Springfloden Online

After a couple of episodes I'm really enjoying this series. There are some interesting lively characters, a great mystery & fascinating plot lines. Cinematography is good, nice production values, good acting and the subtitles flow without feeling stilted or intrusive. The lead female is stunningly pretty (almost distractingly & unrealistically so) but contrasts nicely with all the truly scruffy, realistically unattractive blokes around her LOL On the down side, it all seems a little disjointed but I suspect that will lessen later as the story unfolds and disparate story lines are drawn together. I will return to this review when I've finished the series & update it but I saw there was only 1 review for this intriguing show and thought it deserved more. Unlike the other reviewer, I am not a fan of True Detective and don't find it a "benchmark" for anything other than how NOT to make a mystery, crime series. But both of us seem to think this series is good so I guess that in itself speaks volumes for the show! Give it a whirl. If you're not afraid of subtitles it is well worth it.

While not as polished and gripping as the best police dramas out there (with the first series of True Detective as the category benchmark), Springfloden does a good job in most of the departments.

The very beautiful Olivia is a Swedish police academy student who stumbles by chance on an old unsolved murder case that obsessed her father - the detective investigating on it - up until his death. Of course she can't resist the lure of this mystery and embarks herself on an unofficial investigation that will bring a lot of surprises and messes all around Sweden.

The writing and the side stories are well crafted and interestingly enough deal with social issues in developed countries (homeless, children without an economically stable/culturally evolved family). There's also some room for slightly humorous moments that in my opinion just add up points to the realistic tone of the drama.

As a whole I could find very few holes in how the pieces got connected together, yet for some reason or another I couldn't suspend the disbelief: most of the time everything was clearly part of an acted TV fiction. This might be due to the depth of the backstories of the characters we get to know which barely comes to the surface when these characters act. However It's hard to say this is any specific actor's fault (at least the leads showed a proper range): I would instead point the finger to the writing (which may have tried too hard to include cool stuff) or to the direction (which possibly wasn't able to capture the complexity of the characters in an expressive way).

This said Springfloden is a series you can't miss if you are into detective stories because it's more realistic and better executed than the 90% of the genre's other incarnations.

"Springfloden" could have been close to a masterpiece, and up there among the best series productions in Swedish television crime. And Swedish crime is famous for making high quality. There are a few reasons for the series to fall through and ending up below average in the standards. First of all it's way too long, and may have been perfect with six, perhaps seven episodes. Early on I started to ask myself the reason for the big focus on the side stories added to the main story. If they intentional had more to do with the total picture, it could have been genius, but after a while it more and more seemed that they were put in at only to confuse or even work as a fill in the pie, perhaps to make the story longer. Dramaturgical there is no good reason for the makers to do it like this, other than to make it harder to figure out who the killer is. The actual killer enters the story early on, after putting the blame on somebody else, a little sympathetic character, who just was in the same area as where the murder took place. After this, the murderer totally disappears form the story, only to suddenly reenter in the last episode. In between this we are dragged along in a something becoming a confusing farce, where the side stories just end up getting boring, because they take too much focus and lack intention. The other main reason for it to be below average is that the acting is highly variable. There are some brilliant actors present but it seems like the director and even the best of them have had some days worse than others. Perhaps this also is a result of the production lasting too long, as the series itself, and that it also is a result of the writers doing a sloppy job with the dialogue. The ending and solution to all this also turns out to be too weak in one sense, too much in another. The rest - lightning, sound, music, makeup, a.s.o. is very good. So, too bad with all the unnecessary fillers, or it could have been another top production.

Along with Denmark, Sweden is a leading representative of fine crime series and Nordic Noir, and after Millennium or The Bridge sagas one might wonder is there any room for more of the same or close quality and thrill, when you can do without constant shootings and chases, without fancy policemen... And yet, the Swedes continue surprising.

As many others, the events in Springfloden started working from the very beginning. True, the pace is calmer than in most US and many UK series, but this is one of their special characteristics. There are different cases to be solved, from past and present, and their sophistication and intertwining let fill the 10 episodes nicely, without undue tardiness or inclusion of "filling" characters or scenes. The solution of the major crime might seem trivial, but is realistic, and an unexpected twist in the very end rounds the series up in a fine manner.

