Author: Mark Glass

“The Bridge: Seasons 2 & 3” TV Series Review

A scene from the Swedish-Danish crime TV series “The Bridge.” Courtesy of Topic

Back in 2011, the Scandinavian crime series, “The Bridge,” was not only hugely popular in Europe but spawned quite a few remakes and derivatives on both sides of the Atlantic. The now oft-used premise is that a body is found straddling the national border of a bridge joining Denmark and Sweden, creating jurisdictional confusion. That gets worse when they discover that the top and bottom halves are from two different women. Successor series have been set on the US/Mexico, Singapore/Malaysia, Greece/Turkey and the Russia/Estonia borders. A France/England version used the Chunnel in the same way. That list may be more illustrative than complete, since variations exist under non-bridgey titles. In each, a cop from one side partners with one from the other, despite cultural and personal differences that add tensions and friction to the whodunnit component.

This original paired Sweden’s detective Saga Noren (Sofia Helin) with Denmark’s Martin Rhode (Kim Bodnia). Since all cop duo dramas or comedies must begin with irritating differences, Saga is somewhere on the high-functioning end of The Spectrum – brilliant, hyper-focused, feeling virtually no emotions in her professional or personal lives, and blunt with everyone about what she’s thinking – unable to use normal sensitivities in any conversation. What she thinks will be what she says.

Martin is the grizzled, world-weary Dane who can be soft and supportive when the situation calls for tact. The two don’t particularly like or understand what makes each other tick, but mutual respect evolves during this somber season of shared sleuthing, weaving their way through a maze of political and financial motives and suspects.

Season Two opens 13 months after the first and introduces some new detectives before settling in with the first pair. This year’s plot escalates from the realm of crime to international terrorism. Even so, there’s a significant carryover from Season One affecting roles and actions in the new case. Without providing details, the season ends in a way that might preclude the two sharing any other cases.

Season Three, another 13 months later, pairs Saga with a younger Danish partner, Henrik (Thure Lindhardt) and returns to the more familiar realm of civilian murders, with a serial killer dispatching victims in apparently ritualistic, attention-seeking displays. Really gory, too, with each posed differently. Both seasons are filled, if not overrun, with characters and subplots, giving viewers more of a challenge than average. As usual, I recommend starting from the beginning to understand the carryover elements. Bingeing each season is advisable for keeping their plots and players in mind. As one expects from a Scandinavian drama, the tone is somber – longer on mood than action, and even lower on moments of levity. Both sets do a pretty good job of living up to Season One’s level of quality in scripting, acting and production values. A final fourth season aired abroad and is sure to follow here shortly. Stay tuned , as they say…

“The Bridge: Seasons 2 and 3,” mostly in Swedish and Danish with English subtitles, streams on Topic starting Tuesday, Dec. 26.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

“Deadly Tropics” Season 4 (French) – TV Series Review

A scene from the French crime series “Deadly Tropics.” Courtesy of MHz Choice

Regular readers know how much I’ve enjoyed the first three seasons of ”Deadly Tropics (Tropiques Criminels),” a relatively light-hearted police procedural set in Martinique, starring two attractive, yet totally opposite in every way, detectives and a recurring cast of colleagues, family members and the occasional romantic sidebar.

Here’s a link to my previous reviews for those starting anew with this 4th season, or wanting to refresh their memories:

“Deadly Tropics: Season 3” – TV review

As before, the season is eight hour-long episodes. Other than an opening two-parter, the rest present new crimes for our intrepid duo of Commander Melissa (Sonia Rolland, Captain Gaelle (Beatrice de la Boulaye) and their crew. Their oil-and-water personalities clash before they prove effective, as is customary for the genre. The elegant Melissa is still serious and by-the-book; tomboy Gaelle remains playfully indifferent to procedures while laser-focused on solutions. Respect and friendship have evolved, but friction between them over procedures and attitudes still flares up kind of regularly. And mostly amusingly.

The murders du jour occur in the context of other crimes, ranging from human trafficking and sexual websites, to a ritual serial killer, assorted wackos and illegal MMA fighting. There are more romantic byplay and domestic problems for both stars than before, including a couple of annoyingly surly teenagers (is that a redunmdancy?). Though the stories are stand-alone episodes, they’ll be much better appreciated by seeing the earlier years first, rather than starting with this set. Some prior characters and subplot threads recur.

