Stockholm Requiem

Really enjoyed this cop program, characters different, you do have to fill in some gaps with own imagination but a slow build which all links together at the end. A modern day Swedish type of Dexter. Hoping a series two might happen.

This is STHLM Requiem. It wants to be Bron. It has super-dark visuals and the crimes committed in the series are terrible. Serial killer after serial killer in little Stockholm. But at the same time, STHLM Requiem wants you to take it extremely seriously. As if serial homicide is a daily event in Stockholm.

This has to be one of the worst series I've ever seen, and I have quite low standards. Every twist comes either out of nowhere and makes no sense or is so obvious it is barely a twist. Speaking of twists, one of the worst things the show does is revealing the true killer like ten minutes before the end of the final episodes. In the second episode, the killer is revealed at the very end and the reveal comes out of the blue, and even worse the motive which has very little hints at the start. In the fourth episode it's even worse; the true villain is painfully obvious from the beginning.

If anything positive is to be said, I can say that the acting is often very good. The three leads all fit well in their roles, and the killers, despite their poor reveals, aren't bad characters and the actors do a good job. Which makes it even more depressing, as it makes you ask why they even signed up for this in the first place.

Overall, you should skip this series if you want a thriller that'll keep you at the edge of your seat. But watch it if you want to have a laughing riot. Yes, this is in some parts so bad it's good, such as when Liv Mjönes' character sees the killer and tries negotiating with him to spare his hostage, and Jonas Karlsson's character awkwardly screams "Be careful! This man is dangerous!"

This is a series that could have been good, unfortunately ruined by mediocre writing and terrible directing.

A series with good acting, interesting storylines, but with soulless character personalities completed with an awful score.

Would you like to see a depressed investigations unit, follow their demons and psychological weaknesses, that's the series for you. The writers and producers even managed to waste Alexej Manvelov's acting and presence.

Anti-depressants for most involved would have raised the bar. A disgrace to the Noir genre and Scandinavian fine shows.

• Screenplay/story: 7
• Development: 7
• Realism: 6.5
• Entertainment: 6
• Acting: 7
• Filming/cinematography: 8
• Special effects: 7
• Music/score: 3
• Depth: 5.5
• Logic: 5.5
• Flow: 5
• Suspense/thrill: 5.5
• Ending/closure: 5.5

Not so successful adaptation of brilliant books. Could have been done so much better, look at "innan vi dør» and other brilliant Swedish crimeshows.

It should be noted that some of the reviews here are so excessively unfair in their criticism and ratings that quite frankly they are not worth paying much attention to. Being British, I watched it with English subtitles and enjoyed it, so perhaps it is weaker from the perspective of a Swedish native.

The series was well worth my time, with some interesting characters and stories that deserved more space for further development. Some of the characters struggle with psychological problems as a result of their work and/or events in their personal lives, and I thought this was portrayed reasonably realistically.

It is somewhat dark and you will not be spoon-fed happy endings, but is all the better for that.