Police officer Styx catches a murderer red-handed and is shot. The next morning he washes up alive on the beach. After an interview with an errand boy from a crime organization, corrupt police officer Raphaël Styx (Sebastien Dewaele, Eigen Kweek) catches a masked murderer red-handed. However, he is also shot by the killer and left for dead.
The next morning, however, he washes up on the beach and begins his search for the reason for this second chance. Styx's life hasn't been going well for a while now. He is estranged from his children and his wife has filed for divorce. His credibility with the police force is also at a low level.
Such a first episode should always introduce the setting of the story a bit. Yet the viewer is already shown a few surprising elements. We find out what happens when Styx gets angry and at the end of the episode, we even get to see the identity of the masked man. But is that masked man the same as the one who shot Styx?
In any case, the viewer gets their money's worth in this idiosyncratic fantasy/thriller epic where main actor Sebastien Dewaele leaves a captivating impression in that first episode with his portrayal of Styx.
In addition to Dewaele, the cast of Styx is impressive, including Koen De Bouw (Professor T.), Werner Kolf (Swanenburg), Loes Haverkort (Mafia) and Wim Willaert (Nonkels), to name just a few.
Initially, Styx has a high Beau Sejour content. Also in that series, a character who died by violence went in search of his/her killer. In Styx, however, the makers go one step further. This becomes clear in the first episode, so that as a viewer you immediately get the feeling that you are not watching a third season of the previously mentioned series.
Styx is based on the book of the same name by Bavo Dhooge, who also made his debut on the American market with this novel. Anyone who has already seen the first episode of Styx will also have seen that the recording method certainly contains enough elements to make a splash on the English-speaking market.
We recommend dubbing the West Flemish language of the vast majority of the cast into English. This brings me to the only point of criticism of Styx; The use of the West Flemish dialect. Not that it is detrimental to the series because, just like all those other series in the West Flemish dialect (Eigen Kweek, Onder Vuur, Chantal, Nonkels, etc...), this fits perfectly into the picture thanks to a strong interpretation.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.