I don't think critics should tell the audience what they should or shouldn't watch in the theater or on streaming platforms like Netflix, but The Hooligan (aka, Kibic) is such a tremendous waste of time that I want to tell every soul on the earth to not watch this series. The way in which The Hooligan insults our intelligence is simply mind-boggling. No one involved with this production has bothered to connect one scene with another scene. In fact, there is nothing between the scenes. The Hooligan treats moments as bullet points. Every dialogue, and every action simply moves the plot machine. The series displays no interest in its characters or its setting. The "story" could have been set during any time with anybody. The "characters" have no inner life - they are incredibly empty. Their behavior is purely motivated by whatever's written in the script (the script, on the other hand, seems to be a replication of the plot summary that's found on Wikipedia). I won't compare them to puppets because puppets look more convincing.
The Hooligan puts us in the world of football fanatics, where their passion for the sport defines their identities. One group supports Team Gladius, while the other backs Team Kosy. During football matches, these fans express their enthusiasm by taunting each other, but outside the stadium, they also engage in drug deals. Kuba is a Gladius fan, and he is fascinated by the drug dealings. He sells drugs for Zyga, the head of the Gladius club, and Zyga, in return, showers him with fatherly affection and a PlayStation 5. You see, Zyga thinks Kuba is his son. He even refers to him as "My flesh" at one point - that too in front of Kuba's real father, Michal. Michal, in the past, used to work with Zyga, but something happened, and he was thrown into prison. He knows Zyga is a snake - a venom-spewing idiot. This is why he constantly tells Kuba to break all connections with Zyga and his business. Does Kuba listen? Of course not. If he were a sensible person, my five hours wouldn't have been wasted.
Kuba's attraction towards this illegal work is intensified by the financial compensation. The Hooligan, however, doesn't revel in his joy, his satisfaction. We feel nothing when Blanka, Kuba's girlfriend, throws money in the air with excitement, and we surely don't experience a sense of fear or pleasure during the scenes where Blanka and Kuba take a big risk with Zyga's drugs. The Hooligan is visually feeble. The unadorned images merely convey plot-related information. The show is so lazy, so clumsy, that it doesn't even care if all the relationships look unconvincing. Why is Blanka attracted to Kuba? Their first meeting is filled with insults and mockery. Yet, when they come across each other again, sparks somehow fly. What does she see in him? Hell, what does he see in her? The only plausible explanation you can offer for this development is that they are one of the main characters, as well as good-looking. Hence, Kuba and Blanka become a couple.
When Kuba brings Blanka to his house, the former's parents tease them by saying their son always goes on and on about his girlfriend ("Blanka this...Blanka that..."). Well, before this moment, we never get a scene between Kuba and his parents where he even mentions the name of his girlfriend. When did he go on and on about his new lover? The characters must surely be gifted with telepathic skills. How else could Justyna, Kuba's mother, learn about Blanka's pregnancy later? In one of the episodes, Justyna gets fed up with Kuba's insistence on continuing to work for Zyga and tells him to ask his boss for details about Michal. Why couldn't she narrate Michal's story herself? Why doesn't Kuba bring up this topic in Zyga's presence? As soon as Kuba and Blanka start taking advantage of the drug business, a voice inside our head whispers that they will be caught sooner or later. They get caught all right, but who informs Zyga about their secret game? How exactly does he receive access to this knowledge?
The questions don't end here. Why doesn't Blanka, who is supposed to be very intelligent, try getting a job or a scholarship in any college? How does she find her clients (students who want someone to write their research papers)? But let's stop here since shows like The Hooligan ignore logic or basic storytelling elements. In one scene, Zyga is with Kuba in a forest; in the next scene, he is seen in the club conversing with Kuba's mother. The two incidents are so disconnected that they leave you disoriented. There is something here about toxic fan clubs and how it's the fans who destroy or elevate the status of their fandom. The Hooligan also says that while these clubs might grant you some privileges (friends, for instance), you would be stupid if you start walking on the path of violence for the community and its members. Kuba and Michal give so much priority to the football clubs that they lose touch with people who genuinely care about them. The Hooligan, though, is so poorly made that it will surely not gain any devotees or defenders. The issue is not that this series contains shallow, empty characters; the problem lies in the fact that the series is dumb and empty itself.
Final Score- [1.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times