Wallander is one of those shows that has all the elements of being great, but they're sprinkled around not connecting, preventing it from reaching its full potential. Once again the story was interesting and the cast did a fine job with their roles, however by the end of this episode I was yelling at the TV for the characters, particularly Kurt, to catch on to the obvious for once.
Speaking of Kurt, we've seen him for over four hours at this point (at least this version) and he's never appeared clean, confident, and collected. Perhaps this has always been the case and I simply need to watch the older show for a better grasp of the character, but when a colleague straight up tells him he needs help and he does nothing until it's too late you have to wonder why we should care if the main character doesn't. There's also no, or very little, camaraderie between the other people close to him, though it's still a bit strange when he reveals that he fell asleep at the wheel, then later collapses on the floor, and nobody questions him going right back to work driving long distances and carrying a firearm.
My main criticism of the first two episodes was that the police didn't seem to follow many leads based on evidence. That wasn't as big an issue in the third and final episode of season one, however whenever Kurt questioned someone the common response was "I was already asked this by the other investigator" and that usually ended the conversation. This is a writing trope used to add filler, made particularly blatant when Wallander (and the audience) need to know the answers and don't get them when given the opportunity.
I want to really like this show, though at this point I'm on the fence whether or not I'll continue watching. I don't know how much more moping and disconnectedness of the title character I can take. If the only thing to root for is solving a case there's plenty other shows that offers that and more.