The gripping five-episode Soviet television Series is a fairly faithful adaptation of the eponymous novel by Yulian Semyonov, the creator of "Seventeen Moments of Spring". The plot of "Confrontation" connects the past—the tragic years of the Great Patriotic War—with the present—the early 1980s, when a series of brutal and seemingly unrelated murders takes place. The highly experienced Colonel Kostenko arrives in the northern city of Nardyn, where a sack containing a decapitated body has been discovered, and after gradually ruling out various versions, establishes that the trail leads to the dangerous criminal Krotov, who betrayed his homeland during the war and defected to the Germans. Kostenko discovers that the elusive Krotov has left a bloody trail since 1945, and several decades later the traitor remains just as cunning, cautious, and ruthless. The Series simultaneously shows two time periods, paying attention to Krotov’s development and his transformation from an inept, stammering soldier into a professional saboteur. The confrontation between a seasoned detective and a cunning killer is a true gift for all lovers of quality detective stories from a master of his craft.
