Poštar (S01E08)
Airdate: 9 February 1975
Written by: Dragan Marković & Siniša Pavić
Directed by: Aleksandar Đorđević
Running Time: 48 minutes
The 1970s American sitcom Happy Days is famous, among other things, for introducing phrases like “jumping the shark” and “Fonzie Syndrome” into the global lexicon. While the former is often applied subjectively, referring to a perceived, irreversible decline in a show’s quality, the latter is a more objective narrative phenomenon. It describes the moment a show’s charismatic side character so thoroughly eclipses the intended protagonists that the narrative machinery must be recalibrated around them. This syndrome can be applied retroactively, even to series that, on first glance, share nothing with the sunny milkshake bars of 1950s Milwaukee. A prime example is found in Otpisani (“The Written-Off Ones”), the Yugoslav cult television series that preceded Happy Days by two years. Its eighth episode, Poštar (“The Postman”), features perhaps the most definitive and impactful example of Fonzie Syndrome in the history of Yugoslav television, centred on the glorious, grumpy, and ultimately heroic figure of Jovan “Joca” Perić.
The plot begins with the resistance group de facto leader, Tihi (Dragan Nikolić), arriving at the studio of a Party sculptor (Predrag Ćeramilac) to receive orders. The assignment delivered is the riskiest yet: to blow up a German military transport train carrying troops and materiel from Athens to the Eastern Front. The episode immediately establishes the mission’s daunting scale. Tihi’s trademark quiet frustration is palpable as he begins logistical work. This involves leveraging his acquaintance Dragana (Zlata Numanagić) to glean schedule information from her station manager uncle (Milan Puzić), and commissioning the mechanically brilliant Kosinus (Srboljub Milin) to construct a complex timer for the bomb. The explosives are secured by Prle (Vojislav Brajović) with help from the engineer Babić. The plan is sophisticated, multi-faceted, and entirely logical—a hallmark of Otpisani’s writing, which treats sabotage as a complex engineering and social puzzle rather than mere impulsive heroics.
The insoluble problem remains access to the heavily guarded station. The solution arrives from Prle’s neighbour: Joca Perić (Pavle Vuisić), a middle-aged postman. In beautifully observed scenes with his wife Lenče (Vera Dedić), Joca is established as a Serbian patriot, deeply resentful of the occupation, yet feeling profoundly emasculated. His capture and swift release by the Germans during April 1941 invasion (due to a need for postal staff) is a personal humiliation he wears like a hair shirt. Prle expertly manipulates this wounded pride, recruiting Joca by appealing to his patriotism and offering a chance at redemption. Joca’s integration is the episode’s masterstroke; he is not a born partisan, but an ordinary, flawed man pushed into extraordinary circumstances.
The infiltration, using post office uniforms under Joca’s authority, is a masterpiece of suspense. Even under the personal scrutiny of the formidable Major Krieger, they reach the train. The tension skyrockets when the station manager orders Joca to personally guard the mail wagon with a German soldier. Faced with almost certain death, Tihi suggests aborting. In a defining moment, Joca refuses. This is not the fearless courage of a veteran, but the stubborn, prideful decision of a man who has already backed down once in his own mind and will not do so again. The ensuing sequence, with Paja (Miki Manojlović) creating a diversion, the subduing of the German guard, and Kosinus taking his place, is executed with crisp, nerve-wracking precision. The final image of Joca and Kosinus leaping from the wagon and watching the distant, spectacular explosion is both cathartic and strangely intimate.
Poštar is an exceptionally strong episode precisely because it features surprisingly little action until its pyrotechnic finale—arguably the series’ most impressive, implying a staggering German body count. This scarcity is compensated for by a deep, intelligent suspense derived from procedural detail. The episode is a meticulous “how-to” manual for impossible sabotage, celebrating collective, specialised effort.
Another fascinating layer is its persistent levity, which never undermines the stakes. A darkly humorous thread involves Prle’s defence of his visit to a prostitute as a necessary “release” to steady his nerves for the mission—a moment of raw, pragmatic humanity that scandalises the more austere Tihi and Paja. Similarly, sexual banter between Paja and Joca, often centred on Joca’s perceived inadequacies, adds a layer of earthy, masculine humour that grounds the characters.
Ultimately, the episode belongs to Pavle Vuisić. A legend of Yugoslav cinema famed for his ad-libs, Vuisić imbues Joca with a glorious, contradictory humanity. He is all snarky comments and wounded pride, a man whose bravado masks deep insecurity, yet who proves capable of thinking on his feet and doing the right thing for reasons both patriotic and deeply personal. The audience’s connection with him is immediate and total. His journey from comic-relief neighbour to crucial, brave operative is so compelling that it fundamentally altered the franchise’s trajectory. Such was Joca’s seismic popularity that the producers of the 1976 film Povratak otpisanih (“The Return of the Written-Off Ones”) and the 1978 sequel series felt compelled to bring him backas the unequivocal protagonist. In doing so, they formalised what Poštar so brilliantly revealed: the show’s magnetic centre had shifted. The “Fonzie” had arrived, and the narrative would never be the same again. Vuisić’s Joca Perić thus stands not only as one of Yugoslav television’s greatest characters, but as a textbook case of how a powerful performance can rewrite a series’ destiny from within a single, perfectly constructed episode.
RATING: 8/10 (+++)
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