Slutet på sommaren

Swedish with English subtitles on BBC4.

6 Episodes, just the right amount.

Refreshingly, no Woke storylines or references.

I enjoyed this drama. It kept to the main storyline with no padding subplots.

Yes, there were some flaws, but most dramas suffer in the same way these days.

The one criticism is the overplaying of Harald's character. It was made quite evident throughout that he was complicit in some way, and the way he was allowed to have access to the police investigation and most other things was irritating.

There were no real surprises at the end. My wife and I had worked out after episode three roughly what happened to Billy and Tommy.

Another drama where justice is not seen to be done and lone females going into derelict buildings.

Spookily, Julia Ragnarsson (Vera) is a dead ringer for somebody we know. It was uncanny.

Ida Gyllensten (Magdalena) looks a lot like UK actress Anna Friel. They could easily play sisters.

A family with a dark past lies at the centre of Swedish drama 'End of Summer'. As with many thrillers, the story is somewhat contrived, but actually well put together: given what had happened, it makes broad sense that the characters think and acts as they do at the start of the tale, allowing the revealing of the mystery in a plausible and gripping way. Where it's less strong is how it gets the investigation going: the protagonist is a beautiful, brilliant grief therapist, who has taken up this career, bizarrely, because she has never overcome her own grief at the truamatic events of her youth. This is both hackneyed and ridiculous, and the early episodes feel very contrived. Only as the story moves on, and we can forget how it started, does it start to become compelling.

Intially promising, good plot and well known actors. But unfortunately this production failed miserably. What exactly is wrong you might ask? It's a combination of several factors according to my opinion Firstly the character build up is not done right. The story it self is either unfolding too fast or too slow. The different scenes dont follow each other in a smooth way. They are kind of disconnected. Some of the supporting scenes that should tell a story behind each character are sometimes unnecessary or don't really make sense to the audience.

Main thing lacking is that this show fails in building up a suspense. I quickly became uninterested in what happens and didn't know what or who I was rooting for.

The acting is overall good, so is the script and how it's executed.

My guess to why it fails is the pre planning of this production, what scenes to shoot to tell the story and how to build suspense. Could the team be more used to typical drama and not crime/who dunit?

This Swedish drama opens in the summer of 1984 as young Vera witnesses her mother committing suicide by jumping into a lake. Twenty years later Vera is working as a grief councillor. A man, identifying himself as Isak talks about how he recently learnt that he was adopted; one of his only early memories concerns the disappearance of a childhood friend. Vera starts to wonder if Isak could in fact be her young brother Billy who vanished shortly before her mother's death. Returning to her rural home town with Isak she tries to discover what happened to her brother. Everybody seems to think local ne'er-do-well Tommy killed him before disappearing himself but is it that simple?

I thought this was a really solid series. There was a good sense of mystery and an impressive '80s feel to the numerous extended flashback scenes. The truth is gradually revealed and doesn't become guessable until it is almost time for the reveal; and even then it is a case of 'I think this might have happened' rather than certainty. The cast impresses, most obviously Julia Ragnarsson who does a fine job as Vera. Six episodes in length it doesn't feel rushed, nor does it ever drag. The setting is great; the flashback scenes beautifully captured the languid feel of childhood summers years ago. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of Scandinavian drama.

... as you do NOT want to learn any of the details of anything that's happening in this wonderful production before watching any of it... this to easily be one of the best series have seen so far this year

... casting leads all parts going into the making of this program... each-every cast member is outstanding in their role... there's not a weakened performance among the entire group... and now in her early thirties, she is a true-star... just perfect every minute she's onscreen

... every episode done without flaws, there's not anything to be faulted... Nordic countries through recent years have put out some incredible programming... EOS standing alongside-equal to any of the best... do-NOT-miss seeing-it.