Stockholm Requiem

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

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

''Sthlm Reqviem'' is a Swedish television series based on the characters created by Kristina Ohlsson who is a political scientist, has worked as a Counter-Terrorism Officer at OSCE (the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) and also writes crime fiction novels. This series are based on the Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht book series. I've only read the first one, titled ''Unwanted'' which I found a bit boring and prosaic and this experience prevented me from further reading of this particular series. It should be mentioned though that Ohlsson has also written some great standalone crime novels such as ''Buried Lies'' and ''The Lies We Tell''. I believe that not all of the stories shown in the series are taken from the Bergman/Recht books, but Ohlsson got herself involved in the script writing of all ten episodes along with a number of others, one being Jonas Karlsson who also plays Alex Recht. Each separate story is completed in two episodes, so in a total of ten episodes in the first season, the viewer has the opportunity to follow five different cases with a common thread running through the series as a whole. The story-lines are not equal in quality and some of them are rather trite and tiresome, creating an uneven feeling to the viewer who wants to evaluate the series as a unity. The performances from the three main protagonists (Liv Mjönes, Jonas Karlsson and Alexej Manvelov) are above average but the characters, especially Fredrika, lack the strength of other fictional police officers and detectives. My personal favorite stories were the first and the last one, even if I found the finale a bit unsatisfying. I don't know if there is a second season coming and moreover I am not sure that I would like something like that. Scandinavian crime fiction certainly have offered many better crime tv series and one should check them out first, before indulging in ''Sthlm Reqviem'' (like ''Innan Vi Dor'', ''Alex'', ''Broen'', ''Bedrag'' and others). Finally, I should add that the main advantage of the series is the fact that it is very well-shot and the city of Stockholm is a character on its own merit. It is perhaps the number one reason to watch it.

I watched all ten episodes of Stockholm Requiem just over a year ago and watched them again more recently. I enjoyed the series just as much as I did the first time. Quality drama is always worth a second viewing.

Essentially consisting of five double episodes, Stockholm Requiem is a well written and directed crime drama with engrossing storylines and engaging performances by the cast, including some familiar faces from The Bridge, The Killing and Borgen amongst others. I loved the theme music too.

Season Two of Stockholm Requiem is definitely needed. Several burning questions require answers. For example, will we see Peder again? Is creepy Torbjörn ok? Will Alex ever crack a smile? On the subject of Alex, for heaven's sake it is blindingly obvious that Fredrika and Alex should be a couple - I shouted it at the screen more than once! Please make it happen.

Stockholm Requiem is a well crafted drama worth your consideration.