I know I know, I am a bit late to the party, you all discovered it about five years ago and I just realised now that it is the best thing that happened to television since Law & Order, but that is who I am – a lagging indicator…
At a time when most TV is either reality or cooking shows, programs that require very little script and are usually addressing the lowest common denominator, it is very refreshing to watch TV shows that are intellectually challenging, and that you actually have to follow carefully to make sure you don’t miss a thing. Even the good American TV series these days all have quasi model type of actors all with bleached teeth and impeccable hair that it is hard to take too seriously (I love Suits but never been to a law firm where the managing partner was a sexy super model wearing dresses that might explode when she sits…)
I regret to say that I didn’t follow The Killing, as it was too late on TV at a time that all I wished for was to sleep, but I did discover Borgen series III and the Bridge series II and fell in love. These two are quite different, the first is a political drama and the other is a police thriller, but there are some similarities: they are both tense edge of your seat kind. In Borgen everyday there is a new political crisis, every day the protagonist has a new battle to fight and each battle can ruin her career, but she always manages to get out of it with manipulation, sophistication and being clever.
The Bridge is really complicated, in every episode there is another suspect or another angle, it is so interesting and clever that it is simply entertainment at its best. In both series there are private stories that are elaborate and are almost as interesting as the main plot itself. The characters are written so well: they are so complex that the viewer almost feels like a psychologist analysing their characters and their stories; especially in the Bridge, the two main protagonists are so different from each other and their stories often provide a comic relief or the emotional catharsis to an often cold and calculated story.
The thing that is the most prevalent is Girl Power: the protagonist of The Killing is a woman investigator and she is the best, in Borgen the prime minister (or in series III the former prime minister) is a woman and her spin doctor as well, in The Bridge ALL the powerful characters are women: the head of police, the head of the investigation, the owner of the pharmaceutical company, the head of research of that company, the biographer, her sister the conference organiser – all the powerful roles are held by powerful women and all the men are either weak or softer than them. I wonder why? Is it because the Nordic countries are the most egalitarian in the world? Is it because women’s rights in the Nordic countries are the most advanced in the world? Women and men can share a maternity leave in a way that allows women to progress their careers more than in other countries – do these TV series reflect the reality correctly or is it just a feminist fantasy? Either way, the result is inspiring, intriguing and entertaining and I can’t wait to see more.
einatsohar 