure to capture the world’s cameras for the next four years. A real-life TV series, full of twists and turns and interstate Trafalgar hits. In fiction as in reality, America has the secret of shining our gaze behind the scenes of its politics. She has produced them in multiple series in recent years. Of Madam Secretary (Netflix) to classic The West Wing (NBC), without forgetting the inevitable House of Cards (Netflix again), it’s difficult to miss the American political thriller. This January 26, Disney + is trying its own version of the corridors of the White House with Paradisea series in which one of the president’s bodyguards is suspected of having assassinated him. A classic and effective pitch, variation of a vein well known to viewers. So, close to an overdose of American politics? Rest assured, alternatives exist – and they are European. Rather than the tortuous corridors of Congress, the Old Continent prefers to distinguish itself with a marked taste for geopolitical thrillers.
In recent years, European productions mixing politics, conspiracies and a good dose of international relations have flourished. Their very current issues echo our own fears. Among them, the unsurpassable Busy, whose scenario resembles a waking nightmare. In the near future, Norway announces the cessation of its gas and oil production. The country was almost immediately invaded by Russia, with the consent of the European Union. War in Europe, complicity from Brussels, and energy crisis: in 2015, the king of crime fiction Jo Nesbo imagined a parallel reality as frightening as it was credible. The third and final season was broadcast on Arte in January 2024. It is still available on Arte.TV.
The free platform also allows you to view another gem of the genre. With VigilArte France and the BBC immerse us in the claustrophobic world of submarines. In this Franco-British series, a murder aboard a nuclear ship forces a police officer to go to sea and carry out her investigation with little or no connection to the outside world. Consider an underwater version of Ten Little Negroesmixed withIn pursuit of Red October and of Wolf Song. In season 2, broadcast since January 9, its two heroines swap submarines for drones. A new opportunity to explore the conspiracies of the military-industrial complex.
If this season – rather very short with six episodes – leaves you wanting more, you can always immerse yourself in the last gem on this list: a production broadcast on Netflix depicting a Poland where communism never fell. In this uchrony, a series of bomb attacks in 1983 (the title of the series) led to a hardening of the regime. Years later, the Iron Curtain still exists, like the USSR. A crime will bring together a completely opposite duo, a student and an investigator. Amidst the plots, they will obviously end up approaching a rebellion. A delightful dystopia, with one big flaw: it only has one season. How quickly to return to the intrigues of the White House?