Acquitted follows the story of Aksel Borgen, a Norwegian business man who has worked his way to the top during his 20 years in Asia having left his native town after being acquitted of the murder of his high school sweetheart. When his home town's cornerstone business is threatened by bankruptcy, Aksel returns to save the place that once turned its back on him. The past has not been forgotten. His arrival tears old wounds apart and new conflicts arise as the past meets the present. Acquitted shadows a battle of guilt, revenge and hope of reconciliation, the man who pleaded not guilty is still judged by society.
After reading the announcement of the series on German TV I was intrigued by the theme: A businessman returning to the small village in Norway, where he grew up and, after being a prime suspect in a murder at the age of 18, was acquitted of the crime. He left the town, made a successful career in the Far East, only to return after 20 years or so to save the main employer in the town from going bankrupt. Such a topic offers plenty of opportunities to make an intriguing TV-series. However, already after watching the first episode I was really disappointed. The actors walk, behave, and are dressed like clichés. The investors are of course all smartly dressed good looking young men, who prefer to travel by helicopter, but many of the details have nothing to do with the reality of this world. Their behaviour is irrational, and they take risks that investors would never take, even if they were driven by sentiments. After watching for a while, this gets so annoying, that the basically great theme of the series disappears into the background. There are really much better Scandinavian crime series to watch (like The Bridge), don't waste your precious time on this one.