GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Lhademmor Imagine this: A writer comes into his boss' office - he has been told to come up with pitch for a new Swedish series, since Lord knows they're booming at the moment. The two exchange pleasantries and the boss asks what he has come up with. "Well", the writer fumbles with his papers, "I have three different ideas. How do these sound?"The story of intrigue and betrayal at the highest levels of the Swedish government as a disgraced staffer returns to her job to help the Minister of Justice get to the bottom of a conspiracy involving big business.The story of the co-founder of a nationalist party accused of racism, and how during election season his humanity slowly starts to alienate him from the cold and calculating demeanor of his spindoctors and co-workers, as he feels the party is turning into something else and becoming a heartless machinery.The story of the two children of a controversial right-wing politician, who, after their mother is killed by (presumably) extreme leftists, become involved with a far-right neo-nazi terror group, and how it impacts their relationship to each other.The boss beams - "they sound great! Let's do this!". "Uhh... which one?", the writer replies meekly. "Well, why not all of them?" "I... think maybe we should stick to..." "Nonsense! I have decided! Now go out there and make me a series with all of those elements!" The writer sighed and left the room, knowing full well the impossibility of the task before him.Blå Ögon has **so many good ideas** and it comes **so close** to realising their potential, but in the end it seemingly cannot keep up with the multitude of things going on, and the subplots never intertwine in any way whatsoever, thus leaving you with a sense that these three plots either were meant to be in entirely separate series, or that the final, brilliant plot twist that tied it all together got accidentally deleted during post-production. And it's a damn shame, because the potential is right there in front of you - you'll keep watching through the entire series eagerly waiting for the big reveal that will answer the questions that keep piling up. Why did that person die? Why is she helping him? Who was behind the attack? Why did he do that? etc. etc. and just as the plot is ramping up to the explosive finale... it ends. You're left sitting confused for a bit and then deeply disappointed in the inability of the writers to tie these otherwise excellently directed and acted scenarios together into a coherent plot. Another part where the writing struggles is with the characters. The actors do a masterful job and make them feel like real persons, but since the writing can't figure out how to do proper pacing, everybody ends up being immensely unlikeable - essentially, everyone in the entire series end up looking like either a bigot, a coward, an asshole, a turncoat or an idiot.I'm accustomed to disappointment when it comes to TV series, but this one hit extra hard as it had all the right ingredients - brilliant ideas, brilliant acting, brilliant directing - and still managed to accomplish absolutely nothing from them. I'd say don't watch this - not because it's bad, but because the sheer amount of wasted potential will sadden you to no end.

Bene Cumb I can imagine it is difficult to create a political series approaching wide audience, but yet versatile and not simplistic narration. The Danish Borgen or the UK and US House of Cards are fine respective examples, but I can easily say that Blå ögon is on their heels... Well, the pace is sometimes uneven, some characters are static and the authors have taken sides (letting understood that rightism is worse than leftism), but some witty turns, intertwining events/characters and solid performances (particularly female ones) make the 10 episodes of an hour each pass with interest and understanding. Perhaps the events in the last episode came with a certain rush and let many things open (and a hint for a next season), but no news of it so far - I would be definitely interested to follow. Being a fan of Scandinavian series, I try not to pay attention that there are same actors and actresses performing in most series (the more famous tend to spend more time on screen, so if the script lets you guess whether their characters vanish or die, so the chances are they do not:) ), but what the heck... Even mediocre Scandinavian series tend to me more interesting and realistic that good US ones.

jc-osms With Britain on the verge of its EU referendum, I mmigration emerging as one of the major campaign issues and with memories of the Paris atrocities still fresh, this Swedish political thriller could hardly be more topical. Over ten intense episodes, it starts with the covered-up murder of the senior female chief-of-staff to the Swedish Attorney General after attending a secret meeting of like-minded right-wing sympathisers.Her replacement, Jenna Coleman lookalike Louise Peterhoff, is the murdered chief-of-staff's predecessor, Elin Hammar, her position previously sacrificed on the grounds of political expediency but now recalled for her safe-hands trustworthiness by the swarthy, granite-hued Attorney General only for her curiosity and idealism to get her drawn into the mysterious disappearance which got her back her old job.Also in the spider's web of intrigue are the young sister and brother children of a female right-wing spokesman of a minority anti-immigration party who gets knocked down and killed after making a speech at a small-town rally. Approached by senior members of their late mother's minority party who are keen to make political martyrdom of her death, and boost their party's profile, they instead fall in with an extreme right-wing faction called Veritas, ready to highlight their anti-immigration agenda with acts of terrorism. With a general election looming and immigration at the forefront of the political landscape, Veritas embark on an escalating campaign of kidnap, murder and public bombing to force the issue. The combination of Elin's stealthy investigation which leads all the way up to the Prime Minister and governmental shady dealings with a powerful Swedish oligarch and the youthful duo's immersion in the ruthless doings of Veritas are entwined and play out right up to election night with a slew of more dead bodies along the way. I'd be lying if I said I followed every plot strand perfectly and the enigmatic ending, where the seemingly incorruptible Elin appears to sacrifice her principles for a promotion offered by her now ascendant but questionable boss, doesn't say much for the screenwriter's opinion of politics in Sweden. I also had to question whether the young sister and brother would let themselves be so easily indoctrinated by the false glamour of terrorism to the extent that the sister fires the bullet that kills a female hostage live on television and them both later participating in a chillingly real terrorist attack at the Swedish Stock Exchange.A slow-burner of a series in typical Scandanavian style, punctuated with shockingly real episodes like the two mentioned above, this was an excellently acted and tautly directed if possibly over-exaggerated drama which certainly kept me watching. Episode 8, featuring the Stock Exchange atrocity is particularly compelling.

Tweekums Like many other Swedish dramas of recent years the rise of nationalism plays an important role in this multi-stranded drama series. In the opening episode a leading member of a prominent nationalist party is murdered and it isn't long before her daughter Sofia, believing her mother was killed by immigrants, is getting involved with the violent side of nationalism, dragging her unwilling brother, Simon, with her. Meanwhile Elin Hammer works at the ministry of Justice as Head of Staff; she is curious about what happened to her predecessor Sarah; she appears to have disappeared so Elin starts to investigate the matter. As the story progresses things get more dangerous; the group that Sofia has joined go from being merely very unpleasant to murderous and she is in the middle of it. Similarly people don't want Elin uncovering what happened to Sarah. At first the authorities have no idea who is behind a series of attacks but after their latest attack some are killed and the police are soon on the trail of the rest.This is a gripping thriller that fans of Scandi-Noir are sure to enjoy. The various plot threads are interesting and come together nicely towards the end. As one might expect it is fairly violent at times and some of the characters are distinctly unpleasant; most notably Mattias; the psychotic young thug that Sofia gets involved with. The cast does an impressive job; most notably Louise Peterhoff as Elin, Karin Franz Körlof as Sofia and Adam Lundgren who played Mattias. As the series comes to an end the scale of political corruption becomes apparent but several plot lines remain open; this is probably in anticipation of a hoped for second season but even if there aren't further episodes it was a satisfying ending that shows that not all bad people are brought to justice and some corruption will always be there. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to other fans of political thrillers and crime dramas.These comments are based on watching the series in Swedish with English subtitles.