India Today – October 08, 2018

candinavian crime series
(a nd c r i me novel s) a r e u n-
apologetically formulaic. A
bodyisfoundinavillage.Atalented
detective saddled with personal
baggageiscalledupontosolvethe
case with a sidekick who means well
but aggravates the hero. The sus-
pects multiply—guilty of everything
but the murder at the heart of the
story—and it emerges a big corpora-
tion is up to some shady dealings.
Deadwind(Karppiis the Finnish
title) features all those beloved (or
tired) elements. The Finnish import
from Netflix tells the story of Sofia
Karppi, a young detective dealing
with the death of her husband. Her
first case back at work at the Helsinki
police department is a murder. The
bodyofawoman,AnnaBergdahl,is
found on a construction site belong-
ing to a company looking to expand
itswindenergyfootprint;acompany
whereAnnawasaconsultant.
The investigation soon heads into
corporate espionage. There are other
side plots—an afair, a (totally unnec-

essary) sex tape, and childhood sex

abuse. Her partner is the rookie, for-

mer drug addict Sakari Nurmi (Lauri

Tilkanen). He is young, self-assured

and questions Sofia’s every

move. The two solve the

case the old-fashioned

way, by following clues

and piecing together

A nna’s life. It’s good

police work.

As a character, Karppi

is impulsive and prone to

finding herself in risky situations. She

often walks out on her children, chas-

es down strange leads, and makes

terrible decisions. In an interview,

director Rike Jokela spoke about

wanting to showcase equality in the

characters. As such, Karppi’s behav-

iour makes sense; she acts exactly

like any male detective would in

the same situation. Stretched

over 12 episodes, the show

could be tighter. But the in-

tensity Pihla Viitala brings to

her lead character, managing

to portray her physical exhaus-

tion, subdued grief, and vulnera-

bility under a brusque exterior makes

it worth a watch. „

—Joanna Lobo

Familiar

Procedure

WEB SERIES

S

WAT C H L I S T

THE DEUCE

(SEASON 2)

Women come out

on top in the second

season of David

Simon’s intriguing

series on the porn

business in 1970s’

New York—a stink-

bomb in the era of

#MeToo that was

further marred by

harassment allega-

tions against co-

star James Franco.

Hotstar

GARBAGE
Qauishiq Mukherjee’s
(aka Q) film went
straight to the web
after premiering at the
Berlin International
Film Festival this year.
Like Ghoul, it takes aim
at far-right religious
extremists. Netflix

MUKKABAAZ

Anurag Kashyap’s boxing

movie-cum-excoriation

of the Indian sports sys-

tem hits the web, just as

an Asian Games wrestler

and overlooked Kabaddi

players take their beefs to

court. Zee5

Netflix’s

DEADWIND

adds another solid

series to a long

list of successful

Scandi noir