User Reviews

A group of young people who are out for some thrills are gunned down by a non-descript shooter as they enjoy a picnic dressed in period clothes (it looks like the French Revolution but I have no knowledge of this). One of the kids that was supposed to be with them, wasn't able to go for various reasons. She is now overwhelmed with guilt and remorse. Wallander now must wade through a lot of sludge to get a handle on this person. Meanwhile, his taciturn partner is murdered in his apartment. He has some connection to these kids, but we don't know what it is. He proves an utter enigma. It turns out he is probably gay and Wallander is amazed he never knew this. Things become sticky when the woman who escaped harm is murdered after connecting with Wallander. It appears that someone has a vendetta against the Swedish cop, that he is somehow in the middle of all this. We are quickly immersed in the gay community and danger lurks there. A mysterious woman is at the center of all this and her identity is critical. There is some really lousy police work here and some rather homophobic stuff going on.

Wallander is one of those shows that has all the elements of being great, but they're sprinkled around not connecting, preventing it from reaching its full potential. Once again the story was interesting and the cast did a fine job with their roles, however by the end of this episode I was yelling at the TV for the characters, particularly Kurt, to catch on to the obvious for once.

Speaking of Kurt, we've seen him for over four hours at this point (at least this version) and he's never appeared clean, confident, and collected. Perhaps this has always been the case and I simply need to watch the older show for a better grasp of the character, but when a colleague straight up tells him he needs help and he does nothing until it's too late you have to wonder why we should care if the main character doesn't. There's also no, or very little, camaraderie between the other people close to him, though it's still a bit strange when he reveals that he fell asleep at the wheel, then later collapses on the floor, and nobody questions him going right back to work driving long distances and carrying a firearm.

My main criticism of the first two episodes was that the police didn't seem to follow many leads based on evidence. That wasn't as big an issue in the third and final episode of season one, however whenever Kurt questioned someone the common response was "I was already asked this by the other investigator" and that usually ended the conversation. This is a writing trope used to add filler, made particularly blatant when Wallander (and the audience) need to know the answers and don't get them when given the opportunity.

I want to really like this show, though at this point I'm on the fence whether or not I'll continue watching. I don't know how much more moping and disconnectedness of the title character I can take. If the only thing to root for is solving a case there's plenty other shows that offers that and more.

This is one of those shows that I have planned to watch for ages since generally the praise for this show is high. I was surprised by what I found then, because this first season seems to be pretty weak in some key areas.

The production values are not one of them; whether it be the locations, the cast, or so on – it is a good-looking show no doubt. The issue for me was that from the very start it seemed to rush to a place of darkness and despair for its world and characters. This is not to say that I needed it to take me on a longer journey to get there, but rather that it very much lays this on thick in every regard. So the specifics of events, the heavy hearts of the characters, the obvious use of music, and so on – all of it seems to be trying to create something rather than letting it come through organically. I have not seen the original series, so maybe this is how that is, and this version wanted to reproduce that out of the gate?

The impact though is a season that didn't engage me. Branagh looks convincingly broken and tired, but it is very much a 'performance' and I didn't really get the character at a deeper level. Support is roundly good although mostly it is police-procedural 101. On this level, the actual crimes are not particularly strong; they are quite interesting but mostly the 'disconnected crimes' are clearly going to come together, and a few times the solutions are also quite clear and the viewer is a little ahead. Some specifics don't ring true in the writing whether it be the crime or the characters. It is hard to describe, but it did feel like it knew what it wanted to be, but didn't do the base foundation work to try to get there.

I am probably wrong, since the vast majority of viewers seem to love the show, so I'll give season 2 a stab and see if it is different; however the first season was certainly a case of it being a polished disappointment.

1. The Dark Knight 2. Gran Torino 3. The Shield (the last of the 89 episodes) 4. Changeling 5. Let her in (Lät den rätte komma in) 6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 7. Wallander: One Step Behind 8. Waltz with Bashir (Vals Im Bashir 9. Frost/Nixon 10. Doubt

It's actually quite hard to think of any other episode of British TV made in the 21st century that's aged quite as extraordinarily badly as this. Truly, I genuinely cannot fathom one which is THIS dated - after only 12 years. That's quite a remarkable accomplishment at least - though not one to be particularly proud of, in retrospect.

In fact I'm fairly certain a lot of cast & crew members involved in the show's production will be looking back at this particular moment in their respective careers with some slight awkwardness & regret - considering the blatant transphobia present throughout the narrative. Tom Hiddleston especially...

In 2020, it definitely makes for some uncomfortable viewing.

The series is very good but this episode was crappy. Too many confusing, meandering and twisted plot lies that don't connect mixed with maudlin, over-cooked melodrama. Garbage. Like a bad day time soap.