Blå ögon

Imagine this: A writer comes into his boss' office - he has been told to come up with pitch for a new Swedish series, since Lord knows they're booming at the moment. The two exchange pleasantries and the boss asks what he has come up with. "Well", the writer fumbles with his papers, "I have three different ideas. How do these sound?"

• The story of intrigue and betrayal at the highest levels of the Swedish government as a disgraced staffer returns to her job to help the Minister of Justice get to the bottom of a conspiracy involving big business.
• The story of the co-founder of a nationalist party accused of racism, and how during election season his humanity slowly starts to alienate him from the cold and calculating demeanor of his spindoctors and co-workers, as he feels the party is turning into something else and becoming a heartless machinery.
• The story of the two children of a controversial right-wing politician, who, after their mother is killed by (presumably) extreme leftists, become involved with a far-right neo-nazi terror group, and how it impacts their relationship to each other.

The boss beams - "they sound great! Let's do this!". "Uhh... which one?", the writer replies meekly. "Well, why not all of them?" "I... think maybe we should stick to..." "Nonsense! I have decided! Now go out there and make me a series with all of those elements!" The writer sighed and left the room, knowing full well the impossibility of the task before him.

Blå Ögon has **so many good ideas** and it comes **so close** to realising their potential, but in the end it seemingly cannot keep up with the multitude of things going on, and the subplots never intertwine in any way whatsoever, thus leaving you with a sense that these three plots either were meant to be in entirely separate series, or that the final, brilliant plot twist that tied it all together got accidentally deleted during post-production. And it's a damn shame, because the potential is right there in front of you - you'll keep watching through the entire series eagerly waiting for the big reveal that will answer the questions that keep piling up. Why did that person die? Why is she helping him? Who was behind the attack? Why did he do that? etc. etc. and just as the plot is ramping up to the explosive finale... it ends. You're left sitting confused for a bit and then deeply disappointed in the inability of the writers to tie these otherwise excellently directed and acted scenarios together into a coherent plot. Another part where the writing struggles is with the characters. The actors do a masterful job and make them feel like real persons, but since the writing can't figure out how to do proper pacing, everybody ends up being immensely unlikeable - essentially, everyone in the entire series end up looking like either a bigot, a coward, an asshole, a turncoat or an idiot.

I'm accustomed to disappointment when it comes to TV series, but this one hit extra hard as it had all the right ingredients - brilliant ideas, brilliant acting, brilliant directing - and still managed to accomplish absolutely nothing from them. I'd say don't watch this - not because it's bad, but because the sheer amount of wasted potential will sadden you to no end.

I can usually handle some brutality and violence (in context), but I was squirming for far too much in this series. The Millennium trilogy and The Killing had some graphic violence but this tops them both. Despite some really solid acting and a few interesting political storylines, there was just such an overwhelming sense of foreboding, nastiness and just plain negativity that it was hard to focus on what was happening. Scandinavian dramas and shows are mostly far superior to most comparable series and movies out there, but this one has gone too far for me. There were some interesting relationships and social commentary and the 'noir' aspect of this genre certainly played out, but you will have a hard time finding it 'enjoyable'. Unless you like horror films. A pretty bleak representation of the racism, political back-stabbing and general malaise of Swedish society. At least Wallander had a bit of levity now and then. It's got a good pace and is definitely a 'thriller' but not for late night viewing I'd say.

The Swedish Show Blue Eyes is an outstanding detective in a long line of successful Scandanavian thrillers, and has the same supreme mix between crime and politics as success-story "the Killing".

Blue eyes, or Blå ögon follows Elin Hammer, the head of Staff at the ministry of Justice, who starts researching the disappearance of her predecessor Sarah. As a local politician is murdered, and Sarah remains no where to be found, the tension within the Swedish society increases after multiple attacks by terroristic group Veritas.

Right from the start the show is clouded in a big political cover-up by which puzzles about the nature of it are slowly revealed to the audience. With multiple people being killed for the identity of the main secret, Blue Eyes is extremely exciting to watch from beginning to end.

In addition, the amount of well-build characters within this over- arching story line is admirable. Even though the shows lacks some credibility here and there,the creators were able to create both sympathy and disgust for the people involved. The many inter- connected story-lines blend together to form a narrative which is both a very good "whodunnit", and a political drama which is scarily close to post-Paris reality.

The only shame here is that there were only 10 episodes, which made the ending seem rather rushed.

Overall, it must be said that with Blue Eyes, Scandanivia has found itself a new hit worthy of the same success as "the Killing".

I can imagine it is difficult to create a political series approaching wide audience, but yet versatile and not simplistic narration. The Danish Borgen or the UK and US House of Cards are fine respective examples, but I can easily say that Blå ögon is on their heels... Well, the pace is sometimes uneven, some characters are static and the authors have taken sides (letting understood that rightism is worse than leftism), but some witty turns, intertwining events/characters and solid performances (particularly female ones) make the 10 episodes of an hour each pass with interest and understanding. Perhaps the events in the last episode came with a certain rush and let many things open (and a hint for a next season), but no news of it so far - I would be definitely interested to follow.

Being a fan of Scandinavian series, I try not to pay attention that there are same actors and actresses performing in most series (the more famous tend to spend more time on screen, so if the script lets you guess whether their characters vanish or die, so the chances are they do not:) ), but what the heck... Even mediocre Scandinavian series tend to me more interesting and realistic that good US ones.

Tragi-drama that sees an abused young mother and her doting younger brother pushed into a world of terrorism, working for neo-nazis and terminating the lives of hostages.

Their feeble life choices arise from the dreadful killing of their politician mother and the fake sympathy of a handsome, charismatic young fascist who exerts a powerful influence.

Never lacking in suspense, the story even conjures an occasional surprise as matters unfold. The character flaws and motives of some of the cast do however stretch the bounds of credibility. 7.3/10