Season 1&2: 8/10
Season 3&4: 2/10
Here's why:
I really love the dark tone of Scandinavian cinema. Season 1 was brilliant, pretty realistic behaviour of the police, when they made errors it was mostly believable. This is something I absolutely miss in most crime movies/shows. Good acting, nice interwoven story, pretty decent cinematography, music a little bland. But all in all a really good and engaging show that kept me watching. Saga was also played very believable and I was happy that the creators did not try to get cheap laughs out of her personality, nor did they shove some diagnosis in your face. She was just herself and it was up to you, the audience to think about her if you decided so. Also the cases were really shocking because the creators showed the reasoning behind the murders and acts of terrorism. You could often feel why someone killed someone else. To me this is most shocking, because you learn something about yourself. You explore your shadow as the psychoanalyst Carl Jung would have said.
This all changes right in the beginning of Season 3. Saga gets a new partner and they work on a case in which a lesbian is killed who opened a school that teaches that there is no biological difference between men and women. The new partner doesn't like the idea of teaching kids such things. But Saga, who is supposed to not care or even understand other people's wants and needs suddenly uses politically correct language and talks down to her new partner because she doesn't. The cinematography was the same, the tone, the acting was good as usual but I immediately noticed the difference and lost interest in the middle of season 3, episode 1. But I made it through season 3&4, just to get reaffirmed.
The cases of this show have always been (kind of) political. That is not my point.
But there is a line being crossed somewhere between:
1. These people have a political belief, they kill for it, this is wrong.
and
2. These are bad people, because of that they have this wrong political belief which automatically makes them likely to be criminals.
Because of this two things happen: 1. The motif for the murder is immediately clear and a lot of the suspense is taken out. 2. I don't like to be educated by a TV show to which political beliefs are right, that's simply not their job. Honestly exploring the topic on the other hand would habe been great and refreshing. Could even have provoked people to think about the themes, but that did not happen. The show offered a cheap solution and even discouraged the audience to think.
After this, other things I previously loved startet to fall too. Even moments of Saga being socially awkward where I almost heard the laugh track of the Big Bang Theory which turned her from a likable character a good amount towards a cliche, a punchline. I don't think persons who deviate in behaviour from what we are used to should be seen as cliches. Rather you should take them for what they are and thank them if they are such great investigators. I didn't feel the shows creators shared this belief after season 2.
I am not sure what exactly happened between season 2 and season 3 and I don't want to speculate, but it sure didn't do the show any good...
Here's why:
I really love the dark tone of Scandinavian cinema. Season 1 was brilliant, pretty realistic behaviour of the police, when they made errors it was mostly believable. This is something I absolutely miss in most crime movies/shows. Good acting, nice interwoven story, pretty decent cinematography, music a little bland. But all in all a really good and engaging show that kept me watching. Saga was also played very believable and I was happy that the creators did not try to get cheap laughs out of her personality, nor did they shove some diagnosis in your face. She was just herself and it was up to you, the audience to think about her if you decided so. Also the cases were really shocking because the creators showed the reasoning behind the murders and acts of terrorism. You could often feel why someone killed someone else. To me this is most shocking, because you learn something about yourself. You explore your shadow as the psychoanalyst Carl Jung would have said.
This all changes right in the beginning of Season 3. Saga gets a new partner and they work on a case in which a lesbian is killed who opened a school that teaches that there is no biological difference between men and women. The new partner doesn't like the idea of teaching kids such things. But Saga, who is supposed to not care or even understand other people's wants and needs suddenly uses politically correct language and talks down to her new partner because she doesn't. The cinematography was the same, the tone, the acting was good as usual but I immediately noticed the difference and lost interest in the middle of season 3, episode 1. But I made it through season 3&4, just to get reaffirmed.
The cases of this show have always been (kind of) political. That is not my point.
But there is a line being crossed somewhere between:
1. These people have a political belief, they kill for it, this is wrong.
and
2. These are bad people, because of that they have this wrong political belief which automatically makes them likely to be criminals.
Because of this two things happen: 1. The motif for the murder is immediately clear and a lot of the suspense is taken out. 2. I don't like to be educated by a TV show to which political beliefs are right, that's simply not their job. Honestly exploring the topic on the other hand would habe been great and refreshing. Could even have provoked people to think about the themes, but that did not happen. The show offered a cheap solution and even discouraged the audience to think.
After this, other things I previously loved startet to fall too. Even moments of Saga being socially awkward where I almost heard the laugh track of the Big Bang Theory which turned her from a likable character a good amount towards a cliche, a punchline. I don't think persons who deviate in behaviour from what we are used to should be seen as cliches. Rather you should take them for what they are and thank them if they are such great investigators. I didn't feel the shows creators shared this belief after season 2.
I am not sure what exactly happened between season 2 and season 3 and I don't want to speculate, but it sure didn't do the show any good...