Giri/Haji (Duty/Shame) – 8.5

If two of your favorite genres are Japanese yakuza and British crime, this binational 8-parter is for you. Or if, like me, you can’t get enough of Kelly Macdonald’s Scottish accent and dark sense of humor, it’s all you could want, as well. Keeping track of who’s who, especially within the rival factions of the Tokyo underworld, is enough to keep your mind engaged, and the cross-cultural references are fun. Takehiro Hira plays the detective lead as a Japanese Hamlet, while his brother is his opposite in every way, a strangely appealing bad guy. And, as in Hamlet, bodies fall, pretty willy-nilly. As usual, though, when we think we’ve reached the end, a totally improbable twist opens the door to Season Two.