There’s still levity coming from several sources complementing the dramatic side. There’s not much violence and gore on display – less than many of our prime-time network cop shows. A few aspects of Season 4 made it slightly less enjoyable for me (did I mention the annoying teenagers?), but others may differ. This round ends on a note that compels a fifth season for closure. Deal me in when it arrives.

“Deadly Tropics (Tropiques Criminels): Season 4,” mostly in French with English subtitles, streams on MHz Choice starting Tuesday, Dec. 19.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

“Professor T” (German) – TV Series Review

A scene from the German TV series “Professor T.” Courtesy of MHz Choice

Fans of European mystery series may find the “Professor T” title familiar. That could be because the Belgian original which began in 2015, has spawned French, Czech, British and German versions. This review covers the third season of the last of those listed.

It seems as if ever since the huge success of Tony Shalhoub’s “Monk,” the idea of crime-solving cops or consultants with major psychological issues has blossomed globally. He wasn’t the first damaged-goods sleuth but probably the most popular, here and abroad. Professor T (Matthias Matschke) teaches criminology and regularly assists Cologne’s homicide unit despite massive emotional problems and a painful history that gradually unfolds during the series. He’s brilliant but somewhere on the Autism Spectrum. That, plus severe OCD and recurring flashbacks and/or psychotic hallucinations, makes our Adrian Monk and lesser-known successors like Eric McCormack’s professorial sleuth in ”Perception” or Tom Payne’s haunted FBI profiler in ”Prodigal Son” seem like poster boys for mental health.

In the first two seasons, we learned that Professor T was traumatized as a child from discovering his father’s apparent suicide. Though always brilliant, other traumas related to crime limited him to the controlled environment of academia and away from real police work for years. Then a former student, Detective Anneliese Deckert (Lucie Heinze), coaxed him out of the hallowed halls to help her team between his lectures. All three seasons consist of four episodes, each with a new murder or murders to solve. As is typical of European fare, the shows are more cerebral and less violent than most of our counterparts. Murders occur almost entirely off-camera, and the stiffs are shown only as needed to understand the causes of their deaths. The tone throughout is mostly serious, though the Prof’s prickly nature provides sprinklings of droll humor. His visions add a strong visceral dimension – especially vivid and unnerving in Season 3. Plus he’s acquired a nemesis trying to destroy what’s left of his sanity. Presumably, every great Sherlock must have a Moriarty.

All the scripts are well-written, with suitably complex scenarios to unravel in a satisfying balance with the personal lives and issues of the principals. Though each episode is primarily a stand-alone challenge, the essential backstories, recurring characters and carryover plot threads make it highly advisable to see the first two seasons before diving into the third. Matschke’s Prof is equally brusque and tactless with students, colleagues and suspects, mostly displaying no emotions in his default facial expression of one who just sucked on a lemon while smelling something malodorous. Even so, he’s a fascinating and

empathy-arousing protagonist.

Season 3 ends with a couple of surprising developments but fear not, fellow closure cravers. We only have to wait a month, or so, for the arrival of the fourth and final season. Stay tuned… or whatever term applies to streaming.

“Professor T: Season 3,” mostly in German with English subtitles, streams on MHz Choice starting Tuesday, Dec. 19.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

REACHER: Season 2 – Review

Ever since “Reacher: Season One” hit the streamiverse (is that a word?), fans have been speculating and salivating about the arrival of the next of Lee Childs’ 28 Reacher novels to provide the source material for another round with their icon. Season One was based on the first and included the childhood part of Reacher’s backstory that shaped his values. This one is based on the 11th, Bad Luck and Trouble, which seems apt for the medium, despite being out of sequence. This one shows us the strong military ties and allegiances, explaining more about his character and skills.

For those who’ve only seen the Tom Cruise REACHER movies, prepare for a major tone shift. Alan Ritchson is a laconic, focused hulk who is supposedly much truer to the Jack Reacher of the novels than the diminutive and perkier Mr. Cruise. I advise starting with Season One, since some of it carries over to this one, though the location, most of the cast and the challenge to be met are all different. 

Reacher is a former Army special investigator who’d hand-picked an exceptional team to handle the worst of the military’s nemeses, here and abroad, with their particular sets of collective skills. In the novels, he’s become a wanderer, traveling on his own with minimal baggage – emotional or physical – like a contemporary Kwai Chang Caine from the 1970s ”Kung Fu” series. He learns that someone is killing off his former squad members and assembles the rest to suss out the who and why behind this plot, foil the plan and eliminate the planners – ideally before losing any more of the planes (that term seemed more entertaining than “targets” or “fellow vets”). 

