International Mystery: Johan Falk Series

What makes someone risk his life every day for the sake of others? 

What makes someone risk the torture and death of his loved ones? 

What makes someone risk being ostracized by family, knowing what they think they know is totally wrong? 

What makes someone risk their soul and voluntarily go deeper and deeper into hell?

Those are the questions I've been asking every week when I watch this new season of Johan Falk, now playing on Sundays at 9:00pm on MHz Networks International Mystery series:

I’m obsessed every time I watch an episode not with our lead character, Johan Falk, but with Lisa.

Currently on Sundays MHz Networks is showing "Season 2" of this Swedish police series, Johan Falk. The series so far consists of 15 films released between 1999 and 2013.  From reading about Swedish or Nordic Noir series in general, I know that some episodes are seen on TV, some are released in movie theaters and some are released only as DVD's.  I'm not sure where this current group of films we are viewing fall in the 15 film series.  I tried to figure out when the episodes with Lisa began and ended, if they did, but still not sure.  I see on IMDB that an episode is now filming for airing in Sweden in 2015. Hope we'll see it here in the US. 

Last year I watched the first season of Johan Falk starring Jacob Eklund as the lead character.  In the first season we see Swedish policeman Falk both at work and in his personal life. What started out as what seemed like a local robbery turns into a case of international crime and criminals. The first season took us through a number of cases that Johan solves, despite resistance from his superiors. He attracts the attention of Europol, but refuses the job. At the end he's dissatisfied and leaves his job as a policeman.  It's been a while since I watched the first series, so the facts about the individual cases are a bit fuzzy. 

Jacqueline Ramel 

As for his personal life, when we first meet Johan he's having an affair with his colleague, Anja, played by Jacqueline Ramel.

In one of the crimes he's investigating in Season 1 he meets Helene Andersson.  At first she's a "person of interest", and later a potential victim of the case Johan is investigating. During the course of the episode Helene and Johan fall in love.  It's interesting that Helene is played by Marie Richardson, wife of series star Eklund. Richardson is a familiar face for those that watch Swedish mystery/police series.

Jacob Eklund and Marie Richardson

I liked and recommend the first series of Johan Falk films. It's a good police procedural with international intrigue, good acting, and conflicted characters. But I have to confess it's this second series airing now that has grabbed me by the throat and won't let go.  

The second series opens nine years later. Johan has spent a decade working for Interpol, but is tired of his mostly desk job.  He wants to go out into the field again and be there when the action happens. He accepts a job in a special unit GSI in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Johan and Helene have now been together for ten years and have a young son.  Helene has a career in marketing, if my memory is correct, and like most two-career couples, they must decide what to do.  To join Johan in Gothenburg, she must quit her job and move. Right now she's still at her job in another city, and visits Johan on the weekends.  To add to the complicated personal life, Johan's former girlfriend Anja is now the head of police in the same police station where the GSI special unit operates from.

But let's be frank, the center of attention in the second series is Lisa.   In order to avoid any major spoilers for any that have not seen at least the first episode, read on (click on Read More below) if you want to know more about Lisa and the actors in this series (SPOILERS).

International Mystery: Annika Bengtzon, Crime Reporter

Whenever I watch an episode of Annika Bengtzon, a Swedish mystery series, I'm reminded of a comic book character I used to read as a kid, Brenda Starr, Reporter.   Brenda Starr, the comic, was created in the 1940's as a tough, glamorous and adventurous woman reporter for a major newspaper, at a time when most women reporters were relegated to the "style" or "home" pages.  I used to read it decades later as part of the comics page of every Sunday newspaper.  I should also mention the creator of Brenda Starr was a woman, Dale Messick. 

Annika Bengtzon, the Swedish TV Series, is based on the novels of Liza Marklund,

 Malin Crepin (Annika Bengtzon) and Liza Marklund

Liza Marklund is a journalist and crime novelist who is also know for the Maria Ericksson novels. I haven't read any of Ms. Marklund's books, but they are available in English translation.  

I've watched all the Annika Bengtzon episodes aired so far on MHz Networks, who are my primary and much loved source of international TV series, and has become another favorite Nordic Noir series produced by Yellow Bird.

