Crossing Lines

Crossing lines is an interesting international approach to your typical crime-based drama, while following some familiar themes from similar series’. For example your main character; Detective Carl Hickman is an ex-cop from the NYPD with a physical impairment on his right hand. His injury brought upon the situation, which caused him to leave the force and move to Amsterdam; where he works as a custodian at a theme park (which is explained more throughout the series). His observational skills are unlike anyone else’s and he's able to put pieces together that other people won’t even see. Because of this he is recruited into an international cross-border task force who answers to the International Criminal Court out of De Hague. Their aim is to catch criminals who’s crimes are committed in or affect multiple countries whose police forces don’t have the jurisdiction nor the abundance of information needed to connect the crimes or investigate them. Each member has a specific skill, which they are at the top of their field in. The team comes from many different police forces around Europe. Every member also has a compelling back story which comes into play at some point during the series, giving them more character depth in 2 seasons than many shows will achieve in 5.   

A couple of the more interesting team members include Tommy McConnel and Sebastian Berger. Tommy grew up in a traveling camp of gypsies where he was a champion bare-knuckle boxer. Having turned cop his father put a hit on his head for £10,000, which comes into play later on in the series. His experiences and criminal past make him the perfect tactical and weapons specialist. His ability to understand the criminal element also comes in handy in many situations. Sebastian is a computer wizard who has created a device, which is able to take holographic 3-Dimensional images of entire areas. The team is able to analyze these images down to the smallest detail and find clues that would otherwise go unnoticed. This machine brings a very interesting new element to a genre that’s tried everything in terms of making technology a compelling and integral part of their series’. Sebastian is also able to access or hack almost any database or computer to retrieve information essential to their cases. Due to the fact they don’t necessarily have anyone supplying them these cases they more often than not have to look for patterns of crimes occurring in multiple countries, which they must have approved by the ICC to investigate. Each case provides different obstacles depending on the crimes and countries in which they are located, making the series new and interesting from episode to episode. All in all this is a great series and id recommend it to anyone who enjoys crime dramas or people looking for something new with an interesting formula and story vehicle.

So far there are 2 seasons available on Netflix and on Feb 20 2015 it was renewed for a 12-episode third season.