# The Defence (2018)

> A brilliant, cynical Warsaw lawyer takes on a case in which a missing toddler's parents are the prime suspects.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/72460

## Facts

- Seasons: 5
- Episodes: 32
- Episode runtime: 45 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama
- Network: Player
- Cast: Magdalena Cielecka, Filip Pławiak, Wojciech Zieliński, Piotr Żurawski, Jakub Gierszał, Jacek Koman, Ireneusz Czop, Olgierd Łukaszewicz
- TMDB rating: 7.0/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9399222/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: cynical, tense, gritty, sardonic, dark

## Synopsis

The Defence (2018-2022) is a Polish national-television legal drama series created for Player. Brilliant, cynical lawyer Joanna Chyłka (Magdalena Cielecka) takes on a case in which three-year-old Nikola Szlezyngier has vanished and her parents Angelika and Dawid are the main suspects. Working alongside her new apprentice Kordian (Filip Pławiak), Joanna pushes the investigation through police resistance, hostile prosecutors and a tangle of secrets, as she tries to win an outcome that seems unlikely. The series runs five seasons with 32 episodes in total, following one continuing legal story rather than separate cases each week. Its tone is tense and darkly sardonic, with grim subject matter handled in a restrained, grounded register. Its procedural texture, sharp courtroom exchanges and morally compromised characters recall Better Call Saul and The Night Of, and fans of gritty legal thrillers will find resonance here. Set in contemporary Poland, the drama moves between offices, courtrooms and interrogation rooms, and its appeal lies in watching a single lawyer's relentless methods against a system that resists her.

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