The Sommerdahl Murders

I really wanted to get hooked on this as I love Danish TV but this is pushing the limits. It has real potential but to emphasise so much on the breakdown of the marriage of the lead character has turned it in to a soap opera. Half the time you forget they are actually supposed to be out solving murders. It doesn't help that Dan Sommerdahl and his wife Marianne are not exactly likeable, you end up not really caring what happens to the relationship. The saving grace is André Babikian, he give his usual good performance.

/about Season 1/

This locality-based Series (in and around Elsinore) is no flop, but not more than mediocre, no Scandi Noir, with several predictable cases (if I did not guess the wrongdoer, I could guess the run of scenes and problem-solving approaches) and unrealistic living atmosphere of the policemen in Denmark (mid-level officers all having private houses with a sea-view, really?). The cast is also just above average, no memorable performances (Babikian, Drasbæk, Mygind are not A-grade actors in Denmark).

As for level, it is more close to e.g. Anna Pihl or Morden i Sandhamn than to Bron/Broen or Innan vi dör, for instance. And last but not least - Danish weather is seldom so pleasant as in this Series :)

PS Season 2 has somewhat meatier cases, but the personal relations, this triangle, is still not smooth and sometimes annoying. And again - no rainy days around Elsinore at all! :)

The mystery and investigation portions are entertaining. However, the soapy marriage squabbles drag the whole thing down.

As other reviewers have said, this is a decent show. The mysteries are good, the acting is good, and I always find myself enjoying the episodes. The exception here is the soapy ménage that persists between Dan, Fleming, and Marianne, the latter of whom is the least interesting/most annoying character in this series. By the beginning of season three, I was hoping beyond hope that the writers would do the viewers a favor, and either kill her off, or send her somewhere to "find herself" (because she seems like one of those people who would need to do that), and then just leave her there. Everything seems angst-filled with her, and it gets to be seriously tedious after a while. Largely she adds nothing to the show. Fortunately there are other delightful characters to partially make up for her existence, Svend in particular, a wonderful character who bakes. I'm looking forward to more, but not with Marianne. She needs to go.

Marianne is such a needy selfish drip. She's a forensic pathologist that works WITH her husband and has his respect in addition to being married to him. She acts like she just sits home all day waiting for him to come home. Be more realistic if she complained about having to see him all day, every day. They solve murders together. Not thrilling enough, so she sleeps with someone else and flirts with his best friend. Lame. Fast forward through her scenes.