If a war strikes, you’d save your family first. But what if they ever rage war against you? Your own blood turns into a foe. When the trailer of the high-octane Brazilian crime thriller show, ‘DOM’ released last month, we could feel the slow burns of a twisted tale interspersed with action sequences inching towards us. 

Shifting between action, adventure and drama, ‘DOM’ at its core is a simple story of a father and a son, who have unquestioning love and respect for each other. There are conflicts, a lot of chasing around, and harsh words exchanged, but the show effortlessly ties it all back to its central theme of unconditional love that piggybacks a relationship between a parent and their child. This is a theme that has been underlined by many films and TV shows before, but with Pedro and Victor’s tender father-son portrayal, ‘DOM’ somehow manages to give it a new dimension. 

What’s more appalling than shocking murders, brainwashed antiheroes and a kid roaming the dark corridors of a prison? To know that it’s all true and has happened at some point in time. ‘DOM’ is a riveting tale of Pedro who is introduced to the dark world of cocaine and eventually emerges as the leader of a major criminal gang in Rio de Janeiro in the early 2000s, while his father, Victor makes it his life’s mission to eradicate drugs from his country land. It’s because the storyline is so sensitive and manages to stitch itself to your heart, you will feel yourself getting involved more and more with each episode. 

‘DOM’ serves you good looks on a platter. But once you finally manage to stop swooning over rolled-up sleeves, sauve bikers and deep blue eyes (Oh!), you’ll realise that the cast is stacked with talent. Flavio Tolezani really impresses as the helpless intelligence agent, who watches his own son succumb to what he considered to be his biggest enemy and fought so hard against all his life, drugs. But Gabriel Leone takes the cake with his remarkable portrayal of Pedro who’s constantly fighting (and losing) a battle of his own. Each actor is more than up to the task of making sure that the trauma of the characters transcends our laptop screens to hit us right in the feels. 

There’s a reason why we couldn’t wait till the weekend to watch the show. And we’re not disappointed. Given the show’s theme, the tension will always have you on the edge of your seats. This is not the kind of series for which you have to keep the lights on to feel safe though. With ‘DOM’ there are chances of the hair rising on your body because of the shocking revelations that happen along the way. There are scenes that will have your heart in your mouth imagining the worst, if someone, somewhere gets caught. Please make sure to have nothing else on your itinerary before sitting down to binge the show because you’ll not be able to get up. 

You don’t need to be a 90s kid to think about Vengaboys whenever you hear Brazil. Even though ‘DOM’ focuses on a crime action based drug mafia plot, it makes sure to do so keeping the picturesque locations of Rio in the background. The pain in the lives of the characters strikes a surreal contrast to the beauty of the red and orange skies above and the crystal clear blue seas. Even though the show is available in English, and three other Indian languages, we suggest you watch it in Portuguese. Trust us, you’ll actually feel like you’ve been transported to Brazil. É super legal!