High Water (Originally called "Wielka Woda") is a 2022 Polish-language television series directed for Netflix by Jan Holoubek and Bartłomiej Ignaciuk. The story follows Jaśmina Tremer, hydrologist and ex-junkie trying to stay clean, aspiring politician Jakub Marczak, and a small-town owner of a car garage who is estranged from his wife and son, Andrzej Rębacz. All three have to navigate the 1997 Central European flood while trying to overcome personal struggles.
Great wave coming through the rivers Oder and Morava, forrmed after two periods of extensive rainfall, is causing the Wroclaw city official some concern. Jaśmina warns the responsible decidents that lack of immediate reaction can destroy the city and some dams need to be destroyed, and some reservoirs emptied. She is ignored in favour of older scientists. Meanwhile Jakub tries to manage the disaster and his family life while campaining for the Wroclaw presidency, and Andrzej is rebuilding the family home before his father comes home from the hospital.
The series was developed by mainly the same team of creators and cast of Series/Rojst. The cast includes such stage and film stars as Agnieszka Żulewska, Anna Dymna, Ireneusz Czop, Tomasz Schuchardt, and recently deceased Jerzy Trela, to whom the series is dedicated to.
This Series Provides Examples Of:
- Addled Addict : Jaśmina is shown drinking methadone syrup compulsively. Methaddone is a drug of choice during weaning off a heroin addict off drugs.
- Big Friendly Dog : Jakub's golden retriever, Feler.
- Does Not Speak Common : Arjen, Jaśmina's partner, speaks Dutch exclusively.
- Exactly What It Saysonthe Tin : High Water is a story about, well... high water invading one of the biggest Polish cities.
- Foregone Conclusion : We know that the city of Wroclaw was flooded, that the flood caused major damage, but the municipality came back with a vengeance, more beautiful and vibrant than ever.
- Hilarity in Zoos : The zoo caretakes freak out when they realize that Wally the Alligator (probably a nod to Wally Gator , a cartoon popular in Poland in the 90's) escaped (and is later seen flowing gracefully down a pipe).
- Mysterious Parent : Jaśmina is the biological mom of Jakub's daughter, Klara.
- Straw Misogynist : The hydrologists really, really do not want Jaśmina to help out with the flood management, to the point where they sabotage her, giving her 30-year old maps and causing a giant mishap during dam detonation.
- The '90s : The story takes place in 1997, so many characters use walkmans, music from the era can be heard all over the series, and lovely letrasted lettering is visible on storefronts.
