Frikjent

Aquitted, or Frikjent, witch is the original title, has a very intriguing plot, which is inspired on an idea which occurred after the disappearance, and later found killed, young girl, Birgitte Tengs. A young lover was sentenced, but later acquitted for the killing, but even if there was an acquittal, the suspected young man was still sentenced to pay for damages. Upon this base, the main writers Anna-Bache Wiig and Siv Rajendram Eliassen.

We meet a modern businessman in Aksel Borgen, which for years have had considerable success, and is well established with a wife and son in Indonesia. Even back home some know about his success, though there's been a long 20 years since he left his little home town on the western coast of Norway. When the most important local firm at his birth place is in serious trouble, Aksel Borgen is asked back to save the all-important firm and his hometown in Norway. But there's a major catch. 20 years ago, he left his home town after being acquitted for murdering his high school sweetheart. People back home hasn't forgotten anything about the case.

The series rely very much on the acting in a series which is full of close dialog. This is a mystery crime drama with a touch of classy soap. It's well made, and beautifully produced. It also show the multi talented Nicolai Cleve Broch in a role which is perfect for his specter of method acting. We get time to care about the persons, which is crucial in such a series. We get to know a lot of interesting persons in a wast gallery in two countries on each side of the world. We see all kinds of conflicts evolve, and being dragged up from far beyond once more. Deep emotions, hard feelings, which is followed by a haunting music score, heavy on sentimentality as well as sadness.

The scenery is beautiful, and will add an extra exotic feel to the film of a really small town, which has old and modern buildings mixed as a part of the scenery as well as the premises for the plot unfolding. The film shows modern and traditional rural Norway, with architecture and modern technology is mixed with everyday life and the rural old traditional feel and traditions. On this back-draft, the modern multi national business is entering with modern tailor made suits and a beautiful designed Audi A7 limousine, which is used as a contrast to the nature, very effectively.

The main score, "To assign properties" is beautifully performed by the upcoming Norwegian band Highasakite, and fold every episode's opening and closing in a simply perfect way. Perfectly suited.

The slick feel is also made by the lovely footage. The whole series is excellent photographed all through. The story seems like it's got new angles all the time, and very likely there will be a second season, since this series has been a great success in native country Norway, with up to 45 % market share when aired. The series is sold to a lot of countries, and will have a world wide TV-distribution. Quite deservedly so. You'll probably have easy to see inspiration from other Scandinavian film inspirations, like Bergman, Hamer and Bier. Very Scandinavian. Very Norwegian.

The series is already sold to 15 countries, and more to come. The series is chosen for the Geneva International Film Festival og Seoul International Drama Awards, where it's nominated for three awards, amongst them best script.

Good things: The cinematography of the series is impressive. The actors give a solid performance. The music helps the atmosphere of the series to stay consistently gripping. Every second contains an excellent amount of uncomfortable tension that prevents the otherwise overdramatized script from falling into the soap opera category.

At the same time, the script is still plagued by some serious illogicalities. It is simply questionable whether an international high tech company could have been managed successfully by a woman whose behavior is seriously neurotic at worst and someone whose background is such a huge question mark could work as a big shot in an investment company and stay married with the same woman for 17 years.

Moreover, it is nothing short of unconvincing that the small town in which the events of this series take place could be so remarkably void of people who would just listen to reason and act sensibly under most circumstances.

Summary: While I still enjoy to watch the series, I can't help being nagged by the feeling that something just doesn't make sense in the script.

I absolutely loved watching this, I got so into it I binged watched it on Stan on a work night until 3am had 2 hours sleep and do not regret a second. The only reason this did not get a 10 was because the woman who played Karine's mother drove me crazy, I have no idea if it was the acting or if it was just the constant crazy, either way she annoyed me to no end. Nothing like a bit of Eye Sweetener for a leading man either. The scenery was spectacular made me want to pick up sticks and move there..... then I realised what the temperature would be all year round and put my sticks back in their bag. Just Brilliant, watch it don't diss because of the subtitles, it translates seriously well most of the time anyway.

Just based on the scenery alone I can tolerate this 45 minute show (don't know why they advertise it as an hour as it isn't an hour). Anyway, I am only at episode 6, and I really think Tonje did it as it is obvious she is still in love with Aksel. Eva is an awful actress.

After reading the announcement of the series on German TV I was intrigued by the theme: A businessman returning to the small village in Norway, where he grew up and, after being a prime suspect in a murder at the age of 18, was acquitted of the crime. He left the town, made a successful career in the Far East, only to return after 20 years or so to save the main employer in the town from going bankrupt. Such a topic offers plenty of opportunities to make an intriguing TV-series. However, already after watching the first episode I was really disappointed. The actors walk, behave, and are dressed like clichés. The investors are of course all smartly dressed good looking young men, who prefer to travel by helicopter, but many of the details have nothing to do with the reality of this world. Their behaviour is irrational, and they take risks that investors would never take, even if they were driven by sentiments. After watching for a while, this gets so annoying, that the basically great theme of the series disappears into the background. There are really much better Scandinavian crime series to watch (like The Bridge), don't waste your precious time on this one.