Imagine this: A writer comes into his boss' office - he has been told to come up with pitch for a new Swedish series, since Lord knows they're booming at the moment. The two exchange pleasantries and the boss asks what he has come up with. "Well", the writer fumbles with his papers, "I have three different ideas. How do these sound?"The story of intrigue and betrayal at the highest levels of the Swedish government as a disgraced staffer returns to her job to help the Minister of Justice get to the bottom of a conspiracy involving big business.The story of the co-founder of a nationalist party accused of racism, and how during election season his humanity slowly starts to alienate him from the cold and calculating demeanor of his spindoctors and co-workers, as he feels the party is turning into something else and becoming a heartless machinery.The story of the two children of a controversial right-wing politician, who, after their mother is killed by (presumably) extreme leftists, become involved with a far-right neo-nazi terror group, and how it impacts their relationship to each other.The boss beams - "they sound great! Let's do this!". "Uhh... which one?", the writer replies meekly. "Well, why not all of them?" "I... think maybe we should stick to..." "Nonsense! I have decided! Now go out there and make me a series with all of those elements!" The writer sighed and left the room, knowing full well the impossibility of the task before him.Blå Ögon has **so many good ideas** and it comes **so close** to realising their potential, but in the end it seemingly cannot keep up with the multitude of things going on, and the subplots never intertwine in any way whatsoever, thus leaving you with a sense that these three plots either were meant to be in entirely separate series, or that the final, brilliant plot twist that tied it all together got accidentally deleted during post-production. And it's a damn shame, because the potential is right there in front of you - you'll keep watching through the entire series eagerly waiting for the big reveal that will answer the questions that keep piling up. Why did that person die? Why is she helping him? Who was behind the attack? Why did he do that? etc. etc. and just as the plot is ramping up to the explosive finale... it ends. You're left sitting confused for a bit and then deeply disappointed in the inability of the writers to tie these otherwise excellently directed and acted scenarios together into a coherent plot. Another part where the writing struggles is with the characters. The actors do a masterful job and make them feel like real persons, but since the writing can't figure out how to do proper pacing, everybody ends up being immensely unlikeable - essentially, everyone in the entire series end up looking like either a bigot, a coward, an asshole, a turncoat or an idiot.I'm accustomed to disappointment when it comes to TV series, but this one hit extra hard as it had all the right ingredients - brilliant ideas, brilliant acting, brilliant directing - and still managed to accomplish absolutely nothing from them. I'd say don't watch this - not because it's bad, but because the sheer amount of wasted potential will sadden you to no end.

Excellent series.Am long term addict to the SBS presentations of video shows from around the world.Viewed by self on Australia's "sbs.com.au" with SBS English transcripts.Be interesting to see how many IMDb users now classify themselves as addict transcript readers for other language origin programs like this Nordic drama..

Wow, was a complex story to follow. Good acting, nice performances. Storyline had a few holes in it, but artistic license is a good excuse, and there were only a couple or so. There was some glossy stylised terrorism scenes, they do add to the tension, but those can be ignored if it isn't your bag. Something that cant be ignored is the violence. Not that there is too much of it, but it i designed to pull you in emotionally and it certainly does do that. By the end of it I found myself both liking the main terrorist char, but also hating him. And the series does that all the way through with most of the characters,they are quite complicated chars. Overall a little lightweight compared to The Bridge (9/10 for me), but weightier than Borgen (7/10)Strange ending considering there isn't a 2nd series and nothing is planned. See for yourself, worth spending your time on though,

With Britain on the verge of its EU referendum, I mmigration emerging as one of the major campaign issues and with memories of the Paris atrocities still fresh, this Swedish political thriller could hardly be more topical. Over ten intense episodes, it starts with the covered-up murder of the senior female chief-of-staff to the Swedish Attorney General after attending a secret meeting of like-minded right-wing sympathisers.Her replacement, Jenna Coleman lookalike Louise Peterhoff, is the murdered chief-of-staff's predecessor, Elin Hammar, her position previously sacrificed on the grounds of political expediency but now recalled for her safe-hands trustworthiness by the swarthy, granite-hued Attorney General only for her curiosity and idealism to get her drawn into the mysterious disappearance which got her back her old job.Also in the spider's web of intrigue are the young sister and brother children of a female right-wing spokesman of a minority anti-immigration party who gets knocked down and killed after making a speech at a small-town rally. Approached by senior members of their late mother's minority party who are keen to make political martyrdom of her death, and boost their party's profile, they instead fall in with an extreme right-wing faction called Veritas, ready to highlight their anti-immigration agenda with acts of terrorism. With a general election looming and immigration at the forefront of the political landscape, Veritas embark on an escalating campaign of kidnap, murder and public bombing to force the issue. The combination of Elin's stealthy investigation which leads all the way up to the Prime Minister and governmental shady dealings with a powerful Swedish oligarch and the youthful duo's immersion in the ruthless doings of Veritas are entwined and play out right up to election night with a slew of more dead bodies along the way. I'd be lying if I said I followed every plot strand perfectly and the enigmatic ending, where the seemingly incorruptible Elin appears to sacrifice her principles for a promotion offered by her now ascendant but questionable boss, doesn't say much for the screenwriter's opinion of politics in Sweden. I also had to question whether the young sister and brother would let themselves be so easily indoctrinated by the false glamour of terrorism to the extent that the sister fires the bullet that kills a female hostage live on television and them both later participating in a chillingly real terrorist attack at the Swedish Stock Exchange.A slow-burner of a series in typical Scandanavian style, punctuated with shockingly real episodes like the two mentioned above, this was an excellently acted and tautly directed if possibly over-exaggerated drama which certainly kept me watching. Episode 8, featuring the Stock Exchange atrocity is particularly compelling.