The eight episodes will certainly not disappoint franchise fans. There’s suspense about the baddies’ identities and endgame; plenty of well-staged action, minimal dialog; evil-doings worthy of their pursuit; and character-defining flashbacks to the former unit that never waste viewers’ time; plus occasional bits of wry macho comic relief. Unlike many series that seem to drag out plots to fill a contractual length of running time for the package, these eight hour-long episodes are tight. A one-day binge was super easy; barely an inconvenience (that last sentence is for action movie buffs who also spend too much time on YouTube.). 

Performances from a deep supporting cast are first-rate from top to bottom. Among them, Maria Sten, Serinda Swan, Robert Patrick and Domenick Lombardozzi are particularly worthy of mention. Several directors helm episodes, with no noticeable differences among them. They all understand viewers’ expectations for an efficient action drama with a fairly high level of splatter… and deliver in fine style. No cliffhangers. Season Three will start clean, whichever novel they use next. Soon, I hope.

“Reacher: Season 2” premieres on Prime Video on December 15.

4 out of 4 stars.

Credit: Brooke Palmer/Prime Video

Copyright: Amazon Studios

SILENT NIGHT – Review

Joel Kinnaman as Godlock in Silent Night. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate

For years, film buffs have enjoyed arguing about whether DIE HARD is a Christmas movie. The “yeas” emphasize when it’s happening and what’s going on there besides the mayhem between Bruce and the baddies. The “nays” say it’s the polar opposite of the decades of seasonal feelgood spirit exemplified by everything from IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE to what the Hallmark Channel cranks out annually for the holidays. For them, if it ain’t gooey, it ain’t Yuley. Well, whichever camp you’re in, you’ll vote the same way for this gift from A-list action writer, producer and director John Woo, SILENT NIGHT.

SILENT NIGHT serves as a two-edged title. Besides the main events occurring on consecutive Christmases (for which that title ranks among the most popular carols), the entire film plays out without a single spoken word. Whatever they saved on dialog they spent on bullets, squibs, chase vehicles and sound effects. The film opens with Joel Kinnaman’s character, wearing a butt-ugly Christmas sweater, running after a couple of cars full of gang bangers blasting away at each other. Though he’s shot in the throat and chest, he miraculously survives. But one of the wounds rendered him unable to speak without a trachea tube, which he bitterly shuns. About 20 minutes in, we learn why he was so recklessly pursuing them – his young son had just been killed by one of their stray bullets.

Then we get a pretty slow 30 minutes with a lot of brooding and Kinnaman training and prepping for his revenge. He lives for nothing else, eventually driving his wife (Catalina Sandino Moreno) away to handle her grief in her own way. Between the stretches of almost catatonic mourning sprinkled with seething anger, the rigorous conditioning and self-teaching on weaponry, hand-to-hand and a FAST & FURIOUS level of driving are faithful to what we see whenever an Everyman heroically decides to go full Bronson on whoever done him wrong.

Once we get to the second Christmas, Woo gives us all the splatter and superb stunt work that has defined his long and oft-lauded career. On the adrenaline scale, the last 40 minutes comes in well above Charles Bronson’s vigilante outings (Paul Kersey’s multiple DEATH WISH flicks, MR.MAJESTYK, etc.), yet well shy of the JOHN WICK franchise in quantity; a bit closer in intensity. The big final assault puts Kinnaman and the stunt cast through a grueling, bloody ordeal with a few really stellar demises. Fights are gritty and excellently choreographed – like watching a less-athletic Tony Jaa, or many among the recent wave of crime flicks coming from Korea. And unlike many recent slugfests, this one is adequately lit and edited smoothly enough to follow the action and see the consequences. Not intended for the squeamish.

Besides the action that’s really the motivation for buying a ticket, the cast does quite well at conveying their states of mind without uttering a word. Moreno’s expressive face is particularly eloquent while making up for losing an actor’s most obvious tool for establishing a sympathetic character and emotional arc. Kinnaman is sufficiently convincing in his transformation from blue-collar dad to Rambo. After nearly 50 years, Woo is still going strong. Happy holidays!

