Another Nordic Winner

Britain may have talent – but not enough to make me miss the first part of The Bridge – a Swedish-Danish TV production following in the hallowed footsteps of Wallander, The Killing et al.  It is shot in that curious grey gloom – neither colour nor black and white - which heralds dark doings.

There are two main protagonists Saga Noren a Swedish detective and Martin Rohde

her Danish counterpart.  Because the first killing leaves a body precisely in the middle of the Oresund Bridge which separates Denmark and Sweden, both countries are involved.

Saga is a strange colourless blonde completely devoid of vanity, self consciousness or empathy; her tee shirts look grubby – she will occasionally change them – regardless of any audience and her hair has the fluffy top layer that has gone beyond the greasy stage.  Clearly there is something amiss but she is good at her job, her colleagues are used to her and slowly Martin begins to appreciate her.

Martin is a large, likeable, bearded hunk - on his second marriage with small children and an older son from his first marriage.  He is painfully recovering from a vasectomy although his wife was already pregnant (unbeknownst to them) before he had it.

 

The killer is a politically driven murderer who thinks that killing the drop-outs from society will prove his point and he uses a journalist to get his message over. Apart from the killings there are interesting threads – the wealthy wife who is desperate to find a heart for her dying husband, the young girl who resorts to shop lifting when her mother ignores her and her father is occupied with his new family.

Martin, although happily married, has a difficult relationship with his elder son who lives with him.  Saga who lives alone appears to be self sufficient – when she feels hungry she eats and if she feels a sexual urge she goes to a club and asks anyone she likes the look of if they would like to go back to her flat and have sex with her. That out of the way she switches on her lap–top to examine the latest corpse with her new friend goggling beside her.

BBC4 are showing two episodes at a time on Saturday night from 9pm to11pm.  As I have said before I welcome the subtitles – no inaudible mumbling and no endless fiddling with the sound.  Just recently I have been watching a new DVD with the sound higher than we ever have it and still with a muted reception.  In the end I resorted to hearing aids.

Quite apart from bringing the killer to justice a great fascination of this series is the relationship between the two detectives; he finds her quite odd – who wouldn’t - and she is curious about him and his relationship with his wife.  In the last episode Martin courageously chases the disguised killer and ends up prostrate with a gun to his head.   The killer doesn’t shoot but kicks him – bursting his stitches and causing Martin to scream with pain.  The thought occurs – did the killer know about his recent op?

Later on when Martin is asleep in bed with his wife the phone rings.  It is Saga:

 ‘How is your scrotum?