Monster

Monster draws on a long tradition of Nordic family sagas to weave a tale of a contemporary investigation into the murder and ritualistic burial of a young member of a religious cult.

Hedda Hersoug is a police officer on leave in her home town. She's there to look after her ailing father (and escape her ailing marriage), but is drawn into the murder investigation. Soon, another team of investigators arrive to assist with the inquiry. Hedda clashes with Joel Dreyer who is dismissive of her credentials and her local knowledge.

Hedda and Joel eventually manage to work together, only to reveal a connection between the present-day murders and the unexplained disappearance of Hedda's mother when she was a child.

The series explores the entanglements of family and community and the efforts to preserve and avenge family honour, often--as in the sagas--by violent means. The performances are understated and powerful and mirrored in the stark landscape where silence, like snow, blankets much. The character of Margot, a local crime matriarch, played by Goruld Mauseth, was a stand-out for me.

Monster seems to fall under a sub-genre of Scandinavian noir that I've run into far too often: A crime drama set in rural Finland or Norway or Sweden that involves an ultra religious sect. Invariably, these shows have a large number of unlikable, damaged characters doing unlikable things. As a result, it becomes almost impossible to identify with or root for most of the characters. In Monster, even the detectives are hard to root for, with all their flawed and destructive behavior.

I quickly realized that I was getting little enjoyment out of watching the series. Yet, I somehow felt an obligation to see it through to the end. It was like a bad medicine that I had to take in the hopes of finally getting a payoff at the end. When I finished the final episode, I felt like I had run a marathon. I did in fact like the ending, but the journey there it was so filled with bleak and cynical characters that it was a joyless ride.

I watched the series on the PBS Masterpiece platform. Another strange thing about it was that the episode previews that would appear as you start each new episode were often inaccurate in their descriptions of the episode. Strange. While Monster wasn't terrible, I gave it a 6 and would not recommend.

Whilst I agree with most of the negative reviews and the mind numbing stupidity of the script , I also agree that a very good cast made the best of it and I actually ended up enjoying it . No idea WHY but I did.

Monster or as I have come to know it, "mord i vildmarken" (murder in the wildernes). Is a Norwegian thriller, that unfolds in the remote, northern reaches of Norway, somewhere near the Russian border. It's a small, isolated community, maybe not as tight-knit, as one might think. With secrecy, religion and more. After a young girl goes missing, the police gets their hands full. And we, the viewers, soon gets introduced to alot of new characters. Everyone with their own story and even agenda, it could seem. And it is surely a challenge, to try and figure out how the whole story fits together, with past events and current stories all entangled. Alot of the story, being told, aren't even important for the actual plot in the story. But then again, that all adds to the mystery and oddness. The cinematography ain't bad, the scenery is convincing and there is a general eerie feel to this story in the arctic north. There are none of the characters that you will "root for", and I'm sure it's intended that way. It adds to the whole story. However, I don't really think any of the characters performed outstandingly, but they weren't bad either. There are certain slower sequences, but not to a point where you start to get bored. I gave this 6 stars, which is typically my cutoff for something worth watching, with so much other on offer. In all, this series has enough to offer, to be worth a watch, good camerawork, decent performances and a mysterious thriller with alot of extra oddness added.

So 'Monster' First of all: This is 'Nordic-horror' We are at 'the Bridge' with Sara, and Saga and humans mutilated for ..fun. Yes, the recipe for 'Nordic-horror' is definitively in the game. But can 'we' cope with more brutal deaths in desolated bare landscapes? From viewing 1. episode, i would say; Jajamensam (yes-we-can:) It has its slow parts.. Not quite as slow as the Islandic horror series 'En Mörder ibandt os' -where we 'famously' not only had to watch the police man brush his teeth, but also watch how he floss each and every one.. -Buuuut we are about there in some scenes.. The environment is more gloomy than even David Lynch, but HE is definitely also *there*. Be a ware of that- some times fat Russian singing women appears for NO reason what-so-ever..! I BET you, if you asked the instructor, he would admit a homice to David Lynch :P So strange things intervene with the plot, and that can be annoying as .... You really need to bolt your concentration-cap securely to the head, and sort the inputs in two buckets: A) That is ..weirdness B) That is important for the plot I kind of wish someone had done that before the release.. But mind you, then it could have been one episode shorter, and slap me behind, if writers aren't paid pr. episode.. Why watch it? Because of the suspense, the oddness of how Scandinavian's does their killings(!) and the landscapes. So far the characters has not convinced me enough. I would say episode 1 is a minor 7 So 6+