One of the difficulties of reviewing multiple episodes of the same series is the need to avoid repetition, or to take the easy way out and retell the plot.
This is certainly the case with the first post-Gunvald episode of BECK, where Beck's sidekick has been replaced by Norwegian-born Kristofer Hivju (Steinar Hovland), another thickset police officer with an expansive ginger beard and bushy hair. He comes across as both sympathetic yet efficient - less violent than Gunvald, but someone possessed of similar maverick tendencies. As if slightly unsure of where to go with the episode, director Mårten Klingberg introduces another familiar 'tec story cliché - the obstreperous boss (Jonas Karlsson) trying to take advantage of Hivju's introduction as an excuse to remove Beck, with whom he has a history of verbal conflict.
It's best to look instead at the framework of this episode rather than the story. Klingberg has a fine sense of place: setting much of the action in a derelict caravan park outside of Stockholm, he emphasizes just how desperate people's lives can be. Even those professing to help them through acts of Christian charity can turn out to be self-interested. Beck and his fellow-officers might sympathize but can do little to alleviate their plight; such people are doomed to inhabit the margins.
This episode also looks at the personal effect of Gunvald's passing on Beck and his team. Although repeatedly professing to be "OK" and able to pursue their work, it's evident that they have suffered a grievous emotional as well as a personal loss, emphasizing thereby just how dangerous police work can be.
This is certainly the case with the first post-Gunvald episode of BECK, where Beck's sidekick has been replaced by Norwegian-born Kristofer Hivju (Steinar Hovland), another thickset police officer with an expansive ginger beard and bushy hair. He comes across as both sympathetic yet efficient - less violent than Gunvald, but someone possessed of similar maverick tendencies. As if slightly unsure of where to go with the episode, director Mårten Klingberg introduces another familiar 'tec story cliché - the obstreperous boss (Jonas Karlsson) trying to take advantage of Hivju's introduction as an excuse to remove Beck, with whom he has a history of verbal conflict.
It's best to look instead at the framework of this episode rather than the story. Klingberg has a fine sense of place: setting much of the action in a derelict caravan park outside of Stockholm, he emphasizes just how desperate people's lives can be. Even those professing to help them through acts of Christian charity can turn out to be self-interested. Beck and his fellow-officers might sympathize but can do little to alleviate their plight; such people are doomed to inhabit the margins.
This episode also looks at the personal effect of Gunvald's passing on Beck and his team. Although repeatedly professing to be "OK" and able to pursue their work, it's evident that they have suffered a grievous emotional as well as a personal loss, emphasizing thereby just how dangerous police work can be.
