The Bridge II

Normally, when reviewing TV series, it is customary to give your opinion after the first episode and so possible encourage others to watch the rest. I wasn't able to do that with The Bridge because time just got away from me and suddenly it was the middle of the week and a Saturday night crime drama seemed somewhat passe. But it was just so good I couldn't not write about it. Also, in this age of iPlayer, streaming and DVD series binges it's not as if it has gone forever.

So, my advice to you is GO AND WATCH THE BRIDGE II RIGHT NOW!!! Beg, borrow and steal just please see it. Also please ignore that little voice that kicks in whenever someone recommends something too much (we all have them). This is seriously worth it.

Ahem. Anyway, The Bridge II. There is a Bridge I but I haven't seen it (although DVD will soon be rectifying that and I'll let you know what I think of it when it has). It's a Swedish/Danish crime drama focusing on crimes that affect both countries, particularly Copenhagen and Malmö which are the cities connected by a bridge across the sea. It begins with a boat crashing into the bridge almost at half way so police departments in both cities are required to investigate. 

That's how it starts, but The Bridge has the most complex plot I've come across in a long time. Throughout the ten episodes it goes through murder, family feuds, marital infidelity, eco-terrorism, biological warfare and EU climate policy to name just a few themes. It isn't lazy viewing. You have to be paying attention or you will just get lost. It being subtitled actually helped me in this respect as things tend to go in better if I've read them. There were also so many characters that kept popping up in different connections sometimes it was helpful to have my memory jogged by them basically wearing name tags. 

It didn't suffer from being 'too complicated' though. There were never moments of blind incomprehension resulting from the writers either getting too caught up in their own cleverness or details being forgotten/shoe horned it. It was all very considered and every little clue had it's place. It must have been an incredible feat to conceptualise, let alone write. 

The writing was magnificent as well. Every episode was pacey, the dialogue (even translated into another language and read rather than heard) was good and there were no weak or seemingly pointless storylines. 

The characterisation (you've probably guessed) also worked liked a dream. The personal lives of the two central detectives, Saga Noren (Sofia Helin) and Martin Rohde (Kim Bodnia), were explored well alongside the main plot but it never became a drama about two dysfunctional cops as often happens when detectives are given complicated personal lives. Another interesting dimension was Noren being high functioning autistic (a good overview of which is in this Telegraph article). Although never overshadowing the case it provided an interesting dynamic to a lot of the on screen relationships. I also thought it was shown in a very nuanced manner without turning Noren into a caricature or victim. 

I also loved the way it was shot. I've noticed with a lot of Swedish cinema how muted the colours are and how sparse the soundtrack is and I've often found it a welcome contrast to the loud and bright techniques used in British and American films. The Bridge is especially bleak with not one single scene being shot in sunshine. But I like it. It's kind to my eyes and adds a sense of coldness that works in a crime drama. That's not to say The Bridge is overly po-faced or serious. It raised a smile several times. Noren and Rohde have some brilliant conversations that lighten the mood when needed and help make it, despite the darkness and complexity, surprisingly easy and enjoyable to watch.

In short, despite it being only the beginning of February, I feel fairly confident saying this is probably the best crime drama of 2014. 

iPlayer  

Orphan Black

BBC Three seems to be a channel of extremes. They either show absolute dross or complete genius. This is a channel that can show in the same night Snog Marry Avoid and In The Flesh (which I fangirled all over when I still had just the one blog). The latest thing they’ve come up with to prove their good for more than Seth McFarlane cartoons is Orphan Black.

I wanted it to be good. The adverts made it look good and I liked the premise, so I really wanted it to be good. This is often a set up for a fall but that hasn’t been so in this case. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two episodes and I think this will be something I see through to the end and not get bored of part way through. It is, however, not completely what I expected. I thought it would be more stylised for one thing and more plot driven. But I kind of like what they’ve done with it.

The main character, Sarah (Tatiana Maslany), sees a woman who looks exactly like her kill herself and steals her identity to help herself get back on her feet. But that wouldn’t stretch to a full series so complications ensue. It turns out there are several women all identical to Sarah and they all have their own lives and problems to sort out. The role of Sarah carries the whole show. It is a very demanding one, but I think done well by Maslany. She certainly looks perfect for it. Even as she plays the different identities her facial expressions stay pretty constant (her shocked face is excellent). I don’t know if that was intentional but I like how it links the different ‘Sarahs’ together.

There’s an interesting background to Sarah, and it looks like the writers have done a good job with the other ‘Sarahs’ as well. You do genuinely believe that these women have their own lives and aren’t just plot devices. I also think the balance Sarah strikes between investigating why there’s seventeen of her and her own life is struck pretty much perfectly. Throughout the two episodes I’ve seen Sarah’s story remains interesting, as does Beth’s (the woman who kills herself at the start of episode one). But, despite these various threads running through the story it hasn’t felt crowded. The breadcrumbs are dropped at the right points to keep you interested in all the storylines.

Sarah’s the right kind of screw up as well. She has a troubled past and it’s neither a closely guarded secret or held up as the only interesting thing about her. I think she’d be a fantastic character had she never discovered she was part of a matching set. There’s also not even a hint of victim about her, which is a pitfall often fallen into when writing troubled characters (especially female ones). She also has a daughter that she’s lost custody of but things haven’t got too mushy with that subplot. I have a big soft spot for Sarah. I like her quiet steeliness and her eyelined eyes. I think I’ll always automatically like a punky looking complex woman. I’m going to start calling it Lisbeth Salander Syndrome.

It looks pretty good too. There’s a run down, urban goth aesthetic to a lot of the sets and costumes which I find very appealing. I thought it would go further with it and have a much more stylised feel, perhaps with all of the characters having ripped fishnet somewhere on their body, but it doesn’t. This wouldn’t feel so strange to me if it had a definite setting, but it doesn’t. The city is never named, even being omitted from written addresses. The accents are all over the place as well. There’s nothing anchoring the location. I’ve found it a little frustrating not being able to place the action, but the story is so compelling and has moved fast enough for me not to be too bothered by it. It makes it feel unreal, but they haven’t used the unreality for much. I think that if I was going to create something rootless I’d use the opportunity to go all out and take the gutter punk aesthetic as far as it can go.

But the stylistic nitpicking isn’t enough to take away from the story. The script’s good, the acting’s good and the plot is involving and watchable. A definite win for BBC Three.

IMDB

BBC iPlayer