The title of the review sounds like a contradiction in terms. The explanation? It's ridiculous that recruits still on probationary training get to join the detective branch on secondment. It's ludicrous that a green recruit gets allowed to infiltrate an international drug smuggling gang. It's absurd that the particular team of cops training the newbies would be given such a role or that they would even be allowed to continue operating. However, the storyline was good, the acting excellent, the settings in Gothenburg real.
There is a back story that holds the narrative together and this is why this short series was successful. The police department is undergoing criticism for its response to a series of riots and is being investigated particularly in respect of the team Katarina Huss and her fresh-faced colleagues are assigned to. We know the official story and the real story comes out little by little. It's not hard to guess who the baddie is but what is hidden and has to be worked out is how and why the other participants played their roles.
During the slow revelations leading to the truth of the riots, Katerina throws herself into solving crimes, some of which she has been dumped into, and does it with empathy and intelligence but her methods and motivations are often not appreciated by the team, nor by her superiors. I didn't anticipate the final denouement and how it happened. There were a couple of things leading up to the unmasking of the culprit that didn't ring true including that hoary old plot device of, "I can't tell you now, just give me a bit of time".
All things considered, this was an enjoyable tale of moral dilemmas and crime solving. In an epilogue to the climax, Katerina has to make a decision for her future. To enable a second series, she makes the "wrong" decision and becomes complicit in what she fought against. I look forward to her development and the effects of her actions and choice in Season Two if and when it is commissioned.
