Jana - Marked for Life

When a high-ranking head of the Swedish Migration Agency is found murdered in his home, the list of suspects is long. As assistant prosecutor, Jana Berzelius steps into the investigation. She is young and brilliant but struggles against terrible nightmares due to her childhood as a war refugee. When the suspect's body is found, Jana recognizes something on his scarred body. The further into the investigation she gets, the more she realizes that it has to do with herself. Sometimes I can feel that the filming feels too dark. Don't know if it's deliberate but it feels barren? The acting from Johan Ulveson is not good at all. Reacted several times already in the first episode that he acts like a beginner in front of the camera! The series is not the best I've seen, but not the worst either. Like that..

As always with Swedish police thriller productions the writing is lazy and technically wrong. Appalling acting and cringy. A series trying to be tuff and Hollywoody but falls flatter than an extras paycheck.

The scenery from the town if Norrköping is beautiful though, and the photos between scenes are excellent. The series has a dark image during the harsh Swedish winter, with dark scenery ivy snow in a mix.

The series is predictable and boring, flat characters and above all: the lead roll is extremely boring with total lack of acting. Is rather see Plan 9 from outer space than watch this travesty again.

Had this been presented with a more sci-fi slant than it was, I might've found it easier to believe the lead character's strange and somewhat inexplicable actions through the series. Some of the dialogue is also quite stilted or unnatural, where Jana might give a better qualifying answer as to why she couldn't do something with her family at any time or other, her lack of this made her less likeable as a character and her motivations and the cohesiveness of her actions less questionable. Not really giving us any insight into the actual role of a prosecutor in the Swedish judicial system also reduces the believability of her actions throughout. It's not engaging enough to warrant further development because she wasn't likeable enough as a character. Her apartment is also far too fancy for a junior lawyer, regardless of her father's implied wealth and standing. The plot was somewhat far fetched too.

Okay, this series has some major flaws. First, the way her adopted parents treat her traumatic childhood - I mean the level of ignorance displayed is a little hard to believe for highly educated, affluent people. Very surprising, given her adopted father's profession. I mean, no real effort given to find out why she was traumatized. I mean, come on..... Second, the treatment she received for her trauma. Why so secretive?

And, finally the biggest problem with the series and why I believe it lead to the many negative reviews. The series is just to short for the storyline being covered. I believe several of the mental leaps that you have to make and lack of fleshing out of the main character are due to it only being six episodes. Both a complex main character and storyline needed that.

So be prepared. If you can ready yourself for these, then you'll have a very enjoyable experience.

This Swedish crime drama is centred on Jana Berzelius, a young woman who is just starting out as an assistant public prosecutor in the town of Norrköping. Her first case proves to be rather personal; Hans Juhlén, the head of the immigration board has been murdered shortly after he had approached her for help. Not just that he helped her get adopted by a prominent family when she was found by the harbour as a child. The investigation will open old wounds and expose decades old secrets.

I thought this was a solid enough addition to the Nordic Noir genre. The story is suitably gripping with some decent twists and turns... as well as quite a few genre clichés. The cast does a solid job bringing their characters to life. I know 'noir' means black but things are often a bit too dark as rooms are under-lit. On the plus side there is plenty of tension, especially towards the end. Talking of the ending; many details are wrapped up but a few are left open suggesting we might get more seasons; if we do I'll certainly be watching. Overall I'd say that this isn't a must see but is still an enjoyable watch.

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