Täckmanteln

As a long-time fan of the Wallander novels I was delighted when I found that BBC was going to show the original Swedish television series, with sub-titles.

I wasn't disappointed. This was the ninth story and, seen on a weekly basis, while some have been better than others, the quality has remained consistently high. Indeed, I am very surprised at the low ratings given to these episodes, presumably by the initial Swedish TV audience. But this was the best yet, with a complex storyline with unexpected twists (unusually for IMDb, the 2 plot summaries give too much away and I am glad I read them only after seeing the programme. The characterisation of and relations between Wallander, Linda and Stefan gets ever more complex and the ending is a real tear-jerker.

Yes, I hope that Kenneth Branagh will make more Wallander programmes for BBC, but this Swedish TV series sets a very high standard indeed, and this is the most powerful and moving episode of the nine seen so far,

Linda has the great misfortune to be at the scene of a horrible event. A semi-truck has been abandoned and when opened the police find a group of refugees who have suffocated. Two children and a baby are still alive. It turns out there is more to this than the smuggling of aliens into Sweden. The driver has left these people behind to die. Linda is severely affected by this scene. As the investigation goes on, it is found that there is more to the cargo than the refugees--that they are likely a distraction for the transportation of drugs. Wallander becomes emotionally involved in this. The trail leads through a series of layers that make the apprehension of these awful people immensely difficult. At the conclusion, Wallander makes a decision where he must make a sacrifice which could lead the viewer quite appalled.