User reviews

I'm sure Denmark is a very nice country but after years of watching there excellent crime dramas I'm beginning to wonder if every other person is a psychotic violent killer! It can't be easy for the writers to come up with original ways to portray psychological serial killers but they do a pretty good job with Darkness those who kill. As always the detective heading the case and his assistant in this case a criminal psychologist played by the stunning Natalie Madurio have there own personal problems to deal with. I particularly enjoyed the opening of each episode which shows brief flashbacks of the perpetrators early lives and how it went towards turning out the way they did. All in all a very fine addition to the Nordic Noir genre. 8/10

It was surprisingly entertaining and well-acted. It has a very refreshing story of a serial killer who targets male victims. It's kind of similar to the british The Fall (2013) in its structure in the way that we know who the killer is from the beginning but that doesn't take from the suspense. Towards the last couple of episodes there were some serious plotholes which annoyed me... When it's only one or two I can ignore it, but they started to pile up. However, I can still fully recommend this series because it was entertaining from beginning to end.

This eight part Danish crime drama is centred on Jan Michelsen, a detective, and Louise Bergstein, a profiler. He has been working on the case of a missing woman, although after six months most people assume she is dead. Then a second woman of similar appearance vanishes. Desperate to solve the case he brings Louise in to help. Her profile leads to another, older, missing person's case... and the body from that case. While we observe their investigation we also see what is happening to the kidnapped woman and learn that she actually has two captors.

When I saw this advertised I wondered if it was a remake or a sequel to the earlier 'Those Who Kill', from 2011... in fact it is neither. It is thematically linked by the detective/profiler pairing, although the genders were the other way round in the previous series. Early on one might expect this to be a whodunit but we learn that very quickly; that doesn't make it any less interesting; it is an impressive psychological thriller that isn't afraid to use horror tropes as we are shown how the victims are treated. There is a real sense of danger both for the victims and our investigators. Kenneth M. Christensen and Natalie Madueño impress as Jan and Louise but it is Signe Egholm Olsen who stands out as Stine Velin, one of the kidnappers who despite outward appearances seems to be the more frightening of the two. The rest of the cast are solid too. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of Nordic crime thrillers.

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

I've only recently discovered this detective series on BBC 4, and watched its third incarnation. Frankly, I can't quite undersatnd why so many have entered negative reviews.

Having to read sub-titles is a nuisance but well worth while. The story is coherent and well acted and there's little in the way of extraneous noise or scenes. The chief character, Louise, comes across as a bit of a troubled soul at times but watching her think as she considers her response to questions, or seeks knowledge from suspects, is well done.

The story in series 3 is a good one and I've been gripped from the outset - if I hadn't been, I'd have given up long before the end. It's not perfect but it's well worth a mark of 8, and much better than many of the formulaic offerings from elsewhere.

I'd say this is as good as The Bridge and The Killing. Exciting throughout with great plot and acting and no time to look at a clock. Danish thriller at its best.

The only minor criticism is that some of the syncing of the fight and shooting scenes was a bit out but that's being very picky.

Come on season 2 !!

This is the first review I have done and I felt compelled to do so.

A breathtaking series.

I do not want to give anything away, so will just say.

Take a deep breath, watch and enjoy.

On a technical note - very good subtitles in English. The words fitted the intonation etc of the actors.

You will not want to miss this one!!

My wife and I enjoyed season 1 but we both found Season 2 disappointing due to the serious flaws in the plot.

The island of Funen in Denmark has a population of around 500,000 people with about 200,000 of them living in Odense. All of the action in the series takes place outside of Odense and around various locations on Denmark's second largest island. And yet not once, not twice, but a total of three times, our hero and our villain manage to bump into each other as they go about their day to day activities in three different locations. I don't mind maybe one minor coincidence in a story but the same coincidence three different times just seems ridiculous. I'm afraid this just spoiled the whole series for us and especially when it was so unnecessary.

Also couldn't quite figure out the point of introducing David into the story early on, especially when played by a major Danish actor, when it amounted to nothing (admittedly still one episode to watch so maybe I'm missing an unexpected twist).

The perp plays his role really well, his r ships with co workers family & cop all add to the suspense...I easily binged this over a couple of days

Not sure what people are complaining about re the ending seemed fine to me.

I mean it's a tv show ffs relax & enjoy ... it's suitably icky as nordic noir should be but not gratuitous despite the grim opening.

Recommended!

Edit...watched season 1 last liked season 2 best!

Darkness: Those That Kill

Whilst reasonably entertaining at the time with reflection there were lots of problems with this production. Nordic Noir has several key formulaic principles that ramp up the suspense and drama in basically a simple cops and robbers story. This show left the path and became baggy and slow and was just a shadow of what it could have been.

