Streaming series review - The Allligator

The Allligator (L’alligatore) ***1/2 (out of 5) (NR) Here’s an unusual TV crime series from Italy. The title is the nickname of our protagonist, Marco (Matteo Martari), a former blues singer fresh from seven years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He and idealistic cohort Max (Gianluca Gobbi), while covertly investigating corporate polluters, accidentally witness a bigger crime, causing him to be framed by some complicit cops, and tortured for refusing to ID Max.

All he wants is to drink as much Calvados as his system will tolerate and reconnect with his girlfriend , Greta (Valeria Solarino), a sultry club singer. But she’s apparently moved on, and so must he. Marco finds himself entangled in new challenges. His reputation from prison as a resourceful peacemaker leads an attorney to hire him to locate a former inmate who has disappeared. That leads to a two-episode mystery through hazardous waters that also reopen old wounds for him and his tough-guy buddy, Beniamino (Thomas Trabacchi). That bond is a tight one, having been forged while together in the slammer. The rest of the season puts them into three more two-episode adventures, with running threads of opposition as the jobs form a Venn diagram with plenty of overlaps.

The cast of characters is deep and well-drawn. Villains, victims and vixens abound. There is a fair sprinkling of romance and erotic moments, but nothing particularly lurid in the display. Same for the violence, though a few scenes involving torture or intense interrogation are rather harsh for TV fare. Marco shuns guns and is lucky that Beniamino does quite the opposite. In fact, the farther along the season goes, the more it seems as if Beni would have been a more interesting focal point than our eponymous low-key hero. The dude has more savvy and subtle swagger in his step than Marco. Many of the supporting players are given enough attention in the scripts to be fleshed out as full characters, including their adjustments to changing circumstances.

Overall, the tone is slow and somber, almost noirish, with blues music dominating the score, and complementing the many sources of danger to Marco and his friends, set in a part of Italy that looks pretty soggy from nearly ubiquitous rainfall and mist. The season ends with resolution of most plot issues but leaves a bit of intrigue for a second season, if one shall be delivered unto us (yet to be determined, as of this posting). One of those questions is that I’m still not sure why he was given that reptilian nickname. But I’m curious.

(The Alligator {L’alligatore}, mostly in Italian with subtitles, streams on MHzChoice as of September 13, 2022)