The series "The twelve" - ​​currently the best thriller - drama on NETFLIX

I love watching drama thrillers. I’ve watched a lot of series, many of them are court dramas.I thought that I would no longer come across a series of content that could surprise me, and I was wrong.

Just when you think you’ve seen everything that exists from court dramas, the Belgian “The Twelve” (De Twaalf) creators Bert Van Dil and Sana Nujens patiently and gently hold the viewer’s hand as he introduces them to the Ghent town hall. The judicial system, which has not been immortalized on small screens so far, obliges invited citizens to be part of the jury through a system of random selection. If the judge takes your name out of the box, your business, professional, family and personal obligations are a secondary matter because you are obliged to sit quietly at the trial and adjudicate the controversial case of Free Palmers who is suspected of killing her friend Brisce and two-year-old daughter Roche. This sad woman with the look of a desperate man who has lost everything sits quietly, while witnesses take out their dirty laundry and roll her in the mud that changes the case from trial to trial. As much as the jury knows about the case, nothing at the very beginning, so much will the audience know. As time goes on and when the details of the investigation hit the table, a jaw blow from the pathos is inevitable because "The Twelve" without a shred of pretentiousness it calls into question the moral decisions of the person being tried, and those who judge him.

A close-up of the life of Free Palmers very quickly turns to 12 members of the jury. The eyes that look at her without blinking are not just figures on the chessboard because they are an important part of the narrative that will expose the accused's decisions and actions, the people who placed her on the dock, but above all the life backgrounds of the five jury members. At first glance, "The Twelve" seems like a standard court drama, but very soon it will take off the court cap and turn the series into a thriller-drama in which every person in the courtroom lies as they sing.

The jury made up of Dolphin, Arnold, Holly, Jroy and Mark are equally lost souls as the accused. The narrative explores the passive-aggressive marriage of Dolphin who is locked in a life cage with three children and a violent husband. Although the first idea would be about a violent marriage - a man beating a woman, "The Twelve" gives a much more correct picture of a "bad marriage", ie. what exactly verbal aggression and psychological torture mean. Arnold is a loner and one of the employees at the zoo. The initial empathy for the withdrawn man from the neighborhood took on a much more cynical and sinister tone. The story of Holly, Jory and Mark is a moral dilemma and a question for the audience - how exactly are these people in any way fit to judge anyone.

The giant story that accompanies a dozen characters is a mastery of script and characterization that never misses parts of the story during ten episodes. And while the central dilemma - what did Free Palmer really do while a social worker, ex-husband, his mistress, mistress's mother and her best friend's father play around her life in front of the courtroom, "The Twelve" looks outside the court walls at the cruelty of life and imperfect methods of punishment people. Given that ordinary and imperfect citizens are a jury in a controversial court case, the series subtly pushes the judge's chair under the viewer's buttocks, placing him in the role of commander-in-chief. The audience will share almost identical emotions and feelings towards the accused and the witnesses with the jury, but when they meet them, they will think carefully - whether he wants to hit the table with a hammer and say - she is guilty or innocent.

The Belgian series, which won its second season immediately after its debut, very deliberately leaves the end of the season as it is. Without intending to deceive the audience or leave it unanswered, but to make them think for themselves and reconsider their own value system. Mild stomach pains and discomfort are inevitable because the fantastic acting, screenplay, directorial decisions and narrative of the Free Palmers case make you really called to the courtroom to be a jury, so please judge if your conscience is clear.