Aber Bergen

This is by far one of the best series we have ever seen on TV. The story concerns a married couple, Erik and Elea, who are partners in a high-end law firm. To say their relationship is complex is a vast understatement, and over the course of the series they encounter many tests which reveal both characters' strengths and weaknesses. Anybody who claims there is no 'character development' simply wasn't watching!

The writing is subtle, highly intelligent, and frequently extremely funny! As to that, we appreciate how an episode could veer from humour to tense dark drama in two seconds. One does have to be alert, because the dialogue can have two sentences in one episode which lay the foundation for a dramatic development later on in the series. There is an over-reaching mystery-story line which is played out over the 30 episodes. Within which, each individual chapter also features one or more subsidiary plots involving the other members of the law firm.

The ensemble cast is a joy to watch. We come to know each character, who they are, and bit by bit learn each person's back-story. Production values are high, not to say luxurious-those offices are ultra-chic. And BTW, it rains in Bergen. A lot. That's water on the windows. Photography must have been extremely tricky in order to cope with all the glass partitions between the offices.

We binge-watched the 30 episodes, and hated to see it end. We'll be on the look-out for other shows by these writers. A word about sub-titles: we don't know a word of Norwegian, but are fluent in French, and have a smattering of German. We note that sub-titles in those shows are idiomatic, rather than literal, so we assume that the same criteria hold for the Scandinavian series.