I have just watched the final episode of the final series, the last ever, of Forbrydelsen, The Killing. It is a Danish crime series, starring Sofie Gråbøl as Sarah Lund, the detective who investigates… the killings! This series has been the most perfect TV in every way – faultless, and Sarah is such a character, with foibles and annoying behaviour,sometimes I wanted to shout at the screen when she was being stubborn.
This third series followed the kidnapping of a small girl, the daughter of a shipping magnate; the kidnapper was bent on finding the person who had murdered his own daughter, and different people were suspected from the Prime Minister, through his cabinet, his opposition, the employees of the shipping magnate… there were so many strands woven in and out, different story lines including the relationship of Sarah to her mother, her son, a former lover… finely drawn and believable characters, brilliantly acted, every single one of them.
We the audience were tricked and mislead, anyone could have been the culprit, it was bluff and double bluff and double-double bluff… The final episode was torture (I don’t mean literally, I mean for us the audience) we knew the case would be solved, but we couldn’t believe that Sarah would end up happy… I just had this terrible fear that she would be killed, and indeed we were led to believe she might be. The end when it came was totally unexpected… I ended up shouting ‘NO!’… however on reflection, the ending was as perfect as every other aspect of the whole series… I might not have liked it, or I might have wished for something else and hoped that the various different story-lines would conclude differently, but it was all believable… and true to itself.
Bravo, Forbrydelsen!
Lois Elsden 