Blå ögon

The Swedish Show Blue Eyes is an outstanding detective in a long line of successful Scandanavian thrillers, and has the same supreme mix between crime and politics as success-story "the Killing".

Blue eyes, or Blå ögon follows Elin Hammer, the head of Staff at the ministry of Justice, who starts researching the disappearance of her predecessor Sarah. As a local politician is murdered, and Sarah remains no where to be found, the tension within the Swedish society increases after multiple attacks by terroristic group Veritas.

Right from the start the show is clouded in a big political cover-up by which puzzles about the nature of it are slowly revealed to the audience. With multiple people being killed for the identity of the main secret, Blue Eyes is extremely exciting to watch from beginning to end.

In addition, the amount of well-build characters within this over- arching story line is admirable. Even though the shows lacks some credibility here and there,the creators were able to create both sympathy and disgust for the people involved. The many inter- connected story-lines blend together to form a narrative which is both a very good "whodunnit", and a political drama which is scarily close to post-Paris reality.

The only shame here is that there were only 10 episodes, which made the ending seem rather rushed.

Overall, it must be said that with Blue Eyes, Scandanivia has found itself a new hit worthy of the same success as "the Killing".

Its very clear the director ran out of time and somewhere forgot several of the plot lines. The last episode failed to shed light on some gigantic plot holes and left a bad aftertaste. The hinted connections between the plots was abandoned and a big 'scew you' explanasion was shoehorned in to end the season that did not know if it would get financing for a second round.

Tragi-drama that sees an abused young mother and her doting younger brother pushed into a world of terrorism, working for neo-nazis and terminating the lives of hostages.

Their feeble life choices arise from the dreadful killing of their politician mother and the fake sympathy of a handsome, charismatic young fascist who exerts a powerful influence.

Never lacking in suspense, the story even conjures an occasional surprise as matters unfold. The character flaws and motives of some of the cast do however stretch the bounds of credibility. 7.3/10

I can usually handle some brutality and violence (in context), but I was squirming for far too much in this series. The Millennium trilogy and The Killing had some graphic violence but this tops them both. Despite some really solid acting and a few interesting political storylines, there was just such an overwhelming sense of foreboding, nastiness and just plain negativity that it was hard to focus on what was happening. Scandinavian dramas and shows are mostly far superior to most comparable series and movies out there, but this one has gone too far for me. There were some interesting relationships and social commentary and the 'noir' aspect of this genre certainly played out, but you will have a hard time finding it 'enjoyable'. Unless you like horror films. A pretty bleak representation of the racism, political back-stabbing and general malaise of Swedish society. At least Wallander had a bit of levity now and then. It's got a good pace and is definitely a 'thriller' but not for late night viewing I'd say.

This is your typical low budget Swedish Noir series that is now being churned out by SVT to met the growing need for this genre. Unfortunately, it uses the same recycled actors and actresses from what must be a very small pool. The cast is heavily stereotyped as they must have a database to draw from to cast the same actors in the same types of roles over and over. Sooner or later, viewers can see through this charade and it distracts from the series. It's almost like amateur theater productions at community level by the same actors.

Common to the genre now is the opportunity that the very strange form of government in Sweden gives film makers. Many parties seem to make up the government and the dynamics between them all is fertile ground for story telling. Add to that the unchecked migration that has occurred to that region and the challenge to adapt to multiculturalism, and one has a never ending supply of the same type of stories.

The holes in the plot are huge, events occurring without logic. This makes the viewer wonder if the writers use a story board for continuity or just make up something new every day at work, without regard for what's happened before. The stunts are poorly done and they could also use some advanced techniques in the make up department where foundation is slathered on to the point where the actors look almost ghost like.

Again, common to many of the low budget Swedish series, everything is rushed into place during the last episode. I guess they never know if they'll receive funding for a second series so they try to wrap up things but leave the ending a bit ambiguous in case the funding does come through. Guess it did not in this case! More productions like this and the genre will go into decline. Watch it without analyzing it, just go with the flow and pretend not to see the holes in the plot!