When the series “4 Blocks” was over, there were many sad fans. After three seasons, the Hamadys story came to a spectacular end, but rumors of a fourth season were never confirmed. But there is now a new series that is really fun and could take on the great legacy of “4 Blocks”.
Tony and Abbas Hamady have become legends in the German series landscape. In 2017, the pay-TV broadcaster TNT Serie set a new standard for series in Germany with the Berlin gangster series “4 Blocks”. All the better that there has been a new project since April 22 that wants to continue this legacy: “Para – Wir sind King”.
In the series, four young women in the Berlin district of Wedding accidentally come across a large amount of cocaine. With this they want to make para – i.e. money – in order to get out of their economic misery. Sounds simple, but it’s complicated. Here are three reasons why the series can follow the legacy of “4 Blocks”.
Para – We are King: More than milieu, this is where things really get down to business
A cell phone video opens the first episode of the series, a harmless situation escalates to the worst and then a cut. Rumbling streets, three cheerful young women pick up their girlfriend at the bus station and off they go to Wedding to celebrate Hajra’s (Soma Pysall) return. Jazz (Jean Goursaud), Rasaq (Roxana Samadi) and Fanta (Jobel Mokonzi) stayed behind, while Hajra had to go to a measure because of the incident mentioned above. Already in the first few minutes “Para” starts to be fun, because the viewer feels like he’s right in the middle of it. The four women speak their wedding slang so calmly and unaffectedly that it inspires. Hitting this style alone made “4 Blocks” perfect, and here comes the difficulty of the youth – also more often a red rag on German TV. The club scenes, the friendship, the drugs and how the women’s group reacts to other people is so real that it really immerses you.
“4 Blocks” goes Wedding: The team is the same
Why does this work so well? Except for the actors, the whole team is basically the same as in “4 Blocks”. The three authors Hanno Hackfort, Bob Konrad and Richard Kropf are there, as is Özgur Yildirim as director, who continued “4 Blocks” after the very good first season in a second and third. Also production and even TV stations are the same with TNT series.
So much potential
Based on the episodes that we have been able to view so far, the story and the constellation also make a good impression. All four women struggle with money problems, as do their families. They fight for jobs, for recognition from their parents or not to have their electricity cut off. “Para – Wir sind King” focuses on four women as potential criminals, delivers rocked-out Berlin charm and has the opportunity to escalate into a highly dramatic story about rise, fall and friendships – just like the case with the Hamadys was.
This article first appeared on TVSpielfilm.de.