The Red Wolf

Malin Crepin stars as crime reporter Annika Bengtzon. Annika has a partner and two children, but her job as a crime reporter often and summarily sends her on cases away from her family and into a degree of danger. Her sudden absences put pressures on her family life.

The stories are quite good,the acting is very competent and the production values high. It's what you expect from Scandanavian productions and this series of six movies doesn't let you down.

Not at the same level as The Bridge and The Killing, but enjoyable nevertheless. Worth watching in the knowledge that what you see won't send you into convulsions of pain and horror, nor will it make you reassess your life. But most of us just want to be entertained and for me Annika Bengtzon does that.

As a woman, it's especially fun to watch this program. Annika is so fearless and yet so believable a character. There's a twist to the usual family dynamic in that Annika is the more workaholic and absent parent and her poor, long-suffering (and extremely hot) husband is often stuck home with the kids, or lying languidly shirtless in bed waiting for her just as she has to go out and investigate a tip.

All of the acting is wonderful and the direction very natural. One gets completely sucked into the plot and the pathos. You see how Annika steels herself from being impacted from most of it, and yet some cases really get to her. The Kvallpresse newsroom has its amusing cast of characters, from the tubby, barking and be-jowled news chief, to the lovable and mannish old socialist Berit, to the smarmy young toady Patrik.

Some of the crimes are pretty grisly so this series is not suitable for children. I've read reviews elsewhere in which men complain about having to hear about Annika's family life (also with Irene Huss, another Swedish crime solver I love) so this may be more something women and those interested in women's lives would enjoy.

The Red Wolf (2012) aka Den röda vargen

Plot: A journalist is murdered in the frozen white landscape of a northern Swedish town. Annika Bengtzon, a reporter at a Stockholm-based tabloid, was planning to interview him about a long-ago attack against an isolated air base nearby, and now she suspects that his death is linked to that attack. Against the explicit orders of her boss, she begins to investigate the event, which is soon followed by a series of shocking murders. Annika knows the murders are connected. At the same time, she begins to suspect that her husband is hiding something, and nothing can counteract the loneliness that has crept into her life. Behind everything lurks the figure of the Red Wolf, a cold-blooded killer with the soul of a lover. In the end, she must discover the truth not only about the murders but also about the lies that are destroying her own family.

This series is far better than its title (reminiscent of juvenile fiction) would lead one to believe. The series, adaptations of the books of Liza Marklund, comprises six 90-minute episodes, each representing a story that the main character, Annika Bengtzon, a crime reporter for a Stockholm newspaper, is pursuing. Each story is complete in itself, the thread that runs through them being the newspaper's staff, Bengtzon, and her personal life. Filmed in Sweden with a Swedish cast (and thus with English subtitles), the series features excellent cinematography and high production values. The stories are interesting; the time devoted to Bengtzon's pursuit of the story and the effect of her career on her personal life is well balanced; and the cast, especially Malin Crépin as Bengtzon, are effective. All six episodes can be streamed on Netflix.

I really enjoyed this series. Luckily, I didn't check out the ratings on IMDb, or I might never have tried it. Well-written, well-acted, and well-directed. I have seen the first six episodes (which seem to be listed separately here). Some are better than others, but all were worth watching.

Malin Crepin is a treat to watch, as Annika. The continuing story of her marriage and motherhood make Annika a much fuller character than "reporter." Like the best of series, there is both an episode resolution and continuing character development.

If you like Scandinavian TV series like "The Protectors," you'll probably like "Annika Bengtzon."

Check it out if you like well-done mysteries. I hope there are more of these shows to come.