I've heard so many good things about this show, so I finally gave it a shot. I almost stopped watching after then 10th episode when I realized there were ten more to trudge through. The series has a good premise, but goes completely off the rails. I love Nordic police dramas and have seen most of them. I would not recommend this one. Season one, at least. I've heard the later seasons are better.
I'll quickly summarize some of the worst parts of this show, including the truly mind-boggling number of police drama tropes they squeezed into it:
* Nearly everyone is dumber than a box of hammers and acts too quickly based on too little information
* There are probably eight episodes worth of pointless melodrama that just needs to be cut
* Way too much of this doesn't even make sense in context
* The show depends on the most incredible web of coincidences that it's just not possible to suspend disbelief
* Danish police are, apparently, absolute idiots who also jump to conclusions without enough evidence...over and over and over and over again
* Danish police don't turn lights on when they investigate any building at night
* Way too many characters withholding important information for staggeringly stupid reasons
* Speaking of tropes, we have the detective who is leaving the force but is held back for one last case
* We also have the trope of the new detective who runs around like a bull in a china shop and acts like a total moron in someone attempt to prove himself better than the outgoing detective
* We have the trope of the detective's child who is mad at the parent for not being home enough and not being involved with their lives because they're constantly at work
* We have the lover who, despite being in a profession related to law enforcement, doesn't seem to understand the demands of law enforcement
* We also have the meddling mother who knows best and constantly criticizes her adult children (actually, we get a couple of those, like a two-for-one deal)
* There are people who do inexplicable things that make no sense other than to further the plot, and it's maddening how many times that happens.
* I almost forgot to mention the parents of the murder victim who take matters into their own hands when they don't think the police are doing a good job
* In a similar vein, we have family and friends beating someone within an inch of his life who turns out to be innocent
That enough for now. You get the point. This show has every single police drama trope you've ever seen.
Another problem with the show is it tries to be two different shows. If you want to watch a show about Danish government, watch Borgen. If you want to watch a detective show, maybe watch Dicte or Broen. This show is an exercise in endurance and frustration. I was practically fast-forwarding by the end just to see how it turned out. The ending is not worth it. Find something else to watch.
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