Arne Dahl: Mörkertal (2015) User Reviews

Darker Episode of the Detective Series with an Unresolved Ending

[l_rawjalaurence · 7/10 · 2 November 2015]

To be honest, this series has some continuing implausibilities. In light of the perpetual shortage of resources - alluded to in earlier episodes - we wonder precisely why so many people in Group A are involved in solving one case, especially when most of their responsibilities consist of interviewing suspects. There is also the rather obvious fact that the two female detectives Ida (Natalie Minnevik) and Sara (Vera Vitali) put themselves continually in danger by casing lonely properties without sufficient back-up (even though it is always on the way).

Nonetheless, if we are prepared to overlook such flaws and treat each episode on its own terms, then MÖRKERTAL (HIDDEN NUMBERS) is one of the best of the current series. A fifteen-year-old girl Lykke from a Pentecostal religious family goes missing; it transpires that she has become involved in a pedophile racket wherein teenage girls are stripped and filmed performing unspeakable sexual acts for the male viewers' pleasure. Meanwhile a local gang- leader is out to wreak revenge on the gang for having forced his teenage daughter into sex against her will. Caroline Cowan's production is rife with revulsion against an unspeakable series of crimes committed against innocent children: the pedophiles should get what they deserve.

In a parallel subplot, we find out that Kerstin Holm's (Malin Arvidsson's) love-life has become more and more complicated as she faces the prospect of moving in with younger cop Bengt (Alexander Karim). Both of their dreams are shattered by a shocking ending that upsets our expectations of how a detective series should be constructed.

Efficiently filmed in a gray, anonymous series of rural landscapes, HIDDEN NUMBERS reveals how easy it is to commit crimes and conceal them from public view, especially in some of Sweden's most under- populated regions.

Arne Dahl: Hidden Numbers

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 1 November 2015]

Two Swedish girls are found in Belgium; one is dead, the other dies shortly afterwards but not before she can make a statement that suggests the possible involvement of the Black Hearts motorbike gang. This comes as a bit of a surprise to the members of Group A as the gang's criminal activities have never involved children. Soon a third girl, Lykke, who looks similar to the other two goes missing from the same area and it is a race against time to find her before she can be trafficked out of the country. While the search for Lykke goes on suspects start to turn up dead; shot multiple times and beaten. Former Group A member Paul is involved in a case that is apparently unrelated; a policeman is accused of beating a local prostitute by one of her friends; the case doesn't appear to be going anywhere until the man he is investigating is killed in the same manner as the people in the case of the missing girl.

This is another interesting case for Group A with plenty of twists and a few shocks along the way. The fact that Paul's case turns out to be linked to the main case is unlikely to come as a surprise but just because it is a bit cliché doesn't mean it isn't entertaining. Similarly learning that this case has personal resonances for Ida is a little bit cliché but again it adds to the drama as it affects how she does her job. The cast do a solid job and the story is well paced with bodies turning up at regular intervals as well as real tensions each time we are shown what is happening to Lykke. The final scenes provide quite a shock but I won't spoil that here.

Really bad storytelling with bad delivery

[micke-bystrom · 3/10 · 19 June 2018]

Somewhere you can almost detect a faint interesting story, but as in many Swedish productions you get non-convincingly delivered dialogue with bad timing, odd body language and clearly fake feelings. This time with cliche stacked upon cliche as well.

Everything is underlined with how you're supposed feel about the subject of these two episodes. Which would be totally unnecessary if the authors trusted their story to shine a light on it all. Clearly they didn't feel they could trust themselves and we can all see why.

Everyone is caricature, also the police characters. The only one standing out and delivering something real is Shanti Rooney as Internal Affairs Police Officer Paul Hjelm. Vitali and Arvidsson really can do better.

A great disappointment.