The latest offering from Walter Presents for these long winter evenings is this German series about a young trainee policewoman, Julia Gerloff (Emma Bading), who falls for the sinister Nick (Jannik Schümann). But little does Julia know that Nick has been hired by a mysterious man in a BMW to weasel his way into her affections.
If you want to avoid all spoilers, stop reading this article now.
Having made his move on Julia on a subway train, their first date is meant to be a picnic in the countryside. But Nick takes her to a deserted property where a young boy is living rough and attacks Julia. Nick seemingly gives chase, but when he catches up with the lad in a barn, he clearly already knows him; although the boy – Clemens, who we later learn has learning difficulties – refers to him as “Chris”.
When Ira – the leader of the commune that had abandoned the house – hears from Clemens that “Chris” has visited, she is concerned and sends the thuggish Karl to collect Clemens from the deserted house. But Karl is too rough handed with the boy and ends up killing him when he tries to escape Karl’s clutches.
Julia – in a rare moment of sensible behaviour – checks up on her mysterious boyfriend and discovers that his motorbike is a rental. But that doesn’t stop her going on a second date with him. And after they’ve made love, she spots a tattoo on his back that causes her some concern.
Meanwhile, Ira and her far-right extremist cult are dancing about in the forest and performing odd rituals, such as walking barefoot on hot coals – like you do!
A key aspect of any drama is empathy for and belief in the characters. So far in ‘The New Front' (known as ‘Westwall' in Germany) I’m struggling to find any character I particularly like or find believable. Would the seemingly sensible and grounded Julia really fall for this guy, particularly after their peculiar first date where she gets attacked? Nick (or Chris) is a shady character who appears to have affection for Julia, despite his shady past and the fact that he’s being paid to ingratiate himself into her affections. But is he really a believable character? And the least said about Ira and her weird followers in the forest the better.
The acting is all perfectly fine, but the writing is formulaic and bland. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with the show; but with so much great drama out there, anything that’s as average as this isn’t likely to gain much traction.
I love that WP gives us such a huge selection of international dramas to choose from; but in their vast arsenal of shows, this one is falls under the “non-essential” category, I’m afraid.
Walter Presents: ‘The New Front' is available to watch on C4 Streaming now.
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