Rikos

The problem of the first series is: 1. that the concept wasn’t handled well, and 2. the non-establishment of the form. My first point roughly means that twenty episodes amount to so many twists and false clues that in episode 17, it seems that the film crew also starts getting arrested. The detectives act like affected lunatics for whom the blame stems from a single (albeit indirect) piece of evidence. The problem, after all, is that some "sidetracks" just give the impression of purposeful retardation of the plot, and moreover, in that amount of deceptive ballast, one begins to become a little isolated from the details of the case. Point two means that the first about 3 episodes look like a typical television detective story with an unattractive visual. Only the arrival of the experienced Henrik Ruben Genz makes it an interesting and dark spectacle with an imaginative use of "psychological" details. Otherwise, I'm satisfied - the idea with three parallel levels is quite good, although the family storyline sometimes fails to go anywhere. A huge positive is the cast, led by the incredibly charismatic Lars Mikkelsen (oh those family genes) and a lot of characters who, in their indistinctness, acquire typically Nordic contours of clenched and obsessed weirdos (this is especially true of the central duo). I simply appreciate The Killing as a bold attempt to show the investigation as a drama full of mistakes and personal tragedies. The ending is flawless, not so much because it is surprising, but rather because it perfectly respects anti-happy endings. (26.01.2013)

Better to kill an innocent man than to hesitate to kill an enemy. Another Nordic detective exercise in practical Machiavellianism, this time with a refined concept, which, thanks to half the runtime, seems much more concise, focused and dynamic than the first series. Brilliant work with a dehumanized atmosphere and professional masks allows the creators to do high jinks, where the main heroine can be in essence consistently unsympathetic, cold, and an obsessed bitch, and one inadvertently sympathizes with characters who are morally on the edge (the lack of dichotomy of good and evil is essentially a design element of The Killing). Grasping the subject of the war on terror, xenophobia and the boundaries of where the "beneficial bending of democracy" ends and the "autocratic quirks" begin is taken far enough (in the Scandinavian way) to be thought-provoking, and therefore, it's not just mandatory decoration. The plot line is much smoother and clearer, the direction is more stable and, last but not least, the pair of characters - an eclectic politician looking for a mask in the performance of the (always) great Nicolas Bro and the character of a war veteran with a memory disorder (Homeland à la Denmark?) played by the torn down and hunted Ken Vedsegaard. Brilliant, this time almost without any reservations from me. (20.02.2013)

Amazing. The greatest fluctuations of sweaters, the scheme of the first series stretched to a larger domestic political scale and made in half the area with a much greater escalation (with the exception the 6th and 7th part, it keeps moving forward). With a bit of exaggeration, the creators managed to combine the civilian political thriller Borgen and a visually beefy dark detective story a la The Bridge. The ending is explicitly brilliant, overwhelming, perhaps borderline, but all of its elements are perfectly in line with the logic of the characters and the established motifs. Nikolaj Lie Kaas was a great choice as a partner, kind of like Lund with a lot of testosterone. So far, the best I've seen in the Nordic series, all taken together. (10.11.2013)