A living donor connects the titular six in this stong Polish series: father and daughter Olga and Janusz, married couple Marcin and Beata, and former lovers Kamil and Natalia.
For the organ donors, it’s not their loved one they’ll be donating to. A transplant chain connects the most compatible donors and recipients, and the operations take place at once. While this practice is already happening , the professor in The Six is aiming to lead Poland’s first ever such transplant.
When we meet the three donors and three recipients forming the chain of six, relationships between the pairs are all a little shaky in their own unique way. We’d prefer them to be much more solid if what’s at stake are three lives.
The first episode gives us a back story of each pair, starting with Natalia (Maja Pankiewicz) and Kamil (Mateusz Rusin). This youthful pair have known each other a long time, but since he promised to donate his kidney, Kamil has moved on from their romance and is engaged to Iza (Marianna Zydek). When Natalia gets the call that a transplant is imminently possible, she calls him to reassess his commitment. Iza also must be told about the plan, which throws the whole thing onto the rocks, especially as Natalia and Kamil have to keep up appearances that they’re still together.
Kamil (Mateusz Rusin) and Natalia (Maja Pankiewicz) with the medical team, headed by Professor Jerzy Bielik (Marian Dziedziel). Source: TVN
We go on to meet donor Marcin (Grzegorz Damiecki), who married Beata (Gabriela Muskala) five years ago. She is desperate to have a baby, but we get the feeling Marcin has had enough of child rearing. He already has a vocal and forthright 18-year-old, Staszek (Hubert Wolinski), who rejects Beata’s attempts to mother him and asks his father some curly questions about the donation.
Then there’s father and daughter pair, the kind-hearted Olga (Julia Wyszynska) and her ne’er-do-well father, Janusz. Hapless yet endearing, due to Stawomir Orzechowski’s portrayal, Janusz owes debts to an ever-growing number of people. Putting up a front that his life is A-Okay now that he’s quit drinking, Janusz elicits Olga’s forgiveness for past recklessness. She is eager to donate her kidney and help him get his life back on track. Her brother Pawel is far less forgiving and thinks his sister is too soft a touch.
Janusz (Stawomir Orzechowski), Olga (Julia Wyszynska) and Marcin (Grzegorz Damiecki) in ‘The Six’. Source: TVN
it’s not only the physical fitness of the six that is put under the microscope: There are regular sessions with the medical team’s psychologist before the transplants can go ahead,
The three main relationships are put through the ringer. Many pertinent questions hang thickly in the air: can Iza accept Kamil’s ongoing commitment to Natalia? Does Marcin really feel more pity than love for Beata, as proposed by Staszek? Can Janusz’s financial woes be overcome to ensure he qualifies for the surgery before it’s too late?
The word compelling may be overused to describe drama, but here, it fits. It’s compatible with a show taking on such a heavy topic: to clarify, the donors here are not giving to their own loved one, but to a stranger in the group. For example, Kamil won’t be donating his kidney to Natalia, but to Janusz, as they’re the best fit of the six.
Recipient wife and donor husband pairing, Beata (Gabriela Muskala) and Marcin. Marcin is set to donate to Natalia. Source: TVN
The writers examine the tenuous threads that must hold together to perform the miracle of one person volunteering to save another. The six are regularly reminded that they can pull out at any time, shaking the ground even further.
A mountain of work has already been done to get the six into their hospital beds in preparation for the surgery. So when one incident threatens to collapse it into rubble, we worry for the ill among them, and count the sacrifices made by so many to get here.
Natalia and Kamil. Source: TVN
This is an emotionally mature drama, and the performances of the ensemble cast honour the quality of the writing. It’s less medical drama than relationship drama, and it’s all the richer for it. Take a seat at the bedside of The Six.
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