Den som dræber

I now get why this show was cancelled after just 1 season. The lead character is insufferable, and the mysteries easy to solve.

The show has a tendency to tell, not show. We are repeatedly told Katrine is "the brightest" cop, but she never does anything remarkable. Any break she gets on a case is directly due to a male colleague's efforts; never her own. She CONSTANTLY makes bad decisions - costing innocent people's lives - yet her boss only gives her a slap on the wrist. In reality, cops like her would be fired.

That isn't a character people will want to root for. I understand the aim of the creators is to write a complicated, screwed-up character. But Katrine can barely function in some scenes. And when she isn't having a mental breakdown, she's acting horribly towards her friends.

We're supposed to empathise with her trauma, even when it is jeopardising her work and the people around her. She is defiant and arrogant towards anyone against her (often flawed, inexperienced) opinion or anyone who genuinely advises her to go to therapy. In her personal life, she is selfish (displayed in the final episode when a workmate decides to quit for valid, personal reasons).

It doesn't help that the actress is not good during vulnerable or nuanced scenes. The mysteries every episode also tend to go out of the bounds of logic - such as when the lead's partner uses a child to trap a serial killer or how said partner appears out of nowhere at the house of a murdered victim (just for the shock effect of him being there during an opening scene). As said, the mysteries themselves tend to be paper-thin, though told enthrallingly for 1 hour episodes. You can often deduce the murderer's identity within the first 15 minutes. There's also much to be said for the cheesy, usually inappropriately timed background music.

Overall, a mediocre show to help pass the time. Seasoned crime show fans will probably be disappointed, while casual fans may be more entertained.

It has been revealed that this show will be renewed with a whole new cast and story. Let's hope the writers actually get it right this time.

This TV show is far better than Swedish Beck and the millennium movies. First of all I have come to love the danish language.When they speak it sounds so natural and not like in the Swedish where all are going on like they were in a play at Dramaten. I have seen 4 episodes so far and I have found them to be both suspense and with pretty good stories. All and all"Mordkommissionen" is still the best detective show from Denmark. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the episodes because it's one of the better shows right now. I've heard that they are going to cancel the show after the first season because it has got some bad reviews and that's sad. It deserves more seasons.

Much as I like Danish crime dramas, for me, Those Who Kill, has some conspicuous flaws that can not be overlooked.

Perhaps the biggest is how easily the criminologist who supports the key female lead in the first episode is "blamed and written off", by her boss when things turn pear shaped. This is in spite of the fact he leads the team to the killer's lair in the first episode and he's in no way to blame for what transpires, thereafter. This is explained somewhat in latter episodes but still, it all seems a bit of a stretch.

There are other examples that are implausible too, such as intentionally taking a child into a dangerous armed hostage situation.

That's not to say Those Who Kill is not watchable. It's well acted and and directed. Some of the episodic stories premises are novel too. That said, those positives are let down to a degree by some not insubstantial weaknesses in the back story.

Six out of ten from me.

Watched the whole series and thought was quite good.... The plot is different in each episode but tends to have a psychological thought behind each of the murders..which the lead is adept at recognizing...of course not before a few lambs have been sacrificed to the killer The direction is pretty good and makes it a fast paced interesting watch The fact that we have to follow the English subtitles probably means we pay more attention and in the process we tend to get less distracted and like it more. Somehow felt better than the various US crime series, much better than the psychic ones. The research done on the thought process of the human mind is what makes this a intriguing series and a must watch for the people who like crime thrillers.

The creators of Den som dræber were apparently willing to combine CSI- type and Mentalist-type of series, but mind-twisting together with genuine slides of malformed dead bodies, villains are serial killers only, and not-so-catchy main characters (Laura Bach as Katrine Ries Jensen and Jakob Cedergren as Thomas Schaeffer) have not attracted so much popularity as e.g. Forbrydelsen, Broen or Ørnen: En krimi-odyssé. True, there are some fine performances - Lars Mikkelsen in all the episodes and Ulrich Thomsen and Kim Bodnia both in 2 episodes, but the overall pace is sometimes uneven, sometimes protracted; there are 5 different stories over 2 episodes each, and the 1st part of every story includes a summary what will happen in the second episode - annoying for a crime drama where moments of surprise carry a significant weight.

All in all, the series in question is not bad, but it is definitely overshadowed by the series mentioned above. So if you have/need a choice, you better watch the others.