Arne Dahl: The Complete Second Season
Based on stories by Jan Arnald
Starring Malin Arvidsson, Shanti Roney, Alexander Salzberger, Natalie Minnevik, Magnus Samuelsson, Vera Vitali, Niklas Akerfelt.
SYNOPSIS:
After two years of being disbanded, Sweden’s National Police A Unit is brought back into action following a series of brutal murders. The team must negotiate a delicate balance between their personal lives and service to the work and careers…
Based on the writings of Swedish crime scribe Jan Arnald (the show’s title is a near rearrangement of his name) Arne Dahl is a tightly wound exploration of national and international crime scenarios.
Featuring five stories developed from Arnald’s Intercrime novels, the series of 10 episodes examines a range of high impact subjects, with murderous intent and terrorist activity never far from the perimeter.
Taking the successful TV crime formula of standalone cases alongside developing personal stories, the series is part of a rich Scandinavian tradition of energised and creative crime shows. The series, produced by Filmlance – the same Swedish production team responsible for The Bridge, offers a tense, action-packed collection of crime tales. Much like that example of intelligent crime TV, Arne Dahl provides well drawn characters pitted against the basest of human instincts.
After being on something of a sabbatical since the end of the first season, the group of specialist police A-Unit are brought back into service following some grisly Stockholm murders. The group, now headed up by Kerstin Holm (Malin Arvidsson) following former chief Jenny Hultin’s retirement, are primed for the sort of high impact international crimes that TV ‘tecs thrive on. These include international prostitution, terrorism, rival drug gangs and corruption going to the highest level.
Consisting of Holm and a team of agents with various abilities and specialities, the show brings the range of knowledge and different personalities out in between sporadic bouts of frenetic action. Kerstin’s on-off love interest Paul (Shanti Roney) is now working in Internal Affairs, but he’s never too far from the action or Kerstin’s thoughts. It’s this mixture of the personal and the procedural that makes Arne Dahl such a class act.
Robert W Monk is a freelance journalist and film writer.