Nordic Noir goes south of the border

Last night the first episode of the new Danish crime series "Murder without Borders" was broadcast. Three prostitutes are found killed in Copenhagen, Berlin and Antwerp, respectively. As you would expect from the name it takes an international team of investigators to work on the case.

I assume the reference to "Doctors without Borders" is chosen because of its catchiness and not because the murderer(s?) acts from humanitarian motives, but that is yet to be revealed. A twist like that could make the criminal plot more interesting. The characters seem promising though.

The Copenhagen lead investigator (male) has history with the German lead investigator (female) and at first he is reluctant to take the case. As his pregnant wife persuades him to get on the case, I would expect some extracurricular drama on that front.

If he falls for the temptation of the German lead it would fall in the tradition of cheating, which is held high by Danish police officers in TV-series. In the 90'ies police series "Rejseholdet" several of the officers got something on the side - sometimes with each other. The Danish police officer, Martin, in "Broen" (The Bridge) also cheats on his wife and they are on and off after that. I am curious to see if they come up with something more original in "Murder without Borders".

Another theme that echoes from "Broen" is the collaboration between a Danish male police officer with people skills and a Swedish female officer with hard skills. As opposed to Saga in Broen, this lady is it-savvy and seems to be functioning normally on a social level. I look forward to seeing more of that smooth Scandinavian duo.

The German lead appears to be the sharpest brain but it could be caused by the contrast to her assistant, who has a tendency to state the obvious. A young daughter of a senior officer, she is keen to show that she deserves to be on the team. This is pointed out to her in a very direct way, so there is potential for development in that duo.

The Belgian team promises to be entertaining as tension between the passionate female lead and her arrogant male assistant is thick. They are quick to criticise each other and clumsy performance by the Belgian team seems likely to be a theme, which could easily evolve into a farce.

The case they are working on is not as intriguing, and I struggle to see how many episodes the team can spend solving it. The viewer already knows who did it and why, unless some unforeseen twist presents itself. The personal drama in this series is much more promising, in terms of entertainment, and I am looking forward to seeing how the collaboration evolves.