SILENT NIGHT opens in theaters on Friday, Dec. 1.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

“Pretty Hard Cases: Season 3” – TV Review

(L-R) Adrienne C. Moore and Meredith MacNeill, in Canadian crime TV series “Pretty Hard Cases: Season 3.” Courtesy of FreeVee

I must open with the disclaimer that I hadn’t seen the first two seasons of this Canadian cop/buddy comedy, “Pretty Hard Cases: Season 3” though I did watch several episodes to have some sense of ongoing character and plot backgrounds in these 10 hour-long episodes. I got much of it but would have understood everyone and everything better had I seen more from before. I recommend starting from the beginning for that reason. This show is right in the wheelhouse of those who enjoyed series like “Frankie Drake” or “Miss Fischer’s Murder Mysteries.” This one emphasizes the comic side even more than those others.

Meredith MacNeill and Adrienne C. Moore star as Toronto police detectives who follow genre tradition by hating each other at first, before bonding over time as partners and then becoming besties. MacNeill’s Sam is uptight and by-the-book; Moore’s Kelly is more street-savvy and less constricted by “the rules.” A distaff Murtaugh and Riggs, respectively. Their cases run mostly in the drugs arena but a number of other felonies – including murders – pop up along the way.

I suspended my usual policy of not reviewing a series I haven’t seen from the get-go specifically because of MacNeill, who was so brilliant as co-creator and co-star of another favored series from our northern neighbor, the “Baroness von Sketch Show.” She brings the neurotic energy that defined many of her roles in those skits, but doesn’t get to deploy as much of her considerable gifts for physical comedy that shone so brightly in the other. Sam’s nervous chattering goes a bit over-the-top at times but mostly imbues her character with a solidly comedic quirkiness. Some scenes get rather frenetic but the comedy never seems forced into the plot lines.

The scripts include more romantic and familial sidebars than many, some of which overlap organically with their cases. They also flesh out a large supporting cast with distinct personalities among the cops, lovers, friends and perps to bring comedy and suspense from many sources in addition to the two stars. Much of the dialog and plot progressions are fast-paced. The on-screen gory stuff is fairly mild, but there’s a healthy amount of action and suspense to keep the pot stirred. The faint of heart need not fear gross-outs.

This is, apparently, the finale for the series. Unlike “Frankie Drake,” which ended on a sour note of betrayal with several major cliffhangers (producers presumably shocked by non-renewal after wrapping the season), this one leaves the characters in a good enough place for closure, while teasing a basis for further outings if the “Gods of Financing” smile upon them. If they do, I would join in the smiling.

“Pretty Hard Cases: Season 3,” starts streaming on Wednesday, Nov. 29 on FreeVee.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

EYE FOR AN EYE: BLIND SWORDSMAN – Review

Miao Xie as Cheng in EYE FOR AN EYE: BLIND SWORDSMAN (MU ZHONG WU REN). Courtesy of WellGoUSA

Chinese martial arts films have a long tradition of including quite an array of masterful fighters with significant disabilities. Many of them feature a hero who is blind, deaf, missing an arm, etc. yet still able to defeat whatever evil being or force must be eliminated for the common good. That usually yields a bunch of intricately choreographed battles – one-on-ones with the worst, often preceded by dispatching hordes of underlings and anonymous minions.

EYE FOR AN EYE: BLIND SWORDSMAN (MU ZHONG WU REN) follows the pattern in a relatively low-key production set in the distant (pre-firearms) past. Cheng (Miao Xie) has the unlikely job of itinerant bounty hunter for the government. He’s very good at it, of course, despite his lack of sight. The film opens in a gambling den. We soon learn he’s been hunting the region’s bad guys down for a decade. Remaining skills are evident when he doesn’t need vision to tell that they’re cheating, leading to action that establishes his credentials for both integrity and mad skills. Cheng is quiet, humble and all business.

Unfortunately, he stops for a drink at what will become the sight of a massacre by an evil warlord, including the rape of a lovely woman (Wieman Gao) who was about to be married. When the local authorities, obviously feeling the perps are too powerful for them to handle, decline, Cheng takes up her cause of seeking justice. That comprises the rest of the running time which includes a couple of important non-combat roles for women in the plot. As the genre goes, this one plays out more sedately than many, even venturing into the CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON realm of lyricism in a few picturesque scenes. The final battle will remind fans of the sequence in KILL BILL: VOL. 1 between The Bride (Uma Thurman) and O Ren Rishii (Lucy Liu).

