The Bridge: Episode Ten

"Has everything you know ever turned out to be wrong?"

Ooh blimey. I don't think I can take much more of this. No, wait… I don't have to. What a brilliant piece of television. Suspense, mystery, character… all three of those elements delivered so, so much. Needless to say, HERE BE SPOILERS, LOTS OF THEM.

The arcs for both characters are so, so satisfying. Martin, likeable as he is, ends up being punished for what he did to Jens. I suppose his affair with Charlotte, and its consequences, were foreshadowing this. August sums him up best, I think: "He knows he's not perfect, but he does his best." Kim Bodnia deserves so, so much praise for portraying Martin's constant emotional turmoil.

For Saga, the main thread her is how good a liar she is, which proves so very relevant to the plot, but also her moves towards empathy generally; her little white lie fails, but she saves the day anyway. Except that August is still dead, and she still thinks she fails. Her connection with Martin is wonderful to see, and it's extraordinary, yet believable, for her to show so much emotion. Sofia Helin has been utterly superb, too.

There are lots of little touches on the theme of our two stars. It's made very clear, as a direct parallel, that Martin does not have the closeness to Lilian that Saga has with Hans. And there's that wonderful scene of Saga just standing, in the kitchen at Jens' mother's house, alone, silent, framed in the centre of the shot. She's alone, but comfortable that way. The pressure is on her, but she's capable.

Most wonderful of all is that last meeting between the two of them in the hospital. Saga, heartbreakingly, thinks she's let Martin down, but she hasn't. She's a good and loyal person, and he knows that. And perhaps her lack of empathy is not entirely a weakness. Perhaps Martin's greater empathy, when it manifests itself in infidelity, can be a weakness too. And the final shot, as Saga arranges a date with Anton, shows us that, even though there may be no hope for Martin, there is hope for her.

Oh, and one particularly nice touch comes at the very end of the scene in which Martin confesses to Metter that it was him who cuckolded Jens. She simply sighs, a sigh that speaks volumes. It's probably the very pinnacle of screen sighing. It's that good.

So, The Bridge is amazing. It's drama at its best. Is it was good as, say, The Wire or The Sopranos? Well, that's not a fair question, and it's one that I'm not going to answer. High expectations can be a dangerous thing. They can cause disappointment if the programme in question turns out to be merely excellent, which is why I feel a bit nervous about watching The Killing. I think, for the moment, that it's a strict diet of Buffy, Angel and movies for me. All that said, though, I was relieved that I found The Bridge superlative, gripping television.

It's not quite as good as the first series of Spiral, mind…!

The Bridge: Episode Nine

"And then you cut / Goes back to the beginning…"

Interesting how the theme tune finishes here; a combination of the standard ending and the oddly different one from episode eight. I have no idea what, if anything, to make of this.

So, it was Jens, after all. It was revenge, all along. Martin is the main target. Jens wants to hurt Martin by killing August. Saga's been shot and isn't looking at all well. I don't think I can handle much more, but I'm counting the hours until I see the finale. I can't help thinking that the element of mystery isn't over, though. We'll see a few plot twists before we're done.

Just as shocking are the tears(!) from Saga at the prospect of Hans leaving. He looks after her, and the two of them are very close. Will his successor understand her and protect her as he has done? As Martin says, he means a lot to her. Whatever her issues with empathy, Saga has the same feelings as anyone else.

Oddly enough, the "twists" are ones I expect most viewers either expected or had thought about; Sebastian Sandstrod and August's online friend are both the killer. The twists are different: firstly that Martin cuckolded the killer, and secondly that August was always the target. Mette and the children are just a particularly cruel piece of misdirection, as are many things in this extraordinary series.

There's time for character stuff too, though. Martin explaining the concept of complements to Saga, and her learning from him, is an example of exactly the sort of endearing interaction between the two of them that is the heart of this series. And I was very moved to see Saga hold the hand of an upset Martin in the car.

Martin, as August says, lets people down. He does the easy thing. He's unfaithful. But he isn't malicious, just instinctive. And he's redemptively brave and loving. I was moved to see him risk his own life save Mette', and that kiss. In spite of everything, he doesn't deserve any of this.

August is interesting, too. He's a lot more likeable than he's been before in the full context. Notably, we’re led to believe he's lying to Mette about having a job interview, but he isn't. He blames himself for causing Anja's death, in an echo of how Martin blames himself for Mikaela's. Just as Jens wants Martin to get closer to his son so that he feels more pain at his death, we've also been made to like him more. This doesn't bode well for his survival.

It's a very tense episode. All the scenes of Jens with Mette just seethe with tension, and the attempt at a trap for him by keeping August's rendezvous is much the same. It's almost as if we've switched genre from action-oriented whodunnit to thriller, but it all feels earned.

