This is just such a strange series.
Let me be honest that I love Scandinavian mystery series. Some of the best television ever made (Beck, Wallander, etc.) come from Sweden and are amazing. The Danes, Norwegians and Finns make very good television as well.
This is not quite that. It is beautiful to look at, to be sure. Especially (if I can be honest) the hunky male lead who has gorgeous blue eyes that match his beautiful blue shirts.
There's a lot of the male lead (police investigator "Thomas" -- played by the fine actor Jakob Cedergren) handsomely strutting around on docks in his sneakers, and flying over the water in his motor boat. It's okay. Really. It's kind of "harmless" TV that you forget about once the show is over (unlike another series Cedergren is in which gave me terrible nightmares).
The female lead annoys me. She's too perfect and yet sort of useless. The men she surrounds herself with (other than Thomas) annoy me. The "other" woman in Thomas' life annoys me. The crimes are sort of annoying (especially the one involving the horrible teenagers during Midsommer). So I'm not really quite sure why I continued to watch this. I can only say that I was entertained enough to get past my annoyances. Plus... there are those beautiful blue eyes.
There's also a lot of Moonlighting here -- will Thomas and Nora (the female lead) ever get "horizontal"? Who knows? Do we care? Maybe. A little. I am just vapid enough to hope it happens before they end the show.
So, this is just kind of fun but obviously not to be taken as a top-shelf example of the genre. I wish watching Cedergren speed around in his boat was enough to give this ten stars, but it is not.
I am grateful for my membership in the MHz streaming service that makes these gloriously subtitled series available to me. No matter how much I criticize in a review like this, it is true that in general these shows far outshine most US shows of this genre.
Let me be honest that I love Scandinavian mystery series. Some of the best television ever made (Beck, Wallander, etc.) come from Sweden and are amazing. The Danes, Norwegians and Finns make very good television as well.
This is not quite that. It is beautiful to look at, to be sure. Especially (if I can be honest) the hunky male lead who has gorgeous blue eyes that match his beautiful blue shirts.
There's a lot of the male lead (police investigator "Thomas" -- played by the fine actor Jakob Cedergren) handsomely strutting around on docks in his sneakers, and flying over the water in his motor boat. It's okay. Really. It's kind of "harmless" TV that you forget about once the show is over (unlike another series Cedergren is in which gave me terrible nightmares).
The female lead annoys me. She's too perfect and yet sort of useless. The men she surrounds herself with (other than Thomas) annoy me. The "other" woman in Thomas' life annoys me. The crimes are sort of annoying (especially the one involving the horrible teenagers during Midsommer). So I'm not really quite sure why I continued to watch this. I can only say that I was entertained enough to get past my annoyances. Plus... there are those beautiful blue eyes.
There's also a lot of Moonlighting here -- will Thomas and Nora (the female lead) ever get "horizontal"? Who knows? Do we care? Maybe. A little. I am just vapid enough to hope it happens before they end the show.
So, this is just kind of fun but obviously not to be taken as a top-shelf example of the genre. I wish watching Cedergren speed around in his boat was enough to give this ten stars, but it is not.
I am grateful for my membership in the MHz streaming service that makes these gloriously subtitled series available to me. No matter how much I criticize in a review like this, it is true that in general these shows far outshine most US shows of this genre.