A Place in the Sun (2012 Video) User Reviews

The Road to Hell

[Warin_West-El · 4/10 · 12 January 2023]

Annika Bengtzon is a character that (based upon her irresponsible behavior) must have been a C- student in school.

When we first see Annika, she is given the opportunity to be the head of a department in her newspaper. She shrinks from her good fortune, choosing instead to continue being a roving reporter. These are the values of a teenager in the 70s. What is called maintaining your "freedom" is just an excuse to justify acting irresponsibly.

And this immature propensity for reckless behavior soon manifests itself when we see Annika hop into bed with the very first Prince Charming that comes on the scene. In fact, the Swedes engage in sex SO often in these Euro mysteries, one would think sex is part of the Swedish minimum daily dietary requirements along with protein and carbs. Lol

This Annika character is fundamentally stupid. She asks stupid questions and she does stupid things. Her most egregious character flaw is: she lacks survival skills. For example, she manages to wack a bad guy with a crowbar who is out to kill her. Now remember, he's out to KILL her. So then what does Annika do? Instead of finishing the bad guy off, SHE JUST STANDS THERE, like a pathetic dazed deer. And, of course, the bad guy regains his consciousness and begins to terrorize her again. NEWS FLASH: If you don't value your life enough to kill an immanent deadly threat, then neither do we. After that insane scene, I no longer cared less whether Annika lived or died.

Annika Bengtzon is fundamentally a rich man's wife. Someone who operates under the delusion she is "free", when actually she is highly dependent upon others to support her and save her from herself. When a fight breaks out, she runs and hides. There's nothing heroic about this character. She's NOT a young Miss Marple solving crimes using a combination of crystal-clear thinking and insightful intuition. To the contrary, Annika Bengtzon is a cowardly female bull in a china shop who stumbles to and fro breaking all manner of things until she accidentally discovers the truth sticking out of the pile of rubble she has created.

I don't sympathize with the many weaknesses of this character, especially her narcissism and irresponsibility. The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions. And that is an apt description of Annika Bengtzon.

Mediterranean sun

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 31 August 2013]

Someone is seen securing a house from the outside, as the episode begins. This person is up to no good, so when gas is filtered to the interior through the air conditioning vents, we watch, in horror, as a boy, first, then a woman succumb to the lethal gas.

Meanwhile, Annika is asked by Schyman, her boss, if she would like to take over for the retiring Spiken, and be in charge of the news division. Annika reaction could not be more explicit: she is a natural reporter, what would she do stuck in an office? Naturally, she would be miserable. The job goes to the odious Patrik Nilsson, a man with no talent. In the first staff meeting Annika, who has picked up the news about a family being asphyxiated in Malaga because they are Swedes. Patrik decides to get rid of his nemesis by sending her to investigate the strange incident.

Annika, like anyone unfamiliar with a foreign country, has problems following the trail that will allow her to perform her duties as a criminal journalist. Her luck changes as she goes to see Niklas Linde, a Swedish police liaison, working in Malaga. What Annika is not prepared for the web of crime surrounding the death of the well known Swedish athlete Sebastian Soderstrom, his wife Veronika, and the two children. She will also go through a complicated scheme of how drugs are sent to Sweden via Spain.

Annika is told by Linde to hire a local translator. She gets more than what she bargained for in the person of the duplicitous Carita who obviously is well connected in Spain, as well as in Stockholm. Her investigation will take her to Gibraltar and Tangier, where she goes looking for Suzette Soderstrom, a missing piece in the puzzle. Finally, she will get into a confrontation with the kingpin of the drug trade, in which she could lose her life.

The final episode of this fine Swedish series came with a bang. Based on the work of Liza Marklund, the episode was adapted for television by Alex Haridi, and directed with fantastic pacing by Peter Flinth. The episode moves fast, leaving the viewer wanting more. In Marin Crepin, the creators of the series struck gold. This young actress is terrific. Her Annika is a complex young woman, balancing a career she loves, with her own personal life, which suffers on account of the hours she spends away from home, and family. The rest of the ensemble players are just as wonderful.

One can only hope there will be another season soon.