Well-acted Danish crime series about a chilling theme which, tragically enough, has become quite plausible. There's a lot of suspense, thanks to a few truly ingenious surprise twists.
All of this sounds nice enough, but sadly the plot is as holed as a pair of old shoes. To quote but one example : the hostage takers speak English, consistently. It is pretty clear, from the beginning, that it might be a good idea to make an educated guess about the geographical origins of the hostage takers, in order to study their motives and belief systems. As a result it might be a good idea to examine the said English - is it the English of people raised in Nigeria, France, Saudi Arabia, China ? Or is the answer to be found much closer to home ? Strangely enough, no one tries his hand at this kind of exercice - and it's not as if Denmark, one of the best educated countries on Earth, lacks linguists, university professors, English teachers, interpreters, speech therapists, ambassadors, cosmopolitan travellers, and so on. While we're at it, Denmark is not exactly short of refugees and immigrants either.
Finally I was bemused by the underlying message. Am I right in saying, that the series is actually pleading in favour of the payment of ransom in exchange for soldiers captured by an enemy ? In wartime ? In this case I can only say that this is a very very very very stupid idea. The makers of the series deserve to be put in front of a blackboard. Here, for punishment, write us a hundred lines of "Pecunia nervus belli". Or, if one likes to remain within Latin proverbs 101 : "Experientia magistra stultorum" would do as well. ("The wise are able to predict negative effects, while the stupid only learn when the problem bites them in the ass".)
All of this sounds nice enough, but sadly the plot is as holed as a pair of old shoes. To quote but one example : the hostage takers speak English, consistently. It is pretty clear, from the beginning, that it might be a good idea to make an educated guess about the geographical origins of the hostage takers, in order to study their motives and belief systems. As a result it might be a good idea to examine the said English - is it the English of people raised in Nigeria, France, Saudi Arabia, China ? Or is the answer to be found much closer to home ? Strangely enough, no one tries his hand at this kind of exercice - and it's not as if Denmark, one of the best educated countries on Earth, lacks linguists, university professors, English teachers, interpreters, speech therapists, ambassadors, cosmopolitan travellers, and so on. While we're at it, Denmark is not exactly short of refugees and immigrants either.
Finally I was bemused by the underlying message. Am I right in saying, that the series is actually pleading in favour of the payment of ransom in exchange for soldiers captured by an enemy ? In wartime ? In this case I can only say that this is a very very very very stupid idea. The makers of the series deserve to be put in front of a blackboard. Here, for punishment, write us a hundred lines of "Pecunia nervus belli". Or, if one likes to remain within Latin proverbs 101 : "Experientia magistra stultorum" would do as well. ("The wise are able to predict negative effects, while the stupid only learn when the problem bites them in the ass".)