Netflix streaming. This is somewhat of an off-putting title, and it’s a difficult, gloomy tv series to get into, but I really liked it. I just finished watching the series finale – season 4, episode 6, and it was quite good. A few things in this final season stretched belief, but it was a fitting end to the series. This show is based on the Danish TV series Forbrydelsen, which translates to “The Crime”. Perhaps that would have been a better title, but, in fact, the entire first season does relate to the investigation by two homicide detectives into a single murder. Check the Wikipedia entry for more details.

What is captivating here is the relationship between the two lead characters, Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) and Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman). Both of them are damaged characters, trying to survive in the world while driven to solve the murder mysteries they are presented with. The shows drip with gloom, but you become engaged in their quest for the truth … and then the twists change things and the character exploration goes even deeper.

This series lasted for two years and was cancelled, brought back by a request from Netflix and Fox Television Studios for a third season, then cancelled again! Netflix paid for the fourth and final season, a shortened six episodes, and it’s one of the new “Netflix Originals”. Great move, I’m sure – there are 1.6 million ratings of it on Netflix, so it’s pretty popular. A 4.2 average is pretty good. They actually predicted it as a 5.0 for me, and I did indeed give it 5 stars.