A series which began with a lone terrorist using corpses to make apparently political statements about the divide between rich and poor ended its first season disappointingly with a plot about people cheating on their spouses--that's Bron/Broen (Bridge), season one, which I finished last night.
I enjoyed it--Sofia Helin as Saga Noren, the Swedish homicide detective with Asperger syndrome, never stopped being a delight especially as her supposedly unusual ability not to understand the emotionally motivated misdeeds of others worked as a keen internal critic for the show. When Martin (Kim Bodnia) cheats on his wife, Saga asks why and Martin can't explain. Saga inability to accept this mirrors ours--it seems just as stupid to us as it does to her.
In the scene where Martin spontaneously kisses Charlotte, the woman with the bad wig, it's apparently just because she takes off her wig again for no apparent reason. He showed zero interest in her before that and after that. In fact, she doesn't even appear on the show again after this, several episodes before the end, in spite of the fact that she had been a POV character. We never learn her motivation for wanting to sleep with Martin.
And despite all these apparent manifestations of boredom from the writers, they chose to stick with the adultery thing and make it a primary motive for the killer who'd previously been doing things like holding people hostage until rich CEOs donate to homeless relief organisations. I guess maybe the moral questions posed turned out to be too thorny or maybe too Batmannish (I think that word ought to get two Ns, like Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy").
I may yet try the second season if just for Saga. Though a lot of people have been recommending I give True Blood another try, a series I stopped watching after the first episode because of its cheap romance novel feel. I'm two episodes behind on Outlander now for the same reason. Maybe I just need to work up a taste for this particular form of escapism.
Twitter Sonnet #663
Soggy white needles drift over varnish.
Colourless salad sloughs over giggles.
Dried up empty veins serve as garnish.
Acid that imitates champagne trickles.
Unremembered duellists reappear late.
Academic demonstrations devolved.
The lasagne nourished too slow to sate.
We all knew sentient napkins were involved.
Apprehensive suspenders hold your heart.
Competitions make the pies too lumpy.
Looping ending themes go back to the start.
A "turbulent Doctor" is too bumpy.
Sorry teeth tranquillise the uneaten.
An Allosaurus roast can't be beaten.
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