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Find someone to sit with you. You’re not strong enough to do it on your own. Nobody is. Find someone to sit with you.
I’m late to the party with this one. Downloaded an episode of Wallander on a whim via iTunes because I’ve been a fan of Kenneth Branagh forever and was curious to see what he was doing in a police procedural. The show was on my radar because of the way it was put together and it’s an intriguing puzzle box of a production. I like stuff that goes about things in a slightly different way. One of the reasons I’m currently in LaLa land.
The opening of Sidetracked knocked me on my ass. In fact I paused it just after the credits and didn’t get back to it for two days because I knew it was going to be special and wanted to give it my full attention. For those 48 hours Branagh holding his ID up to the girl in the field haunted me. It wasn’t what the girl did, it was the change in Wallander as the realisation sank in that his day just changed from the mundane to the horrific. A theme the later episodes build upon perfectly.
Full disclosure – I haven’t seen any of the Swedish language Wallander features or shows (something I aim to fix) and have only read one of the novels. However, I have swapped out Black Sabbath for Kurt’s ringtone on my iPhone if that counts for anything.
Speaking about Wallander since (I brought it up in meetings a lot last week) I keep running into the same question:
But don’t you find it depressing?
Not at all. It’s heartbreaking and that’s what I find life affirming about it. And that the main character is put through the wringer without mercy in just about every episode is part of the beauty. I love smart TV but this is intelligent television.
Throw David Warner into the mix, those scenes between him and Branagh… fuck. Talk about a high bar.
For God’s sake man – get the original Swedish language versions immediately! Essentially Kenneth Branagh is the world’s most expensive subtitle. The Swedish language versions have been showing on BBC3 or 4 recently and were available on iPlayer – Wallander looks like even less of a hero for starters.
It’s quite funny thinking about Wallander as depressing as it’s based in the area where my girlfriend grew up – meaning that we’re split between the heartbreak of the storylines, and the fact the scenery etc reminds her of childhood and me of holidays in Sweden!