Those seeking a sword-fest of splatter will find this to be on the tame side. Writer/director Bingjia Yang pulls a lot of punches, cutting away early in scenes of mass sword fights, returning only to show the number of prone henchmen killed or wounded while our eyes were diverted to something else. The fights he displays are diverse and well-choreographed, relatively free of wire work and other special effects that turn fiction into fantasy. One exception is a cloaked baddie with almost supernatural agility and speed. Cool scenes with him in motion.

There’s nothing particularly memorable about the production for those who devour Asian action fare from the 1970s to the present. But it’s non-gory enough to embrace those preferring character and story arcs to blood lust, while having a fair amount of mayhem for the adrenaline junkies.

EYE FOR AN EYE: BLIND SWORDSMAN (MU ZHONG WU REN), in Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles, debuts Friday, Nov. 28, streaming on demand and on DVD and Blu-Ray.

RATING: 1.5 out of 4 stars

“Deadly Tropics: Season 3” – TV review

Sonia Rolland in French crime series “Deadly Tropics.” Courtesy of MHz Choice

Regular readers know I’ve reviewed dozens of streaming TV series from a number of European countries over the past few years. The light-hearted cop show, “Deadly Tropics (Tropiques Criminels)”, based in an idyllic (other than the requisite murders and assorted felonies) Caribbean locale has been one of my favorites. That made the 18-month gap between the domestic release of the first two seasons and this next one seem even longer.

To bring everyone up to speed, here are the links to those reviews on We Are Movie Geeks 

Season 1

“Deadly Tropics” (“Tropiques Criminels”) – TV Series

Season 2

“Deadly Tropics” Season 2 – TV Series Review

Although each of these eight episodes features a different crime, it’s advisable to watch the series in order, due to evolving relationships among the regulars, and a few recurrent plot-lines and supporting players that are better appreciated if one knows the context.

Season 3 picks up shortly after the last one. Gaelle (Beatrice de la Boulaye) is about to be married, but only via a chaotic course, as one would expect from her. Melissa (Sonia Rolland) has a number of romantic and family sidebars, as well. As before, the early episodes contain more humor in the mix; forensics maven Phil (Valentin Papoudof) gets even ditsier than before as a reliable source of comic relief. The later tales shift the balance more to the dramatic side; one even ventures into the supernatural realm.

Fans of other imports from MHz Choice will also enjoy seeing Francis Perrin, the eponymous star of the charming French mystery series “Mongeville” in a small, yet important, role in the first episode.

The sharply different personalities of the two leads continue to energize the series and complement each other in the tradition of Riggs and Murtaugh, Cagney and Lacey and many other cop-buddy pairings. Melissa’s default setting is serious and laser-focused; Gaelle remains irreverent but extremely effective, with method in her façade of madness. Episodes 6 and 8 are particularly dramatic and emotional in tenor, and to good effect. Some of the season’s crimes involve broad social issues like sexism in the military, the growing dangers of designer drugs, and the far-reaching consequences of spousal abuse.

As before, the season ends (thankfully) without cliffhangers but with several story arcs open for further development in Season 4, which aired abroad earlier this year, and should be destined to also cross the Atlantic. I just hope the wait won’t be as long for that next round of adventures with this delightful set of characters in their picturesque setting.

“Deadly Tropics (Tropiques Criminels): Season 3,” mostly in French with English subtitles, streams on MHz Choice starting Tuesday, Nov. 21.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars

Béatrice de la Boulaye and Sonia Rolland in “Deadly Tropics”

THANKSGIVING – Review

Thanksgiving Parade from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC THANKSGIVING

Back in 2007, Quentin Tarantino rounded up some pals for a release called GRINDHOUSE, intended to re-create the experience of going to a drive-in for a schlocky double feature, complete with jingles for the snack bar and fake trailers for other movies. Funny thing about the way that turned out.

The GRINDHOUSE package did fairly well at the box office but the trailers eventually outstripped its performance by a wide margin. Robert Rodriguez’s MACHETE clip turned into two wildly successful (okay, highly successful for most, wildly for me) comedic gore-fests, with a third on the way, and boosting Danny Trejo into the stratosphere of celebrity status. HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN (great title, pretty entertaining movie) became a cultish outing for Rutger Hauer. Two other trailers stayed as such – Edgar Wright’s DON’T and Rob Zombie’s WEREWOLF WOMEN OF THE S.S. Eli Roth’s THANKSGIVING teaser preview is now the third of the quintet (HOBO wasn’t included in all versions of the GRINDHOUSE release) to spawn features.