Annika is an intrepid modern woman journalist working for a Swedish newspaper tabloid.  The series deals with how Annika balances, or doesn't, her home life of two small children and husband, with her demanding career as a journalist.  Of course, this being a detective/crime TV series, Annika gets involved in life threatening scrapes each and every series. Also she is better at solving crimes than all the Swedish police detectives she mines for information, or indeed better than any police detective around the world. 

One thing I like about European and UK crime series in general is that the lead character's home life seems more based on reality than many US TV series. The characters deal with elderly parents, unhappy spouses, painful divorce, bad dates, troubled children, and many life issues we can all identify with in our daily lives. Annika is dealing with the question many women ask themselves, can they have it all, home life and career.  She often has to go off on assignment away from home leaving the children to her husband's care. He also is ambitious and rising up the ranks of his government career, and resents Annika's expectation that he drop everything to care for the kids, while she flies off somewhere.  Aside from her husband, she often has to rely on her unsympathetic mother-in-law to care for the kids.  Though at the beginning Annika and Thomas seem a happy couple, as he feels more neglected by her, things start to go wrong.

Thomas Samuelsson (Richard Ulfsater) and Annika Bengtzon (Malin Crepin) at home

If I had to quibble with something in this series, it would be "Annika the Wonder Woman." Sometimes she gets into fights with almost entire armies of men with guns, or with physically strong men, and comes away triumphant with barely a scratch. Though it is exciting to see Annika win such a fight, it really is unrealistic that she often does so without any help from the police or even one of her colleagues. 

There is a theory that all fictional detectives have a "Watson", and if Annika has one then it is her colleague Berit Hamrin played by Kajsa Ernst.  Berit is a middle-aged and seasoned journalist who often provides the younger Annika with a wealth of experience and perspective on what goes on in the world.  Another plus for the series is this relationship of two women colleagues of different generations, working together and supporting each other in the workplace. 

The crimes that Annika reports on and helps solve are taken from today's headlines, from drug cartels to prostitution rings, she covers them all.  Though an attractive young woman, I also like the fact that she is far from glamorous in her daily life, often having a bad hair day like the rest of us, or schlepping her big work tote bag, and the children's toys at the same time. We can all imagine being Annika Bengtzon. 

For more information on the Annika Bengtzon series on MHz Networks go to the link below:

http://www.mhznetworks.org/watch/trailers-and-interviews-annika-bengtzon-crime-reporter

Photos, and etc. from Google Images, Wikipedia, Imdb, and https://www.facebook.com/MalinCrepinFanpage

Detective Inspector Irene Huss - International Mystery

I just finished watching a second episode of the Scandinavian mystery/police series Detective Inspector Irene Huss.  I'm so happy to see a woman detective as the lead character in a murder mystery. But more than that what I'm starting to really like about Irene Huss is that she's also a wife and mother, juggling a demanding career with family responsibilities.  She's also in a happy marriage for a change, and  has two lovely but typical teenage daughters who challenge their parents in all sorts of unexpected ways. D.I. Huss is a great detective but also a woman you can imagine as a good friend. 

D.I. Huss is played by Swedish actress Angela Kovacs.  Since 2001 she's been part of the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm as well as working in films and television.  I don't remember seeing Ms. Kovacs in other television series or films, but I must have seen her since her IMDB profile shows she's worked in several Wallander episodes, one of my favorite Scandinavian Mysteries.  Talented actors can often change appearance and character in a way to be unrecognizable.  Ms. Kovacs brings a great deal of realism to her portrayal of Irene Huss.  She's no supercop, but a capable, professional, and strong policewoman who is also  human and vulnerable. Her interactions with the actors who play her family come across as very believable.  The actors playing the Huss are all very good and charming, especially Reuben Sallmander as her laid back husband Krister.

Irene of course has her office family, her Gottenburg police colleagues, who are a group of colorful characters.  Two of my favorites are Jonny, played by Dag Malmberg, a 50'ish and sometimes chauvinistic detective who is clearly channeling Elvis, and young tech-geek policeman Frederick played by Eric Ericsson. 

The Irene Huss television/film series is based on the novels by crime fiction author Helene Tursten. Before becoming an author, Ms. Tursten worked as a nurse and dentist. 

Author Helene Tursten

To get a better idea of the Detective Inspector Irene Huss series, see the trailer below (for mature audiences only):

  

US viewers can see the Irene Huss series and other international mystery television series on the MHZ Networks: http://www.mhznetworks.org/