But the gem of this series is undoubtedly Kjell Bergqvist as Tom Stilton (for this, above all, my total 9 points). I have seen some of his performances before, they were decent, but not so special to start to follow films or series based on his acting. But here in Springfloden, he is really something, his performance worth of Emmy of even Golden Globe, if the language of the series was different... But he obtained Kristallen for his role, a big honour in Sweden.

Thus, a highly recommended series, even for audiences outside Scandinavia.

PS Series 2 is a bit weaker, including Berqqvist less on screen, but still at least 8 points worth.

Had to score down for some glaring little plot holes, otherwise a very well thought out, acted and unique mini-series.

'Springfloden' kept me glued to the screen till the very end. It has a great script, offering interesting topics alongside the main murder case that's being investigated. We witness a particularly horrible take on child abuse against young boys, as well as an equally grim crime wave against the homeless. It really makes one think about the glorification of violence in our societies. Especially since it's targeted at the weakest in society.

Besides the great script 'Springfloden' offers very good acting all over, a range of interesting characters and great photography. For the longest time I intended to give nine or even ten out of ten stars. So why 'only' eight? Because of the somewhat disappointing ending. No, I won't spoil it, but it felt a bit contrived, like a little trick a la Nelson from 'The Simpsons' shouting 'Ha-Ha' because you got it wrong. The reason why everyone will get it wrong is because there are no leads to the killer until the very end. At least in the main story, that is. The side stories, one about a dubious multinational, the other about the aforementioned violence against children and homeless, all work very well indeed. The 'private' bits between the investigators were also well written. You can feel it all leading up to something slow by slow, whilst several options are kept open. That's how it should be in a great crime story. Whereas, as said, the wrap- up of the main story is a bit of a let down, especially since the rest is so very good.

It's well worth watching though, there's certainly plenty to enjoy.

one of the shows that is made to make you not stop watching, knows exactly at what moment to stop the episode to make you need to watch what happens next. there are very well produced investigation details and process done by the main characters, realistic and a little bit careless as to their own safety especially since they know they are or could be in danger hence the bad guys are one step ahead. the main evidence is the hands of a knife thrower and is traveling from south America to Sweden for at least two episodes. But then again it adds to the suspense. the plot is disturbing enough, no surprise from the vikings but also touching up on social issues in present Sweden. great mystery psychological suspense thriller where motive is a well kept secret only for the patient audience.

I binge watched season 2 (10 episodes) in just one sitting (!), something that I've never done before. The second season of ''Springfloden'' is based on the second novel in the Rönning/Stilton series, written by the Swedish duo of Cilla and Rolf Börjlind with the title ''The Third Voice''. The two Swedish authors are well-known for their scriptwriting for a number of Nordic Noir television series such as ''Beck'', ''Wallander'' (the Swedish edition with K. Henrikssen), ''Arne Dahl'' and ''Graven''. I've already read the book so I knew what to expect in terms of story and plot but nevertheless the series had a profound effect on me, thus I found myself unable to stop watching it. Julia Ragnarsson and Kjell Bergqvist both deliver strong performances in the primary roles and the same is true for the actors in the secondary ones, especially Dar Salim (Abbas), Cecilia Nilsson (Mette) and Johan Widerberg in the role of wayward police informant Minken. The episodes are short in terms of length (around 40 minutes each) and the plot moves forward in a rather fast pace leading to the final two episodes where the whole truth about the two cases, one in Marseilles and one in Stockholm, is revealed to the viewer. I found the final twists rather satisfying, something rare for every seasoned crime fiction fanatic, and overall I can say that the second season of ''Springfloden'' is worthy of the attention of all Nordic Noir enthusiasts around the globe.

Another great Scandinavian noir .. great story great cast .. gritty and keeps you watching . the shows coming out of Europe and Scandinavia right now are untouchable....keep it up guys.