PrimeWire

For me Finnish crime series were always heavily lacking compared to Swedish, Norwegian or Icelandic so when I discovered this Finnish cold war spy drama series Shadow Lines I did not have high hopes. However seeing that it was attached to Sundance Now (and their stellar record with foreign spy dramas like the Modern French spy drama series “The Bureau” or Le Bureau Des Legendes) I decided to jump in. Once you understand the “whose who” of the key players (USA/Soviet Union/Finland) it takes about two episodes for the storyline to start cooking. Overall, the characters themselves are interesting, in particular Helena and her backstory. The acting is hit and miss however but overall the Finnish actors trying for an American accent do a pretty good job. It’s no Homeland but it is a pretty well written spy series about the heyday of the Cold War and of a country trying to regain it’s political independence from two Superpower taskmasters. 4/5