The Troubled Man

In this, the final episode of the British dramatization of the Swedish detective series of novels, Wallander (Kenneth Branagh) investigates another complicated case involving Hakan von Enke (Terrence Hardiman). Hakan is the father-in-law of Wallander's daughter Linda (Jeany Spark), so there is a distinctly personal aspect to this case.

The plot hinges on an incident taking place during the mid-Eighties when Hakan was involved in an incident where Soviet submarines encroached into Swedish waters. Nothing is quite what it seems: loyalties are brought into question, and Hakan's wife Louise (Ann Bell) is revealed to have been involved, despite outward appearances. In the end Wallander unravels the plot and confronts Hakan in a climactic sequence taking place in a deserted tunnel.

Of more interest in this episode, perhaps, is Wallander's gradually deteriorating state of mind. Although gamely pursuing his chosen career, it's clear that he is subject to moments where he quite literally does not know where he is or what he is doing. In his son-in-law Hans's (Harry Haddon-Paton's) office, for example, he loses the power to communicate, much to everyone's consternation. Later on he is discovered outside his house tearing off his shirt and jacket - reminiscent of King Lear on the heath - and is only prevented from causing further self-harm by his daughter's sympathetic ministrations. Branagh is very good at such moments, as he shows how Wallander's mind oscillates between extreme rationalism and wild imagining.

In the end the story is transformed into a race against time: will Wallander be able to solve the case before he finally succumbs to his illness? The ending is predictable, but engaging nonetheless; and is followed by a denouement in which Wallander empties his office desk and communicates with his deceased father (David Warner).

As with the other episodes in this short series, the action unfolds at a leisurely pace, with attention paid as much to the gray Swedish landscape as to the characters operating within it. "The Troubled Man" is a melancholy piece, but fascinating nonetheless.

I just step over the edge of 50 and way the wallander present aging.... Hit me like train. There should be some kind of international award for this level of acting.

Wallander's health has deteriorated rapidly, but he still has one last case to solve, the disappearance of his daughter's father in law, Hakan von Enke.

It's taken me some time to warn to the show, but I really have grown to enjoy it, what a shame it's only four series long.

If I'm totally honest, I struggled with the early part of the episode, I couldn't quite get it, but as it progresses, it knits together very nicely, the story builds well, and concluded very, very strongly.

There is definitely an air of sadness about the whole thing, you cannot helped but be moved as you watch it. It's like we're taken back to the first series, where David Warner played the part of his dad so well.

It's quite a complex plot to follow, you have to concentrate, you also have to focus on where Kurt is at, Branagh puts in an exceptional performance here, you really do watch and feel the turmoil the great Detective is experiencing.

Beautifully produced, those opening scenes looked and sounded sublime, I could listen to that voice all day.

I loved two performances in particular, firstly that of Michael Byrne, and secondly the one by the late great Colette O'Neil, two veteran actors showing how it should be done.

8/10.

Having seen the Swedish version of this final episode, I have to talk about a spark. As Kurt begins to succumb to Alzheimers, he becomes even more morose than he normally is. He finds himself trying to find his daughter's father-in-law, who has some connection to spying. As he does this, he becomes more and more confused. He at times is almost zombie-like. Granted, this insidious disease takes the soul out of a person, but early onset isn't presented with much reality. Wallander is awfully lucid most of the time but occasionally drops off the face of the earth. The performance is dull and that is the problem. One of our greatest actors interprets the role with a single dimension and gets by on pure luck. Branagh is so stoic as to appear catatonic. A bit of a disappointment to end this series.

The fourth series of Wallander has not been the best vintage. The opening episode set in South Africa was a bit off and too out of the ordinary. This series has a whole has never crackled and the stories were a little bit too slow to justify the longer running time. We have hardly seen Kurt's colleagues which were already decimated in the previous series.

Kenneth Branagh continues as the stoical Kurt for the final time. His actions affected by the early-onset of Alzheimer's he agrees to help when his daughter's father in law, Hakan goes missing.

The previous episode laid the foundations as the father in law told Kurt of an incident in the 1980s where he was an officer in the Swedish Navy and an incident with a Soviet submarine entering Swedish waters and the government did little about it which he felt was treasonous.

As the mystery unfolds there are conflicting loyalties. Kurt suspects his son in law, Hakan's wife is found dead, an old American friend of Hakan turns up and Kurt thinks Hakan himself might have staged his disappearance. All this in a background of Kurt struggling with his forgetfulness and moments of incoherence.

This episode ends with a coda of an old acquaintance of Kurt making an appearance which rounds the series off. Kurt in some ways ends up like his father at the end.

The Wallander books have finished and the final episode was dedicated to the author Henning Mankell who died 2015. I think this was the right time to stop as the show was on the verge of a decline.