Maria Wern

they won't have the chance to become so popular. First of all, terrible screenplays from the first to the last. Secondly, don't know why we have to focus on the single parent with regular I.Q., without any detecting gene woman, Maria Wern, to be the major role. Thirdly, all the supporting roles in this serious are also not too good or too bright to be taken seriously as detectives, just a bunch of low I.Q. people who even being in uniforms would not be quite qualified albeit being detectives. Maria Mern? There's nothing special or worth specifying her as the leading role in this non-talented, brainless, no imagination, no initiation, no nothing character to waste our viewers' time. But the major problem is still on the bad screenplays, not just absurd, predictable, pretentious, but absolutely unnecessary.

This is one of the worst Scandinavian dramas, definitely not qualified to be included in "mystery drama" genre.

Oh, by the way, strongly suggest MHz Int'l TV Channel not just to stop broadcasting this one, but also those lousy so-called mystery dramas from Italy, such as the one with the Catholic father, and that two love birds detective one(Inspector Montalbano may be the only one not to be cut), because they are so shallow, so elementary, so childish and so ridiculous.

This Scandinavian series is set in Gotland, which is the only saving grace for it. The writing is terrible, the editing much, much worse. The stories make no sense and the ridiculous manner in which they are edited offers little in the way of a continuous narrative. The scenes are often randomly sequenced without any regard for logic. It's as if the story is made up on the fly without using a story board to tell it. The actors are drawn from the usual small, recycled pool of Swedish actors, many of whom have been seen in other Swedish productions year after year. Many of the scenes have tremendous bloopers, which make them quite laughable. It's really a very poor level of production.

Well, first, how there could be that many murders in Gotland, but never mind. What confuses me is what exactly was made. According to IMDb, we got a four part series in 2008, and four separate episodes in 2010 (plus the feature movie in 2012). I have four English subtitle files for the 2008 series, but not the vids, and I've watched six episodes from 2010, not four (five of the English sub files needed to be re-synched). I have the movie vid, but there are no English subs (yet).

As far as the show goes, well, nothing special. The Maria Wern character is a pretty ordinary cop, she seems to have no special gifts, no unusual personality quirks. Aside from the actress being pleasant to watch, I don't really get why this needed to be made. I enjoyed it well enough, but am I jonesing over the 2008 and 2012 material I haven't seen? Not really.

This series has been going on for ages, and originally it was not much to brag about, even the dialogue felt very stilted and the whole thing wasn't that good, so not surprising it went directly to DVD for two seasons.

But then Warner Bros. And a few other more foreign companies took notice, and from say series 6 it is damned good.

As good as many British crime series, and that is a surprise! The actors are surprisingly good, even the young ones, and the dialogue and story is now very good.

I rarely like Swedish series, but this is top notch!

Maria Wern is a widowed Swedish police inspector who takes her two young children from Stockholm to the east coast island of Gotland to start a new life.

Gotland is a beautiful island, but any hopes Maria may have had of pursuing the perpetrators of minor traffic breaches is soon dashed as a number of gruesome murders take place in this Scandanavian paradise and Maria at times needs to ensure the security of her kids. I think Norse mythology and the occult permeate the Scandanavian culture and identity and if you watch Swedish crime as often as I do then you'll expect the occasional plot line to have its genesis in some bizarre ritualistic obsession. Having said that, the stories in the Maria Wern series are fascinating and well scripted and the supporting actors are all first class. But Eva Rose is a genuinely accomplished actress and her screen presence throughout the series makes viewing each episode an enjoyable experience. And although an old flame of Maria's appears in a couple of episodes, the producers have opted for a series without distracting romantic entanglements.

As far as I am aware the seven movie-length episodes contained in the Maria Wern DVD complete the series. I hope for a second set to be produced but that seems unlikely. If you like this series you'll enjoy the comparable Irene Huss series, which is located in Gotenburg on the west coast of Sweden and offers a similarly talented actress in Angela Kovacs. 8/10