Oxen

My husband and I watched three episodes and still had no clue what we were watching. Although a lot happens in little time, it's not really exciting to watch. There are many characters introduced in a short time but you don't really get to know them. Then they all die but you don't really mind either, because you didn't know them anyway. Also, it seems like there are many storylines that are tangled up and none of them are clearly followed up on. It's a shame because it all started really interesting and we enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the main character was kind of sympathetic. But we de decided to call it quits halfway because we felt like we had no clue on where the plot was going.

Niels Oxen is a soldier in Denmark's special forces but when he files a complaint about an officer, who is the nephew of a very wealthy man with very powerful friends he is framed for a crime and discharged from the army. He is approached by Frigg Mossman, who is investigating a group she believes is trying to take over the country. Soon those people start dying. Working alongside Margrethe Franck, who has lost a leg in the line of duty, he investigates the group and those who are killing them.

I thought this was a solid series. It may be a bit far-fetched at times but that doesn't matter as there is a good sense of mystery and plenty of tension. Many characters are nicely ambiguous and there are some decent twists. There are some scenes that may disturb some viewers; especially dog lovers. The violence isn't particularly gory but still manages to shock at times. The cast does a solid job bringing their characters to life. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of Euro-drama even if the final episode feels more like the end of season one rather than a true finale... who knows perhaps there will be more one day.

These comments are based on watching the series in Danish with English subtitles.

First of all this is not a thriller. It may have a thrillerplot, but the tension is more similar to a christmascaroll. It's not even a drama. It's like watching a show with identityproblems. It doesn't know what it is.

The same goes for the plot. I'm 4 episodes in and I still don't know what it's really about. The problem is, that I'm not really interested in knowing it. The show doesn't offer any exciting dialogues. They talk like they read from a book. This will probably not have any influence on the non-danish speaking viewers, but for danes It seems cold, odd anf stiff which affects the acting in a bad way. I can't recommend it to anyone.

Read the book - or rather the whole book series - it's absolutely brilliant, dark and intelligent Nordic noir at its best.

Sadly, the TV2 series is nowhere near the same level: weak script, uneven pacing, and mostly poor acting. A few decent actors appear here and there, but they can't rescue the overall result.

A huge missed opportunity compared to the depth of the novels.

Something is rotten in the State of Denmark, and there's a secret society called 'Danehof' that wants to control everything. This is the premise of the first couple of episodes, before it forgets all about this, and the plot turns into a small scale revenge story.

A fine cast of tier one danish actors can't really save 'Oxen' from being somewhat of a mess. Why build up characters only to have them offed in the next episode? When watching a show that runs for many episodes we invest in the characters and 'Oxen' has people getting killed left and right, without us knowing exactly what is going on. Often there's no real character motivation and most of the characters somehow seem to know each other from somewhere in the past. Hey, Denmark is small, but not THAT small.

'Oxen' could have been suspenseful if they just settled for one clear narrative and fewer anatagonists that had larger parts. But they didn't.