June 30, 2025

A Polish prison thriller

Agata Kulesza stars as a wrongly incarcerated judge in “The Convict.” TVN

	By Margaret Lyons

Dear Watchers,

Alicja Mazur (Agata Kulesza) is a successful, hard-charging judge with a well-adjusted teen daughter, Hania (Martyna Byczkowska), and an exciting fiancé, Pawel (Michal Czernecki). But on her wedding day, a young woman accosts her and warns her not to marry Pawel because he’s not who he says he is. Before Alicja can ascertain more, she finds the woman dead in the bathroom at the reception, and in the blink of an eye, Alicja is convicted of her murder and thrown into prison — with all the people she’s sentenced. “Welcome to the castle, princess,” a guard sneers on her humiliating first day.

“The Convict,” on Max (in Polish, with subtitles, or dubbed), is an unrelenting, tense and twisty prison drama. Alicja unsurprisingly does not adapt to prison life well — at least initially — and she is in constant, terrifying danger. Violence and intimidation abound, but the real currency is information and leverage. She helps fellow inmates draft legal letters in exchange for careful favors, and she ingratiates herself to the prison doctor, though less so to the doctor’s warden husband.

Outside, Pawel is indeed a slime ball and master manipulator, and Hania is his next major mark. “The Convict” nimbly juggles its past, present and ongoing mysteries: Who actually murdered that young woman and why? How can Alicja survive the daily horrors of prison? And how can she protect Hania?

“The Convict” reminds me a lot of “Wentworth,” the brilliant and brutal Australian prison drama. (It is not currently streaming, but it comes and goes.) “Orange Is the New Black” is much boppier and more expansive, whereas “The Convict” mostly tightens its grip. Things only ever go from bad to worse, but the show’s thriller momentum keeps it from feeling punishing.

The performances here are mesmerizing, with Kulesza registering all of Alicja’s fear and resignation but also the flickers of the person she used to be. Byczkowska nurtures the ache behind Hania’s petulance, though the real standout might be Aleksandra Adamska as Pati, Alicja’s cellmate and eventual ally.

There are four seasons of “The Convict” so far as well as a prequel spinoff, “Pati,” that follows Pati years before her incarceration. That’s also on Max.

Also this week

A scene from Season 3 of “Tour de France: Unchained.” A.S.O./Charly Lopez

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