Anything can happen now. No individual is certain to live, and that includes the leads. Martin has lied about his involvement. Saga will be losing Hans, who looks after her. Neither of them seems to have a definite future in the police, and that raises the stakes…

The Bridge: Episode Eight

"As far as I know, he had no moral scruples whatsoever. I'll miss him."

The opening theme finishes as normal this week, with "Back to the Beginning". This makes last week's deviation seem even odder. In retrospect, last week's episode seems to have been very much a one-off: a philosophical reflection in the midst of an otherwise plot-driven series. You'll be glad to hear that I'll be taking my head out of my arse to review this episode. No more bloody Kierkegaard. Actually, he's the Danish link to existentialism that I was looking for… er, I'll drop it.

We seem to have two parallel tracks to this episode. First is the relationship stuff- Martin seems to be patching things up with both Mette and August, and his mental state seems to be slowly improving. Things are up in the air, but Mette's miscarriage scare has convinced her to give it another go. Oh, and she's expecting twins. But there are also worrying signs: Mette's mysterious male friend is still around, and now he's bringing flowers. August's online friend "Frida" is still around too, and now "she" wants to meet him.

There's also relationship stuff happening with Saga, surprisingly. Hans, her boss, who's nice to her, is retiring. Anton brings her some flowers; he's looking for more than sex. It's fascinating how the dialogue foregrounds so strongly how the gender stereotypes are being reversed here. And yet… Anton has to be a suspect, doesn't he?

There are a couple of great Saga moments, again. Her idea of small talk is to ask Martin whether he's cheated on his wife before. And there's a wonderful scene where she sits alongside her colleagues, who had been chatting happily: cue an awkward silence. And this time her idea of small talk is to say that she had her period that morning. Er, yes.

Plotwise, we spend most of the episode chasing one red herring, the rather unpleasant Jesper (although at least he acts as an explanation for why Sonja is so upset), and surely this Jens bloke must be another? It's all too neat, Jens has hardly been mentioned, and they surely wouldn't reveal the murderer with two episodes to go.

No; this is an episode of misdirection and sleight of hand. What we're really being shown won't, I suspect, be revealed until much later. And the killer isn't finished yet. The ending pretty much tell us so. Still, I suspect there's some truth in Saga's theory that the killer has some sort of connection to all of the victims. Trouble is, we live in such a connected world.

The Bridge: Episode Seven

"You can't have sex with your colleagues' children!"

There's a small but interesting difference at the start of this episode: the lyrics of the song end slightly differently, with "And then you cut…" rather than "Back to the beginning…" as we've heard in all of the previous six episodes. Perhaps this is a nod towards the fact that we're close to the end? It is also, of course, accompanied by a camera cut, which is nicely metatextual. Also interesting is that this week's "previously on…" clip show refers to so many different things from so many weeks ago, many of which I'd semi-forgotten. Threads are beginning to be tied up.

Also interesting is that the first scene proper takes place on a bus which is shot as a small, insignificant speck in a bleak, wintry landscape, and that everything is shot in very muted colours. It's tempting to see a thematic connection with the existentialist subtext which so strongly pervades this episode.

The central focus here is Ferbé, whose near-death experience with his overdose has left him a changed man, deeply shocked by the strong impression that there is no afterlife and thus no meaning to existence. He spends the episode gradually rejecting nihilism and learning that he can impose his own individual meaning on the absurdities of the world, in his case by possibly throwing away his career for the sake of principle, and committing arson to save a child's life, an experience which he describes as "intense". This is an interesting word, as it connotes a chemical high, something which we associate with his pre-overdose self.

The episode ends, of course, with his death, but at least he did something with the extra time he had which had meaning for him. I'm a little wary of stereotyping Swedes as existentialists(!), but I'm reminded very, very strongly of The Seventh Seal.

All this is echoed, I think, in the other characters, albeit in a wider context. Saga, being a kind of innocent, had no faith in an afterlife to begin with, and nor has she ever assumed that the world has a divinely ordained meaning. She is therefore free of existential angst. Martin, meanwhile, sees his purpose in his family, but his family life is falling apart, which is making his life fall apart. Nevertheless, the problem is not a lack of faith.

The episode has some great Saga moments. I laughed out loud when Hans had to gently explain how Martin would be upset about her sleeping with August, and that he might want to know that they didn't have sex. Even funnier is when she shouts it across the whole office! They spend much of the episode at loggerheads, but seem to bond towards the end, and once again Martin seems very perceptive about her, and very empathetic. And his face when told "This is Anton. We have sex now and again." is priceless.

Much of this episode is about consequences. Martin has to face the consequences of cheating on his wife; things are up in the air, and who's that man who spend ninety minutes alone with Mette and texts her in the evening? Stefan, of course, has to face the consequences of what he's done at the very time his sister needs him most. Even the murderer tells Ferbé that he plans to turn himself in and face the consequences.

We seem to be entering the endgame, and we have a definite suspect in Jesper Andersson. It won't be him, of course, and I suspect it isn't a cop.

