The spoof genre has all but died over the past few decades as a majority of spoofs dedicated themselves to lampooning specific popular movies over genre tropes. It’s a damn shame. Spoofs can be a hilarious examination of how genres work. Rhys Thomas is one of the creative minds behind Documentary Now!, serving as the co-director on a majority of the episodes that spoof classic documentaries. Now he’s helming a new series for Amazon, Comrade Detective. Created by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka, Comrade Detective is supposed to be a long lost crime drama produced in Romania during the height of the Cold War in the ‘80s. For better or worse, Comrade Detective is incredibly dedicated to its silly premise, playing its escalating insanity with the straightest face possible. It’s a clever, amusing series that will likely speak to a select few willing to go along with its communist detectives and the unraveling mystery over the course of six wildly absurd episodes.
The episodes are introduced by Channing Tatum and Jon Ronson, who present this would-be lost series with fictitious factoids, such as Stanley Kubrick’s admiration for the show. As the story goes, they’ve restored this long lost crime drama and dubbed it for American audiences. The story of Comrade Detective isn’t unlike many other cop dramas. Gregor Anghel (Florin Piersic, Jr. and voiced by Tatum) is forced to take on a new partner Iosif Baciu (Corneliu Ulici and voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) when his partner Nikita is killed in the line of duty. The two detective at first start out with a contentious relationship that warms over time. In searching for the killer of Nikita, they uncover an expansive plot by an American sympathizer trying to subvert the Romanian communist state with materialism and religion.
Most of the humor of Comrade Detective comes from the straight-faced manner in which many of the nightmarish aspects of the Soviet state are casually remarked upon. In one episode, the lead detectives are baffled when they discover a Monopoly game, and horrified to learn how this children’s game is a tool for capitalistic indoctrination. Casual gags are made about the secret police that round up dissidents and subversives to the state. In one scene, Iosif fondly recalls how he met his wife, using his power as a police officer to force her into a marriage. It’s told with such an easy manner that its terrifying absurdity slowly creeps into hilarity. And that’s a running theme throughout Comrade Detective, a casual attitude towards a repressive, totalitarian state.
The killer that Gregor and Iosif are tracking makes sudden appearances and is always wearing his Ronald Reagan mask. Along the way to revealing the identity of the Western loving killer, the detective encounter a number of startling revelations, including a baker who secretly practices Catholic services despite the banning of religion under the strict regime. This scene unfolds in a manner that resembles how many satanic rituals are handled in horror movies. It’s a stark combination of style and deadpan delivery of absurd dialogue that provides Comrade Detective with a unique personality that is often quite funny.
Over the course of the six episodes of Comrade Detectives, a number of well-known actors lend their voices to various characters. The unmistakable voice of Nick Offerman is provided for their superior of Gregor and Iosif. Other key names to lend their voices to characters include Jason Mantzoukas, Chloë Sevigny, Jake Johnson, John DiMaggio, Daniel Craig, Richard Jenkins, Mahershala Ali, Jenny Slate, and many, many more.
As it seems as if we’re reliving the Cold War with constant discussions about Russian interference in democratic elections around the world, and the escalating rhetoric directed toward the former Soviet Union, Comrade Detective swoops in to provide us with a unique riff on capitalism and communism in a bizarre take on the police drama that is staple of modern television. Comrade Detective is a series that could hopefully bring new life to the long-dormant spoof genre. This isn’t a series that’s going to be widely accessible to broad audiences, but if you’re willing to go along with the hard-boiled lunacy you’ll find a show that’s unlike anything else on television (broadcast or streaming).
Comrade Detective
- Overall Score
Summary
A wild, crazy spoof series that lampoons totalitarian communist states and police dramas, Comrade Detective is unlike anything currently on television.