Beck

After having exhausted, it seemed, the supply of British mystery/police-procedural series, I turned my attention to foreign (non-English-language) productions. If you are not averse to subtitles, you will find among foreign productions some outstanding series in this genre, and "Beck" is one of them.

"Beck" – after "Wallander" and "Van Veeteren" – is the third Swedish-language police- procedural series I have watched, and it may be the best, which is high praise. I should qualify that by saying I have watched only the first 18 episodes of "Beck" (produced from 1997 to 2005), available in the USA as sets 1 through 6. Eight subsequent episodes have been produced and released on DVD, but not yet, as far as I can tell, with Region 1 encoding.

"Beck," which aired as a Swedish TV series from 1997 to 2009, is based on the books of Mai Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö in which Inspector Martin Beck, the lead detective of a special homicide team of the Swedish police, was the central character. I gather that the team (in this series) is based in Stockholm, but the crimes they investigate are not limited to that city. Each episode is approximately 90 minutes in length and represents a complete case. I found the stories to be uniformly engrossing, and in several there were twists at the end that I did not see coming.

Tying the episodes together is a cadre of well-cast, well-acted characters that appear in all, or nearly all, episodes, and other characters whose tenure spans fewer episodes. Three characters, who appear in all episodes, merit special mention: Beck: level-headed, insightful, possessed of more of an everyman quality than most leading characters (he reminded me of my junior high biology teacher); Gunvald, Beck's right-hand man: brash, swaggering, politically incorrect, tough – the iron fist in Beck's velvet glove; Grannen: Beck's wonderfully eccentric neighbor - he rarely failed to make me laugh.

Note: As a result of having read a user review (on another site) that lauded the series but was critical of the quality of the video transfer, especially in light of the fact the reviewer considered the DVD sets to be pricey, I purchased just one set and was attentive to image quality when I watched the first episode. What I found was that the video transfer is not state of the art but neither is it bad. More importantly, it quickly ceased to be an issue as I was pulled into the series. And after I finished the first set, I purchased the remaining five.

Beck offers up understated excellence in the form of a Swedish crime drama.

There are several seasons of Beck. I have been fortunate enough to watch two and four, with English subtitles. Unlike many US shows, the Swedish approach to crime drama is modest and down to earth. For me, this approach makes the characters and story, far more accessible and believable.

The crime stories Beck and his team investigate are in many ways familiar. This obstacle is overcome by quality narrative and fleshed out characterizations, that really lift this series above the ordinary. A good cast of well known Swedish actors, does this series no harm either.

In short Beck is a a worthwhile watch, I can happily recommend. Nine out of ten from me.

Gunvald alone makes this series so worth while. A Swedish 'Dirty Harry' Well written stories and great locations. Addictive and rewatchable.

I have watched all episodes in this Swedish series and have to say that as the series progressed, the quality of writing decreased. The newest offering, produced in 2018 is a much lighter version than the earlier ones. The central character comes across as very tired, and just going through the motions. There isn't the passion and enthusiasm as before. Perhaps this is intentional i.e to show the effects of aging and "burn-out". The newest season has more subplots than the earlier ones, some of which seem to have little bearing on the main story. Although interesting, they can also be a bit distracting from the main focus. Beck's silly and annoying neighbor is still there but adds little to the series other than to insert some Swedish type humor that does not translate well to other audiences. The new episodes deal with current issued of immigration etc in modern day Sweden. Again, in keeping with a need to have a happy ending that is neat, and is a common thread in many of the newer, lighter Scandinavian noir series, Beck is also going in that direction., sometimes to the detriment of logic.

Despite all I've said, the series still is worth a watch but the writing needs to pick up the pace and go back to its roots. .

Only reason I wouldnt give this a 10 is sometimes the detectives just dont act like professional law enforcement, except for Gunwald, they go into situations without weapons drawn when you can hear there is a standoff. Gunwald has great attitude and makes it look easy. Sure in the US the police are very heavy handed, i dont know if in Sweded they are actually gentler or just in this show, its a different perspective. In my area it is subtitled and I dont mind the read every episode on MHZ. The inclusion of the characters personal problems adds more realism. I recommend it to everyone, some viewers are too lazy to read.