The Bridge

I haven't seen the Killing yet, but I will. I certainly will if it is as good as this Scandinavian crime drama. The story is very compelling, gripping and brilliantly executed. The acting is first rate, especially that of the two leads Kim Bodnia who plays Martin Rohde and the utterly brilliant Sofia Helin who plays the clever but quirky Saga Noren. I have to say she makes the show for me, alright she is blonde, beautiful and Swedish, but her performance is exceptional and you can't help but love her character. Saga works very well with Martin in trying to solve the crimes and the satellite characters and stories work equally as well. I also have to mention the direction, camera work and general production of this series as it is as good as anything I have seen. I shall be very sad when it finishes.

To sum up in short: suspense, good acting, real empathy for the story line, great appropriate music, twists that keep you hooked wanting to keep going. The two leads are very different, and equally interesting and complex. The support cast is first rate, and the suspense just keeps building.Best drama/ mystery that I've seen for ages. Well worth it. By epp2 I was pleasantly surprised that it kept the intrigue up. By Epp3 I was thinking of ringing in sick for work to keep watching. If you like your mysteries to keep surprising you, and adding layers, and layers, then this is for you. There aren't the usual "holywood" dumbed down explanations at the end of each epp, instead it makes you keep thinking.I have to say that they have done a first rate job with the music score too.Although even without it, the storyline gives you plenty of emotional reaction.This is one show to set aside free time for, with out distractions. And just enjoy.

I absolutely loved this series. The story is intriguing from the start: a corpse is found on the bridge between Denmark and Sweden, carefully positioned so that each half is in a different country. The story that evolves from there is satisfactorily complex, without getting silly, and full of suspense. There are a lot of interesting characters in the series, but the stars are the two investigators. Saga Noren, who clearly has a fairly serious Asperger syndrome, mixes an infuriating lack of understanding of people's feelings with an endearing innocence and admirable honesty. Martin Rohde, a more traditional investigator, is a man that often doesn't really think about the consequences of his actions,and is willing to break rules. The relationship between these two provides a lot of interest and plenty of really entertaining moments. Everything is greatabout this series - the story, the ending, the characters, the music,the photography (the night shots of the bridge and the city that are interspersed during the series are mesmerising). More like this please!

A little background: I'm from U.S. and a few years ago, some friends had recommended I watch 'The Pusher' 3 part series, and that was so realistic, so entertaining, that I started following the main actors, see what other films they had done. And recently I'd done a search, and found Kim Bodnia was in this series, so that was main reason for watching it, plus, like many, I'd seen the U.S. version of The Killing and was curious again about Scandanavian movies.

So I read the reviews on here, and obtained and began to watch this series. I immediately liked the police officer played by Sofia Helin, and I presumed she had some sort of autism, tho I don't know enough about it to be sure, and figured maybe it was more an antisocial thing, but after a few episodes it became really appealing, and I've always liked Bodnia's gritty acting and he seemed a good counterpoint to Helin.

It didn't take but one episode to get me caught up in the crime drama, either. It was complex, and I had to go back a few times, and I could see the subtitles were lame at times, but still, when there are subtitles I just depend more on the acting, and it was great.

The violence was there, but not like US movies where it is overdone and become boring and cartoon like, here it was sparse and credible. I found myself truly frightened for the victims, and worried to the last episode over the fate of certain people.

Don't miss this one: I couldn't leave the screen it was so good. And I think myself that some of the role comprised in the US version of The Killing comes from this series, not from the original in Sweden, but the lack of emotion and inability to empathize that the police lady had in this series: well I think that was what the US actress was *trying* to achieve in her role. Watch this series, and then think of the US actress who played the police detective in The Killing.

Great series though,and one of the best crime stories I've seen

I guess reviewer Smockan didn't notice that Sofia Helins odd character had Aspergers Disorder which results in a very asocial behaviour. She don't know how to socialize or communicate in a normal fashion. She knows nothing about being diplomatic or "holding back". She's just barging in like a bulldozer.

I've seen the first 9 episodes and was amazed by the exciting storyline, the twists and Kim Bodnias acting. Sofia Helins performance isn't top notch but the character is so amusing and hilarious so you cant do nothing but love her. as long as you don't have to meet her in real life. =)

Those of you out there who just watched one episode and thought "this is crap. Cant stand watching this piece of *beeep*. Let's watch Wrestling instead" just don't know what you missed. This is a great crime series and it shows that Sweden and Denmark should co op more often when it comes to made for TV-drama.