Forbrydelsen (The Killing; Season 1, 2007)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Forbrydelsen (The Killing; Season 1, 2007) – S. Sveistrup

On a whim, I decided to check out this Danish police procedural, streaming on our local public broadcaster SBS. Little did I know that I was about to be sucked into a “binge watch”!  I don’t actually find binge-watching all that pleasant – it is a huge time commitment (this was twenty 50-minute episodes) and the fact that each viewing ends with a melodramatic cliff-hanger means there is a constant distraction and some emotional wear-and-tear throughout the day (and perhaps even while asleep).  But I got through it all in about two weeks – being locked down due to the pandemic probably helped.  I have to hand it to series creator Søren Sveistrup and his writers, however, for creating a gripping drama that ramps up the intrigue and tension on the usual “hunt for the killer” front as well as the less common political campaign front. Indeed, a lot of the novelty here had to do with the behind-the-scenes look at the battle to be mayor of Copenhagen.  I understand that the writers kept the killer’s identity secret from all of the actors (except lead Sofie Gråbøl as obsessive Detective Sarah Lund) and there are so many characters and suspicion falls on so many of them across the series that you can see how they wouldn’t know.  I only figured things out quite close to the end.  Even with so many involved, over that many hours you really do get familiar with (and attached to) the lead characters, particularly Gråbøl but also Søren Malling as her partner Jan Meyer and Lars Mikkelsen as mayoral candidate (and suspect!) Troels Hartmann.  I guess there are two more series after this one (in 2009 and 2012) and perhaps even a final voyage happening later this year.  I’m not ready for more just now (too many heart-stopping twists!) but I might check in again later.