Rarely has a TV series kept me this hooked and consistently entertained throughout all its seasons like "Il Cacciatore - The Hunter". Usually, even great shows have weaker phases at some point, but here the tension stays on a really high level from beginning to end. The anti-mafia prosecutor Saverio Barone, played by Francesco Montanari, is portrayed in a very complex and nuanced way. He’s definitely not an easy character — constantly torn between his job and his family and often pretty ruthless — but that’s exactly what makes him so interesting. It’s incredibly satisfying watching him slowly close in on the mafiosi step by step. At the same time, the series does a great job showing the personal price of that fight, especially when it comes to his private life. The constant pressure and all the moments he misses with his daughter remain an important theme throughout the show. A lot of the mafiosi shown in the series were real people, including Bernardo Provenzano, Pietro Aglieri, and Leoluca Bagarella. Some of them are even still alive today. That’s one of the reasons why the show feels so authentic. The actors portraying these figures all did an outstanding job and gave the characters a huge presence on screen. On top of that, the mafia is never romanticized. Instead of stylish “Godfather-like” gangsters, you get a brutal and realistic portrayal of that world. The storyline involving the kidnapped boy during the first two seasons was especially emotional and really sticks with you. Davide’s fate in the third season also reveals some deeply human tragedies. For me, this is easily one of the best Italian crime series ever made alongside "Gomorrah" and "Romanzo Criminale" — intense, gripping, and brilliantly told.