Problematic Areas

• the serial killers were just not sophisticated or indeed interesting they were largely opportunistic morons and they were revealed to the viewer too early in the plot.

• the cops both Jan and the psychologist Louise were bland, I was sick to death of small talk over an unfinished bathroom.

• the script was insufficiently inventive to hold the viewers attention over 8 long episodes.

• we had a vestigial investigative trail with little forensics, a key part of Nordic Noir, this made the show appear low budget.

• the women's shelter element was an unnecessary diversion that could have been cut out.

• The script just wasn't very tight so we had a lack of narrative drive or suspense

• Coercive behaviour on this level really is not sufficient to justify the concealment of multiple murders, so we all knew from the start there were two murderers.

• The actor that played Jan was stiff as a board also we all know that the average policemen are very well paid in Denmark at £48k per year and as a detective he would be paid £64k, so a shared room in a student flat is ridiculous.

Lastly when Jan stayed overnight at Louise's he was seen putting a pillowcase on the cheapest shredded foam pillow, quite absurd in Denmark to believe they have these nasty cheap pillows at all.....lol

Channel 4 in the UK boasts that it shows a lot of foreign drama but BBC 4 shows quality foreign drama like this series.

Our government is leaning on the BBC to reduce costs and BBC 4 might disappear soon but until then it brings us dramas such as this.

No plot spoilers but this is a tense drama set in rural Denmark.

If this was American or on Netflix people would rave about how good it was but believe me it is good even if you have never heard of it.

Well acted and well scripted. I'm not sure how realistic the police work shown is but there are always compromises needed for a drama series. Excellent colloquial subtitles.

OK I know there were major plot holes and the end stretched reality, but overall this was a good thriller, well acted throughout. For me this is much better than most English dramas I have seen lately.

All I can gather from the Scandinavian crime dramas is that 1. There's a lot of child abuse involved 2. All black females usually end up dead and are prostitutes 3. All refugees come from Pakistan or Afghanistan and live in a refuge 4. The main cop has a relationship problem 5. The Danes have nice big houses/flats which are exquisitely decorated. 6. Serial killers get treated like they've got a speeding ticket. 7. The same actors keep appearing in shows 8. There's a lot of violence against women a hell of a lot. 9. Women don't use Uber to go to work early in the morning they walk. 10. Not that many people ride a bike.

Darkness: Those Who Kill I didn't see how revealing a major identity in the first episode could be sustainable as a thriller for seven more, but they just about got away with it.

However, this was reliant on some major holes in the plot. Alice makes preparation for an entrapment and yet is totally unprepared come the time. How did Peter find the knife in the water in the dark amidst a furious fight?? Sloppy.

Season 3: Lost Those Who Kill The first four episodes were good and essentially revolved around a single storyline.

The last four episodes is set three years later and introduces a new storyline with a thread running through from the first four.

The new story is poor and the actions of Louise are in no way credible. She is supposed to be a profiler, but she acts like a cop and goes places where in reality she would have no access to.

She is also paranoid about being stalked, which is a throwback to season 2, but she still goes alone into dark/derelict buildings and walks into her flat and leaves to her apartment door open behind her.

Season 4: Once again Louise is far more involved in everything than should be as a profiler. It became really irritating.

The appearance of Dag Malmberg really set the alarm bells ringing. Was this a throwback to the days of Morse when the guest star was always the murderer?

The story didn't hand together at well, it was almost like they made it up as they went along.

I've seen two seasons so far and hope there will be more. Very compelling plot, well acted, well shot, well written. It's a different cast of characters and location for each season, except the main character the profiler is in both seasons. Very detailed but doesn't drag on and on. Watched on Acorn. I give it a 9/10.

There is just NO WAY Scandinavian cops can be this incompetent. I watched every episode back to back like a movie and couldn't believe the ineptness of the law enforcers. What "Darkness: Those Who Kill" got correctly was the mood and atmosphere of Nordic noir - blues and grays everywhere, depressing weather, characters with no heart, female victims galore, etc. But, in the end, the ridiculous decisions the detectives made were beyond laughable; they were pathetic. I only stayed with it because I'm a completionist and hoped the series would somehow elevate itself towards the end. It didn't. Too bad. I'll definitely NOT be looking out for the 2nd series.

Now seen both seasons and both are good. However, think that season 2 is clearly the best.

In season 1, Kenneth M. Christensen and a few others ruined the overall impression.

In season 2, pieces fall into place, both in terms of storry and role performance.