Danish cop series 'The Crime'

Last week I watched the last episode of the Danish cop series ‘The Crime’ (Forbrydelsen 2, 2009). It was season 2 in the series and though I watched season 1 (2007) and liked it to some extent, this one felt like a big improvement on the first. That could be partly because season 1 was made up of 20 episodes (and to put that into perspective, I’ll have to mention that the series only dealt with one case) and season 2 only  had 10 (again, dealing with only one case).

As most (or even all) Danish series I’ve seen, this was of very high quality. The acting, the plot, the scenery. For instance, one of the last episodes was (ostensibly) set in Afghanistan and though I’ve never been there, I thought, judging by the news footage I’ve seen, that it was made very realistic. I’m guessing it was shot in the Balkans somewhere. (Slovenia?)

One of the ‘problems’ I had with season 1 (one that I have with many otherwise great cop series) is that there were too few main characters. In this case, there’s only one, detective Sara Lund though there are recurring minor characters, for instance Sara Lund’s mother and son, as well as her boss, Lennart Brix.

She’s considered a brilliant cop, but not very socially competent. The first season ends with her in disgrace. Season 2 opens with her ‘exiled’ to the border police, where she lives alone, in a bare rented home.

A series of brutal murders puzzling her former homicide detective colleagues leads to her being called back to Copenhagen. Many people dislike the decision and fight to keep her out of the case. Her boss reluctantly tries to balance his position between her and his own bosses, one of which seems to be his lover (Ruth Hedeby).

Soon there are leads pointing to the army and a suspected war crime committed in Afghanistan. Even from the start it’s clear that there’s also a tie-in with the government.

I won’t go into the twists and turns of the case, I’ll just say that though some of the politics (a parallel plotline is set in national politics) were a bit boring, the plot was nowhere near as complex (as in too complex) as in the first season. All in all it was exciting and fascinating to follow the police work and the lives of the politicians too.

In fact, I will say something about the politicians. Unexpectedly, there were some very sweet slash vibes between two unlikely people, as well as some male/female bonding.

Another plotline dealt with the Danish army and there too, was some pretty cool (platonic) bonding between two rather unexpected people.

The ending was excellent, with the suspense building then declining temporarily, to climax in a brilliant finale. This time, I approved far more of the ending, I might add. No disappointment lingering after the last scene.

Fortunately, there’s already a season 3 on the way and I can’t wait to see it.

I also just found out that Swedish and Danish tv are working on a joint project, another cop series, ‘The Bridge’ (Broen/Bron, estimated release 2011) that promises to be just as good as ‘The Crime’. (The bridge mentioned in the title is the bridge crossing the sea between southern Sweden and Denmark.)

I know I’ve been complaining about the tv series from the second half of the 00’s until now, but I guess I’ll need to revise my opinions a little, thanks to the Danes (and to some extent Swedish tv).

If you get a chance to see Forbrydelsen 2 I think you should. Maybe even buy the DVD box. Since I’ve already seen it and know the ending, I probably won’t, but I don’t think it will disappoint anyone.