Darker than Dark, but not quite as strange as Stranger Things, Black Daisies is a Polish crime drama that does things a little differently. A standout at MIPCOM in 2023 and one of Variety’s top picks from the show, Black Daisies contains all the typical hallmarks of a European procedural, but it has an added genre-blending edge that makes for unpredictable viewing.
The mystery begins in Wałbrzych, a small city in Poland sandwiched by Germany and Czechia. As a result of its border proximity, the town has a multi-national war-era history that seeps into its deepest, darkest corners. A defining feature are the labyrinthine underground mining tunnels, serving as a source of mystery and menace.
The story begins when a group of young children, led by a 16-year-old girl, walk hand in hand out of school one day, only for none of them to return. A desperate investigation into their disappearance brings the secrets of this quiet community bubbling to the surface.
Lena (Karolina Kominek), a geologist who has been shunned for her past mistakes and has thus turned her back on her old life, is dragged back to her hometown when her estranged daughter, Ada (Alicja Wieniawa-Narkiewicz), is the 16-year-old accused of abducting the children. This set-up makes Lena not all that dissimilar from Winona Ryder’s Joyce Byers in Stranger Things. She is a strong-willed mother prepared to go against public prejudice to find her child, and she’s not afraid to wear her heart on her sleeve while doing so.
Determined to atone, Lena returns to town and mounts a desperate and unauthorised investigation – in which everyone is a suspect. Assisting Lena is her charming and likable childhood friend-turned-policeman Rafal (Dawid Ogrodnik), who begins to suspect there is something more to the wealthy Black Daisy spa that has opened in town and the charismatic benefactor who runs it, Marta (Edyta Olszówka). The Black Daisy claims it’s there to bring the Wałbrzych region “back to life,” but when the children of some of its members go missing, the foundation wants nothing to do with it.
Rafal (Dawid Ogrodnik). Credit: Jaroslaw Sosinski / CANAL+
The Black Daisy and its catalogue of coal-infused products are just one thread of the tangled web of suspicion that this series spins. An illegal mining conspiracy, the secret underground ventures of two teens, plus the local police investigation, make for a complex plot. Not to mention, Lena starts to unravel a trail of strange symbols that Ada was tied to before her disappearance. The mystery isn’t the only thing unravelling in Lena’s life as she deals with her resentful ex-husband and his new wife, along with her private struggles with a rare disease that threatens to push her into repeating past mistakes.
If this sounds like a lot to keep up with, it is, but Black Daisies sticks to a familiar format, easing viewers into a straightforward detective story with all the trappings of a typical Scandinavian Noir: a cold grey colour palette builds a moody atmosphere, morally conflicted characters contemplate crossing physical and emotional red tape, disparate plot threads fuel a slow-burn mystery. Black Daisies ticks all the boxes, but it gradually evolves beyond being just a cut-and-dry foreign-language crime thriller as the episodes progress. It’s a series steeped deeply in its procedural roots, but is infused with moments of horror, shades of sci-fi, and hints of the supernatural.
Karolina Kominek as Lena. Credit: Jaroslaw Sosinski / CANAL+
Black Daisies achieves this balance slowly, through sparse moments of strangeness and surreal visuals which add to the thrill of the unfurling puzzle. A child claims to see a ghost right before his unexplained disappearance. Something unusual lurks beneath the surface of the flooded tunnels. Lena’s haunting dreams start to occur during waking hours. These genre elements are so subtle at first that you’ll begin to question whether they’re relevant at all. Were the children really taken by something supernatural, or is it all just a metaphor for a much darker reality?
The absence of an upfront explanation only adds to the compelling nature of Black Daisies. The series encourages audiences to ponder their questions and form their own theories but withholds the answers until the end.
It would be easy to box in Black Daisies with other Nordic Noir or Polish crime series, but it stands out thanks to some of its parallels with mainstream dramas. The unexpected disappearance of missing children is a premise straight out of Stranger Things, while the abstract mystery behind the cause and the impact on the community is akin to Picnic at Hanging Rock. A more literal comparison would be to Dark, another foreign-language crime thriller about disappearing children, with its secrets hidden in underground caves. It’s safe to say that if any of these shows were your cup of tea, Black Daisies might be too.
Black Daisies is streaming at on SBS On Demand.
