Wallander: My Verdict.
I finally settled down and watched the first episode of Wallander. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised. As a Swede, it was a bit weird to watch a show so obviously set in Sweden, with Swedish names and Swedish signs and newspapers, where everyone speaks the Queen's English (and can't pronounce the place names for shit - it was almost funny the way they mangled 'Tomelilla' and 'Ystad'), but once the plot caught momentum, I forgot about that.
I had my doubts about Kenneth Branagh because while Kurt Wallander is my favourite fictional detective, Branagh is definitely not my favourite actor. He really hit it out of the park though. He was just as tired and worn down as Wallander should be.
It was a smart move to start off the series with Sidetracked. It's not the first novel, but it's definitely one of the strongest ones, and this way they could set the tone for the rest of the show in an admirable way.
Watching this really reminded me of why I fell in love with the Wallander mysteries to begin with, and why a series like Sherlock is so unsatisfying to me. Murder is usually a crime brought on by desperation, but that's usually not the way it's presented in most mysteries. Not so in Wallander though. I was close to tears at several points (it's at times like this I wish I had a boyfriend, someone I could snuggle up to while watching soul-destroyingly depressing movies and help me remember that the world is not such a shitty place after all). It's probably due to hormones in some measure, but really, it was mostly the narrative's doing. I was actually rooting for the killer at the end. Kurt Wallander would have been ashamed of me.
I'm going to keep watching. There are two seasons so far, but this being a BBC production, each season only consists of three episodes. If all the eps are these good, it'll be worth it.
I had my doubts about Kenneth Branagh because while Kurt Wallander is my favourite fictional detective, Branagh is definitely not my favourite actor. He really hit it out of the park though. He was just as tired and worn down as Wallander should be.
It was a smart move to start off the series with Sidetracked. It's not the first novel, but it's definitely one of the strongest ones, and this way they could set the tone for the rest of the show in an admirable way.
Watching this really reminded me of why I fell in love with the Wallander mysteries to begin with, and why a series like Sherlock is so unsatisfying to me. Murder is usually a crime brought on by desperation, but that's usually not the way it's presented in most mysteries. Not so in Wallander though. I was close to tears at several points (it's at times like this I wish I had a boyfriend, someone I could snuggle up to while watching soul-destroyingly depressing movies and help me remember that the world is not such a shitty place after all). It's probably due to hormones in some measure, but really, it was mostly the narrative's doing. I was actually rooting for the killer at the end. Kurt Wallander would have been ashamed of me.
I'm going to keep watching. There are two seasons so far, but this being a BBC production, each season only consists of three episodes. If all the eps are these good, it'll be worth it.