Springfloden

My wife and I just finished Season 1. It was wonderful: well-acted with a gradual unfolding of information and clues that finally allow the police to solve the murders in Episode 10. Unlike many series where there is obvious padding to fill up some of the episodes, every episode is important. This is one of the best series we've watched recently.

While not as polished and gripping as the best police dramas out there (with the first series of True Detective as the category benchmark), Springfloden does a good job in most of the departments.

The very beautiful Olivia is a Swedish police academy student who stumbles by chance on an old unsolved murder case that obsessed her father - the detective investigating on it - up until his death. Of course she can't resist the lure of this mystery and embarks herself on an unofficial investigation that will bring a lot of surprises and messes all around Sweden.

The writing and the side stories are well crafted and interestingly enough deal with social issues in developed countries (homeless, children without an economically stable/culturally evolved family). There's also some room for slightly humorous moments that in my opinion just add up points to the realistic tone of the drama.

As a whole I could find very few holes in how the pieces got connected together, yet for some reason or another I couldn't suspend the disbelief: most of the time everything was clearly part of an acted TV fiction. This might be due to the depth of the backstories of the characters we get to know which barely comes to the surface when these characters act. However It's hard to say this is any specific actor's fault (at least the leads showed a proper range): I would instead point the finger to the writing (which may have tried too hard to include cool stuff) or to the direction (which possibly wasn't able to capture the complexity of the characters in an expressive way).

This said Springfloden is a series you can't miss if you are into detective stories because it's more realistic and better executed than the 90% of the genre's other incarnations.

After a couple of episodes I'm really enjoying this series. There are some interesting lively characters, a great mystery & fascinating plot lines. Cinematography is good, nice production values, good acting and the subtitles flow without feeling stilted or intrusive. The lead female is stunningly pretty (almost distractingly & unrealistically so) but contrasts nicely with all the truly scruffy, realistically unattractive blokes around her LOL On the down side, it all seems a little disjointed but I suspect that will lessen later as the story unfolds and disparate story lines are drawn together. I will return to this review when I've finished the series & update it but I saw there was only 1 review for this intriguing show and thought it deserved more. Unlike the other reviewer, I am not a fan of True Detective and don't find it a "benchmark" for anything other than how NOT to make a mystery, crime series. But both of us seem to think this series is good so I guess that in itself speaks volumes for the show! Give it a whirl. If you're not afraid of subtitles it is well worth it.

Definitely another binge series. thank you for absolutely great entertainment. It is the intricate plot split in two murders in two countries and it is much more then just that. It is the variety of likable characters' lives the viewer will care about just as much as the unfolding of the story, brilliantly keeping your attention.

This is one of the best shows I've ever seen. I've watched the whole series twice, and will probably watch it again before Mhz takes it off. Nothing is overdone, and not one note is wasted. I truly was amazed by the acting and the story in the first season, and when the second season came out, I re-watched the first season, too. The second season is just as excellent! The characters are so believable, the story has great twists, it's brilliantly filmed in beautiful places... I honestly only took off a star because I wished it would continue. The main characters draw you into their lives so completely. I can't give details - I can't spoil it for anyone! Mhz is my favorite streaming service. Everything is top notch - no perfect, plastic actors like Hollywood. Real people, unusual stories. Highly recommended!