In the others, much of what was in the trailers was repeated in the movies. Same for THANKSGIVING, though the original was set in the 1970s, and this one is current. Patrick Dempsey plays the sheriff in this holiday horror/comedy yarn. The family that owns a big box store in Plymouth, Massachusetts, opens its Black Friday sale on Thursday night, causing anger among many, and a mob of customers waiting outside to rush in for the bargains the moment the doors open. When the owner’s (Rick Hoffman) teen daughter Jess (Nell Verlaque) and some of her friends are seen through the glass doors jumping the gun, the crowd goes nuts and storms the store, killing and injuring quite a few of their fellow townsmen while fighting each other for the merch they crave.

Skip ahead a year. The disaster led to multiple lawsuits and claims by the victims, spurring gestures of atonement by the ownership that still left many grudges simmering. The town, as usual, celebrates its Pilgrim heritage with a parade, and many people donning those period costumes, including masks of their first mayor, bearing a fortuitous (for the audience) resemblance to the face covering on the dude from V FOR VENDETTA. Despite the previous disaster, they plan to open on Thanksgiving night again, but with more security in place. Many are displeased. Or worse.

The early social satire about greed, consumerism and Black Friday feeding frenzies soon yields to standard slasher traditions, as a mayorally-masked figure starts killing folks off in a variety of gruesome ways, with the owning family and those young friends primarily targeted. In a mashup of the SCREAM and FINAL DESTINATION franchises, there’s suspense in “who was that masked man?” and delightfully complex and graphic methods for racking up his (or possibly her) body count. The faint of heart should pick another movie.

Roth’s concept unfortunately outpaces its execution. The entire cast consists of all the standard types doing all the standard things in completely unmemorable ways. Some of it seems like an homage; at other times, a grimly amusing genre spoof. Also, most of the proceedings are severely under-lit – presumably to ramp up the foreboding factor, but actually obscuring the action, leaving viewers less sure of who did what to whom in more than a few scenes. Given Roth’s solid horror credentials, including CABIN FEVER and the HOSTEL series, one might reasonably expect a punchier finished product. Despite its shortcomings – including an odd ending – slasher fans will still find about as much carnage as they expected when they bought the tickets. And isn’t that what matters most?

THANKSGIVING opens Friday, Nov 17, in theaters.

RATING: 2 out of 4 stars

“Varg Veum” – TV series review

Trond Espen Seim stars as the title character in the Norwegian detective series “Varg Veum,” streaming on Topic. Courtesy of MHz Choice.

“Varg Veum” is the eponymous title of this Norwegian crime series. The star (Trond Espen Seim) is a former social worker turned private detective due to frustration with the failings of public service agencies. More accurately, he was fired for beating up a drug dealer who was pushing product to kids he was trying to protect. In classic genre style, Varg is a scruffy fellow with a marginal income trying to do some meaningful good for people and the community between times he has to tail cheating spouses to keep his business afloat. The Norwegian series aired from 2007 – 2012 and must have been popular in its homeland, since Seim returned as the same character in about a dozen movie incarnations filmed during and for several years after its run. Topic is releasing its six-episode first season for streaming here.

This is one to enjoy without having to binge, since each episode is a new case. It’s advisable to see them in order, since progressive relationships between Varg and the cops – mainly detective Hamre (Bjorn Floberg) – and another acquired colleague also follow tradition as trust and respect among them grow, albeit rather slowly. That and a few other sources provide bits of comic relief in the mostly serious proceedings. Though less violent than our typical domestic fare, Varg does tend to recklessly put himself in danger more than one with his limited fighting skills should attempt. Unconsciousness is no stranger to Varg, though it’s somewhat offset by the occasional upswing in his romantic life.

The stories are diverse and generally well-written, maintaining suspense and tension in most episodes. Industrial pollution, financial and political corruption, robberies, murders and infidelities are all fodder for these scripts. One admirable aspect of the series is the moral complexity of its tales. Good guys and bad guys aren’t just cookie-cutter types. Exploration of characters’ characters makes these play out with a richer texture than many, with a number of highly intense dramatic moments. If you also find Episode 5 to be relatively weak, fear not. Episode 6 was the strongest.

Varg Veum winds up being a character most fans of crime fiction should find a satisfactory repository of empathy. If so, there are six more episodes in Season 2, and all those movies floating around somewhere.

“Varg Veum: Season One,” in Norwegian with English subtitles begins on Topic on Nov. 9, 2023, with two episodes streaming on Topic on that date and with two more released each week thereafter.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars