Tod von Freunden

Covid lockdown has been a succession of scandi-noir series, many of which I struggle to remember for long. Not this one! Centred on a family tragedy and the competing perspectives around what actually happened, each of the series' eight episodes offers one character's point of view. The acting is extraordinary, the camerawork and editing brilliant, and the actual events gradually unfold themselves (masterful editing) with all their dramatic and tragic consequences.

Up to episode 6 I would have rated this way off the 10-scale, but the final two episodes brought it back down to a 10: some perfunctory yet unnecessary script-writing and plotting spoilt an otherwise brilliant examination of family secrets. Difficult not to feel empathy with each of the characters, particularly the four teenagers.

The highlight is Karl the autistic son's episode, judiciously laced with anime sequences that beautifully capture both his artistic and autistic sensibilities.

We realise the initial premiss of the show immediately - someone goes overboard. The action then switches to the personal point of view of the main characters of how the accident happened and the effects it had on them and their relationships. Of necessity, some of the scenes are repeated but it's from a different person's viewpoint and it's really rather clever.

There was a bit too much usage of people stumbling on or overhearing other characters divulging either family secrets or information about the accident. I didn't find the initial introduction of the kids to drugs convincing either nor the person who turned them on. After all, he wasn't just taking a risk with the drugs, he could have very easily have been dispatched to the klink with evidence still held by two of the main characters had they found out for sure.

I was fascinated by the setting on the island, Germans and Danes getting on with each other and speaking each others' languages. But it was revealed to be skin deep and ugly prejudices surfaced when the final report was challenged by Kjell's grandparents; overtones of the German occupation and resentment came into play.

Unfortunately the final couple of episodes weakened the whole structure. I do not believe how the idealistic people smugglers financed their endeavours. I don't believe that they would not have been caught in one way or another over fifteen years. Those episodes were a cop out although I had expected something of the sort as there were eight main characters and eight episodes, so one each.

Nonetheless, I watched it all and put my misgivings aside to enjoy the series. I recommend it as a respite from cop shows, even Danish ones.

I think the elements is there and also having a bi-lingual dialogue is great, but the camera work and over-use of dramatic music just made me wanna stop watching. And we get it, one character is in constant pain of loss and is illusional, but do we really have to rub it in the watcher's face? Actually I stopped after one episode, because this felt both forced, unrealistic and like an under-estimation of the watcher's intelligence.