Yet another Nordic noir series, this time centring on a female, mother-of-two newspaper reporter who in this first character and scene-setting episode just happens to find herself Jilly-on-the-spot as witness to a cold blooded murder at the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm. Based on a series of crime novels based on this character which I've not read, this was an entertaining enough story, even if it seemed obvious at times that the story was abridged to fit the 90 minute TV framework.
The concept of course is a bit old-fashioned too (are there really still crime reporters out there risking life and limb to get their stories?) and the handling of the material noticeably lighter than say, the Stiegg Larsson trilogy or "The Bridge", the story rattling along, plot holes and all, with the usual diversions to develop back-stories for the lead character, unsurprisingly concerning her two young children and to a lesser extent her boyfriend. Malin Crepin, looking like a young Meg Ryan, carries the lead part well, even if at this stage, her character doesn't posses a lot of depth.
Stylishly shot in that wonderful natural daylight style common to all the recent contemporary Scandinavian series around and making the almost clichéd use of the panoramic, establishing, on-high city scape shots to kick-start scenes and capably acted by all the actors, while a number of settings and situations are reminiscent of the other series mentioned before, for all its lack of originality, this first episode proved entertaining and just about exciting enough to entice me back for future programmes in the series.
