Tod eines Pilgers

I generally like Scandinavian crime series, but this one is a crashing bore. Great acting, attention to detail, high production values-none of that can help when all the characters do is sit around talking. I watched the entire first episode, and that told me all I needed to know. Maybe to a Swede, a rehashing of the unsolved murder of Olaf Palme is fascinating in itself, but there needs to be a story, and if there's one here, it slipped past me. It's written as if the screenwriter and/or director wanted to stick rigidly to the historical record of the investigation, at the expense of motive, story arc, frame, and any sense of movement. One specific problem here is that some of the scenes are flashbacks to the original investigation into the murder, and some are current-time. And it's not clear which is which, or why the history is important. So: appealing characters, good acting, exotic locales, but lousy script and lousy direction. Don't bother.

I don't mind a lot of dialogue if I can follow what is going on, but there were too many character references being made at different times and relating to different aspects of the story and I found it impossible to follow at times.

Worst of all was the age difference between those in 1984-1986 and the same characters in 2013 (present day).

Eriksson, in particular hadn't aged a day in 26 years. Changing hair colour from blonde to brown just did not make any difference. Also, Persson looked exactly the same and if anything, Hedberg looked younger.

I thoroughly enjoyed the series. Yes there was a lot of talking but isn't that how police investigations search for info? I had no problem with the Flashbacks.

All authors of the infamous Nordic Noir genre owe a lot to the Swedish criminologist and crime fiction writer, Leif G.W. Persson. His trilogy about the -still unsolved- Palme assassination and the subsequent investigation from the Swedish Police is a monumental work which blends perfectly two genres, crime fiction and true crime. Persson provides the reader a fictional account of the Palme investigation, but the story is solidly based on the real, hard facts around the incident that changed Sweden for ever. The story is narrated in two time dimensions: the present, 26 years after the Palme execution, Superintendent Lars Martin Johansson is recruited in order to unoficially reopen the cold case in order to reveal the truth and redeem the Swedish people of an open wound. Johansson assembles a team of efficient police officers who face the impossible task to achieve what the whole of Swedish police force failed to do for a quarter of a century. The past timeline recounts the last months prior to the Palme murder, recording the conspiracies and intrigue that finally led to it. Rolf Lassgard is an experienced and renowned actor and he delivers a solid performance as L. M. Johansson. But Jonas Karlsson steals the spotlight in his role of the sadistic sociopath Klas Waltin who totally lacks any moral compass and will stop at nothing in order to get what he wishes. Furthermore, the dialogue parts are of high quality and offer a lot of memorable quotes to the viewer. The plot is dense, with multiple sub-plots which are always connected to story's arc and the pace of its unfolding is rather fast. ''Death of a Pilgrim'' is a dark and grim tv series, shot in gloomy, grey tones with nearly no sympathetic to the viewer characters but nevertheless, it forces the viewer to watch more due to the high levels of quality in every aspect of the production. It is a chance for the viewers who are not familiar with L. G. W. Persson's novels, in parts during the length of each book, to be introduced to the mind of a contemporary master of the genre. Moreover, if -for any reason- you are specifically interested in the Palme case, this series is a good first step to wardslearning the basics. ''Death of a Pilgrim'' is a must-see for fans of quality crime fiction and true crime.