Trom : Les falaises, le vent et la mort

I like Danish crime, and this is made on the Feroe Island with nice nature scenery as a bonus. The episodes builds up tension pretty good, but unfortunately it lacks new inspiration. It has too many similarities with other crime series, and the revelation of who killed whom was dissapointing. But there might be a season two, so absolutely not bad, but it did not reach its full potential.

TROM is a nordic noir just like several other Scandinavian crime stories that have come out. Set on the Faroe Islands (Føroyar), the story involves idealistic activism and dubious corporate actions that has roots to official parts of the country.

The setting is beautiful, with absolutely stunning fly-overs of fjords, green rocks, sheep, tiny houses and crashing waves. Not much mentioned that there are any cities larger than 2 houses.

The characters all seem like the type of people you will find at the west coast of Denmark: rough fisher-men types, with a forever depressed look. No smiles to see here.

What bothers me the most about this series is that Faroese and Danish is mixed at random. The Danes speak Danish, Faroese speak Faroese - and they always understand each other completely. This is far from the reality. Such language mix can be shown between Sweden and Denmark, or maybe Norway / Denmark. But no Dane will randomly understand Faroese - and if they do, they'll also be able to speak it. As a native Dane, it becomes annoying to take such freedoms. Like when someone in a show is interviewing a random person (ex: arabix), asks questions in English, and is responded in Arab. Interpreters obviously cut away.

Quit watching after end of episode 2 where a serious technical plot hole was needed to make the story continue.

For this reason, 3 stars gone.

Perfectly decent Scandi detective series set against a stunning backdrop in the Faroes but turns into a very formulaic type of a show . The characters and their relationships begin to develop but never really get there and it is only through their on screen actions that you really get to know them as people . It is in no sense a slow-burner and except for one very well signposted twist ( slight turn ) the plot has few surprises . The Faroes' fishing traditions are skirted around and touched upon but then just peters out . I have to admit that I took huge exception to the trite , predictable and poorly done finale ! If ever an ending was written with a second series in mind then this was it and I would not be rushing to commission said second series.

This is another take on having scenery as a main 'character' of the storytelling instead of the actual crimes and cases. The only outstanding acting came from the junior female officer who seemed to be the only one who did the actual investigating using her brain. The other characters were fairly unrealistic and disappointing in their roles here. The writing wasn't really up to the level of some other Scandinavian shows of the recent past. Most off-putting for me is the fact that the Faroe Islands still hunt whales. There was no indication this is a necessary activity for keeping people alive or employed, so I put it in the 'propaganda' category. The most interesting aspect was that many buildings have grass roofs and that there are anti-whaling protests going on. But this series is just too thin to sustain much loyalty for another season.

Sadly, the early episodes offered nothing new in the world of Nordic Noir and at times, the drama moved along soporifically, harboring only a modicum of intrigue and suspense.

Thankfully, my lasting impression was improved by the beautiful Faroese scenery and an energetic and well constructed final episode. Yet there is no mistaking that the production was, on the whole, too derivative and a little bland.

Were the makers' unresolved cliffhangers potent enough to make me watch a second season? I'm undecided. - 7.5/10.