PrimeWire

There is some excellent writing and acting in here. It’s uneven - many things I liked a lot, and many things I didn’t. Overall, I think it’s a great watch and I’m happy to believe that we will be getting better and better stuff from HBO Nordic from here on out.

Pros: Some nice twists: I’ve seen a lot of procedurals and while some of it was completely predictable, in several places it caught me off guard. Maya’s character: at first she’s practically a cartoon, arrogant and unlikeable, hostile, suspicious of all men - by the time you get through a couple more episodes it swings into focus and it’s all very clear where it comes from. You assume she’s flawed due to temperament and attitudes, you find out she’s flawed due to damage that’s been done to her by her family and community. Maya’s mother: five stars - this actress performs the most realistic portrayal I’ve seen of a manipulative, self-medicated elderly dementia patient. Her character does an artful dance between the self-aware sudden flashes of anger alternating with indifference provoked by her daughter, and the feigned helplessness which keeps her drug habit going. Elle, who opens the series and becomes the second story line running through the plot, is full of the optimism and self-confidence that makes small-town characters believe they are wise to the world and then recoil from the cynicism she’s forced to face. She’s the perfect balance against Maya.

Cons: The criminal with the cleft palate. A disability stigma that goes all the way back to the dark ages, runs through all of Shakespeare, up through the Victorian era, and is still alive and well today. The demonization of people with disabilities is utterly deplorable. He pissed me off every time I saw him and it distracted me from the plot. I kept thinking, why did this actor accept this role? The police chief: I kept waiting for him to develop in some way that would pull him into the plot, for the narrative to give him something that explained why he’s an obstacle and why I should care. It didn’t and I didn’t.