I was very excited when I read an article prior to the release of Criminal. I thought it was a pretty fresh, engaging idea and wanted to see if they'd be able to pull off their idea with solely the behind the scenes action in an attempt to bring a criminal to justice. It seemed like a tall order to me. I've watched nearly every series iteration: UK, Germany, and Spain (just need to binge watch France next). I have to say, this series was the only one I found disappointing.
Instead of focusing on the criminal, the Criminal: Spain series focused much more heavily on the detectives. This could have been interesting, but instead it flopped. We had one detective - a senior investigator, strong, sexy, experienced, very determined. Then the show had to put her at odds with the other senior female detective, because of course two strong women can't get along without stepping on each other's toes. Then, her sexual relationship with a younger male colleague was brought into the story. But instead of allowing a strong woman to be powerful and behave "like a man" (have sex with who she wants, when she wants, on her own terms) she is, course, punished for it when the younger male officer then sabotages her behind the scenes. It felt very behind the times and was a real disappointment to me.