Bullets

I found this tv show to be rather decent. It struck me as less superficial than is more common in a lot of the show plots used today. The culture seemed to be a little different than one might be accustomed to in the US, but I found it rather interesting to watch.

Maybe I was spoiled by watching All The Sins, another Finnish series which was really well done, but this is too plodding, full of plotholes and unresolved tracks. The whole thing could have been done in 90 minutes instead of ten episodes.

This started off pretty good for one or two episodes, and I really like these cold weather foreign language series and films, but then took a slow meandering turn for the worste. None of the characters really grabbed me although I like several of the actors and have seen them in other higher rated shows. Not much excitement or anything special happens in this show but it still made me stay, begrudgingly, till the end. If a season 2 happens I hope they narrow the plot lines and really juice up the mystery and action. I rated this a 6, watchable.

Mari Saari is an agent of the Finnish Intelligence Service who lost her partner during an operation where they followed a suspicious character. This character was also being followed by the local police drug squad. Soon afterwards Madina Taburova, a Chechen terrorist who was presumed dead, turns up in Finland and demands asylum. Mari must discover why she has resurfaced and why she picked Finland. This requires going undercover as a social worker at the asylum centre to befriend Madina. She must also work with drug squad officer Tommi Viita and his team because Madina was brought to Finland by people smugglers linked to the drug trade. Things are further complicated by a shadowy character dubbed 'The Ghost' who appears to be involved with Madina in some way.

I rather enjoyed this ten part Finnish series. Early scenes nicely introduce the key characters before the main story gets underway. Once things get properly started there are plenty of tense moments and a degree of mystery. The characters are mostly fairly typical of this sort of show; Mari is a bit of a mystery and like most TV cops seem to Tommi has problems with his marriage. Madina is a nicely ambiguous character; we know she has been involved in terrible things but her back story involves tragedy and she may be being coerced to do what she is doing. The cast is solid; with fine performances from Krista Kosonen, Sibel Kekilli and Tommi Korpela as Mari, Madina and Tommi respectively; Dragomir Mrsic is suitably menacing as 'The Ghost'. The winter setting adds to the series' atmosphere... as well as helping brighten night-time outdoors scenes. The ending wraps up most plot lines but some are left open; these leaves the possibility of a second season but after three years I wouldn't count on it. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of the genre.

These comments are based on watching the series in Finnish with English subtitles. Much of the series is actually in English as it is used when characters, such as Madina, don't know Finnish; it is also used between non Finnish speakers even if in reality they would be speaking a third language.

The show has quite an interesting plot with the usual characteristics of Nordic Noir shows, dark mood, gloomy weather, dark atmosphere, political issues and detectives with a disturbing and complicated past. Personally I liked it. Perhaps it is not as great as "The bridge", "Bordertown", "Deadwind" and "The Valhalla murders" but definitely worth watching.