Dirigenten

This series has surprising turns all the time, exactly how a good tv-series should be. Highly recommended.

It was ok overall but I wouldn't watch it again. Plot is over complicated and acting very hammy in places. Oh- and the soundtrack is just awful and overplayed. Very annoying.

This Swedish series is set in Moscow at the turn of the Twenty First Century. Swede Tom Blixen works as an investment banker for an international company. When his friend's wife, Olga Ukolova, tells him they are having financial problems he agrees to look through their investments and see if there are any of any value. Most of their shares are worthless but there is a possibility; Tom thinks some apparently worthless oil shares might have some value. He tries to acquire the other shares he can find hoping to arrange a merger with another oil company... soon shareholders are starting to be murdered. As the story continues we are taken deeper into a world of dangerous oligarchs, corrupt politicians and learn more about why Tom came to Russia in the first place.

I really enjoyed this tense thriller. It might not be the first to explore the murky world of Russian business; 'McMafia' explored similar territory as did the film 'Gorky Park', which was set in the Soviet era; but it still had plenty of original ideas. Once the action started, in the first episode, there was constant tension which managed to increase as the story approached its conclusion. The cast did a fine job; most notably Adam Pålsson, who played Tom; Karolina Gruszka, who played Olga; and Georg Nikoloff, who played Prosecutor Dmitri Skurov. As the conclusion approaches there are some twists and nice misdirection. Overall I'd recommend this series to fans of the genre.

The presentation and building up of the plot and characters is indeed promising. Sadly it fades out into solutions that both are too obvious as they also try to keep up a complexity where the aspects revealed become exaggerated. Still, the play is kept in a mellow mood in an effort to maintain realism, and many characters are credible, though the plot developes away from credibility, and rather far into a slow emotional drama. This way much of the thriller feeling is lost. Several actors do a brilliant job, some of the extras not, and it's always gratifying to experience a well-balanced soundtrack.

In spite of hopes and wishes from the 1990ies, Russia has not "westernised", but has somewhat imported its approaches and modus operandi into relations and dealings with the West. In Moscow Noir, most events take place in Russia, with most performers of non-Russian origin, enabling to develop events and scenes with additional thrill and appropriate mood.

Adam Pålsson is good as usual (perhaps his character is somewhat less interesting than in Innan vi dör), and he has many pleasant co-actors to side with him, enabling to wend his way through cruelty, greed and betrayal. True, this Series includes again some talks in horrible Russian and I figured the main wrongdoer out a bit too early, but as for entirety, the 8 episodes were pleasant to follow and are recommended to those not against of political elements in a thriller.

Partly to be juxtaposed with the BBC´s McMafia.