The Mire: Millenium is the third and final chapter of the popular Polish series on Netflix. Set in late 1999, The Mire: Millenium uses a flashback structure, as in past seasons, to both give context to and tie up the various threads of stories that were wound through the first 2 seasons. This time, the flashback decade is the 1960’s, which is the root of the current rot and corruption in Gronty. If you have watched the first two seasons of The Mire, you can expect the same high production value, but also that the writers do not bother to wonder if you are keeping up. They come at stories from very oblique angles, often starting decades in the past, that eventually meet other plotlines. For this reason I absolutely recommend that you read recaps of seasons 1 and 2. Whatever you do, if you haven’t watched The Mire or The Mire 97, don’t start with Millenium!
Read our review of The Mire 97 here.
Characters
Returning characters include Witold (Andrzej Seweryn), the retired journalist who, in season 2 is seeking his long lost love Else Koepke, who may or may not be in Germany. Another is Piotr (Dawid Ogrodnik), the former head of the local paper who is “taking a break” from journalism because his life has fallen apart. Sergeant Anna Jass (Magdalena Rózczka) is back as well. She was the woman that Piotr’s wife left him for in season 2. Anna reconnects with detective Mika (Lukasz Simlat), who is retiring at the end of the year but wants to work one more case. There are new characters this season as well. Kociolek (Filip Plawiak) is the manager of the Centrum hotel who comes to a bad end. But we also see him in flashbacks to the 1960’s when he was just getting his start as a hotelier and pimp. He has a “son”, Filip, likely a bastard, that he loves. Marian Hanys (Wojciech Kalarus) is a current day gangster who muscles his way into the Centrum Hotel and clearly intends to expand his empire in Gronty. Jessijej (Tomasz Schuchardt) is a Romani (that’s the proper terminology for “Gypsy”) with powerful links to Polish leaders. In the 1960’s, he’s in charge of re-settling the Romani after the war. In the present day, he is looking for Filip, but we don’t know why. Whew! That’s not even everybody.
For recommendations of other excellent Polish Crime Dramas, click here.
The Plotlines
The story kicks off with a few crimes. Anna Jass is working a sting operation on smugglers at the Russian border when she gets shot by Polish police (!). She survives, but while in the hospital, she is asked by Mika to translate for a young Romani patient who is a victim of trafficking. She is hysterical, urging police to “Save them!” Piotr is floundering, trying and failing to keep his teen daughter Wanda (Wanda Marzec) on the straight and narrow. Piotr’s girlfriend, Joanna (Vanessa Aleksander), is working a case of a female skeleton found in the Gronty forest who died in the 1960’s. Meanwhile, Witold, who is NOT in Germany looking for Else, as we thought he would be at the end of season 2, gets a call from a man who says, “I have a letter for you. Come to my party at the Centrum Hotel.” That man turns out to be Kociolek. But when Witold gets to the hotel, he finds Kociolek dead, and no letter on him. Marian Hanys tries to buy influence with Piotr. “I’m not working now”, Piotr says. “Something tells me you will be soon.” Meanwhile, in the 1960’s, we see where some of these stories originate, mostly centered Kociolek getting his start in the “hotel” business. These subplots clearly tie together in a sordid story about murder, government corruption and prostitution, but getting there will take all 6 episodes.
What other foreign crime dramas do we recommend on Netflix? Click here to find out.
Our Take on The Mire: Millenium
The Mire Millenium, like the German series Dark, takes us to yet another time period in the final season to ultimately wrap up the stories we have been following, which can feel excessive. Here, it is the 1960’s, when gangsters establish themselves in Gronty. The fact than Hanys, 60 years later, is trying to muscle into the territory, represents the depressing reality that when you chop off the head the snake, another grows immediately in its place. And this is ultimately the story of The Mire: once the root is set, whether in war time atrocities or in post-war hustling, corruption is almost impossible to kill, even with dedicated journalists on the case. What I like about the Mire series is the dense plotting and the superb acting. Also, each season has been excellent. But you really do have to pay attention every second of the way. That can be frustrating. But if it’s something you enjoy, The Mire Millenium is for you.
Looking for more of the best in foreign TV? Don’t miss our other great reviews HERE!
