Arne Dahl - The Complete First Season

Here’s to yet another Nordic Noir drama (I had better stop counting at that point). This time it’s Arne Dahl, the alias for Swedish novelist Jan Arnald. The Complete First Series is comprised of 3 discs offering a whopping 900 minutes viewing time – better stack up on food and drinks then, as you won’t have much time left for anything else once you start watching!

Admittedly, the well-paced crime thrillers offer a clever script, dialogue, believable acting and complex, interesting cases with more layers than a Smörgasbord. What is doesn’t offer, unfortunately, is a fresh spin on all the other Nordic crime dramas we’ve lately been bombarded with (The Killing, Borgen, The Bridge and the daddy of them all, Wallander).
The successful formula of these other programs seems to guarantee audience satisfaction, so why change the recipe? But that’s exactly were things start to get a little repetitive with Arne Dahl… There’s the usual assembly of misfit cops, and they all have problems of their own (not to mention atrocious social skills), and then there’s always the hero or heroine with mega family problems – courtesy of the commitment their job demands. Maybe it would make for a refreshing change if all that private malarkey could be put on the backburner, with the focus firmly on the crime instead.

Either way, the first case, ‘Misterioso’, leaves little doubt as to the demands required from this team of specialists! Put together by Jenny Hultin of the CID, her specially recruited team is comprised of computer nerd Chavez, the feisty Viggo Norlander, interrogator Kerstin Holm, built-like-a-Viking Gunnar Nvberg, loyal Paul Hjelm, and the odd one out (haha) called Arto Söderstedt – a guy who loves to break conventions (and the odd glass whenever he has disagreements with his loving wife).
It’s Arto at the forefront during the first case, which starts with a bank robbery gone wrong, the assassination of high profile businessmen with apparent links to ammunitions trade in the Soviet Union, a very nasty Estonian mafia gang who call themselves Juri-X, a rare Thelonius Monk recording, and other surprise twists at every corner.

Keeping up? Of course you don’t, which is why you really should watch this cool box set, available in DVD and Blu-ray format.