The Bridge: Episode Six

"You're clever. I'm sure it'll come to you."

I was sort of lukewarm about the theme song initially but, exactly as with the new Soundgarden single, something has clicked and it's really growing on me. The lyrics are such wonderfully poetic gibberish, too, and it's tempting to read all sorts of unintended echoes from the story, whether they start as a cross in you or not.

This is a big, big episode. Lots of plot stuff happens, obviously, but Martin's life is suddenly falling apart. I say suddenly, but it feels earned; it was foreshadowed last episode. The moments of rage that we saw last episode are becoming more irrational, and his casual adultery- which we thought had been tied up last episode and which is, perhaps, another symptom- suddenly leads to him being thrown out of the marital home. And if that isn't enough, August is sleeping with Saga who, naturally, doesn't understand why he's upset. In this episode he goes to unreasonable lengths in his suspicions of both Stefan and Saif. He's losing his grip on the case, and it's Saga who makes the running.

And yet we're beginning to see possible chinks in Saga's armour, too. Her sister committed suicide at fourteen, the same age as Anja, and it's not hard to see the obvious link, that she blames herself for both of their deaths. Martin instinctively sees this connection. Perhaps he understands her better than she understands herself. Perhaps he's seeing things that aren't there. Perhaps the point is simply that other people are always, in the end, unknowable. But it seems, right now, that Saga's distance from the world of feeling is leaving her in a better state than Martin.

Interestingly, the murderer seems to understand Saga too, to an extent. The conversation between the two of them indicates that she may even be a factor in his plan. But it's her, of course, who works out in the very last moment that he must be a police officer. He certainly knows stuff that only police officers would know.

As for other characters- well, Saif and his unnamed father are more or less stereotypes, or more charitably stock characters who could have stepped out of a Hanif Kureishi novel but then, I suppose, they're only there to dramatise the murderer's latest "problem", the failure of integration and the treatment of immigrants. Interestingly, though, Saga is beginning to suspect that all of these issues are just a smokescreen; the murderer's motive is personal, not political.

Interestingly, Ferbé starts to fall apart here, too, with his overdose on pills in that horrible trendy club. He seems quite shaken by it all, suddenly aware of mortality and disturbed that he technically died briefly, yet there was no tunnel of light, only darkness. For someone with such an ego it must be terrifying to contemplate the extinction of that ego. Ake, meanwhile, seems to be taking his place. Perhaps nice guys sometimes finish first.

Yet again, I have no idea where this is going, and I love it.

The Bridge: Episode Five

 

"It's an unwritten law.

"I don't know any of those."

This is an episode of shocks. It's a shock that Anja's creepy, samurai-obsessed host should kill someone, randomly, mere seconds into the episode. It's a shock that Anja herself should be attacked without warning, and die in hospital halfway through her drawing. And it's a shock that Martin is starting to become affected by things. He slaps Lars Jonsson, our samurai-wielding schizophrenic. Much as he is genuinely fond of Saga, he begins to snap at her. And he cheats on his wife with Charlotte.

This is a deeply significant moment, especially as Charlotte, herself a wronged woman, post-coitally asks him what it's like to cheat on his wife, which must feel like a punch. He spends the rest of the episode denying this act, in various ways. It's an episode where his character becomes foregrounded and where his flaws become manifest, and even more of a contrast to Saga's apparent serenity.

Saga's "strange" nature gives us some more comedy, although much less broad. Her shag of a few episodes ago makes himself useful again, this time more aware of what's going on. And Saga seems very together and very efficient. It's easy to see how people can be fond of her- Mette is amused, rather that offended when Saga, unexpectedly invited to dinner, says matter-of-factly that the food "wasn't tasty".  Interestingly, she makes a great impression on August, who is very much on the same wavelength. Of course, going by what we already know, this could imply that he's the killer.

He's far from the only suspect, though. Stefan's story becomes more and more interesting. Although he begins to defend himself from Veronika's psychopath husband, he continues to batter him once unconscious, which would seem to be manslaughter. Now he has a body to hide, at a time when he's made Martin very suspicious and he's under surveillance. And Martin also believes that Anja's drawing is of him. Is this too neat, though? I wonder if the cut to the next scene at this point is supposed to make us suspect Henning, the surprisingly acquitted policeman?

The killer's third social problem is cuts to treatment of the mentally ill, hence several paranoid schizophrenics being driven to kill in both Malmo and Copenhagen. And this is an episode in which people's mental stability is beginning to fray a little. Even Ake begins to realise just what a contemptible shit Ferbé is, cheerfully printing the addresses of schizophrenics and exposing them to violence. I think (and hope) the murderer has a comeuppance in mind for him.

Another new thread is the acquittal, and its effects on the family of the dead man, an almost clichéd pair of the moderate son and the radicalised son, Saif. Access to justice is, we again learn, not equal. Saif will clearly have a part to play, but I have no idea what will happen next. Next episode tomorrow...

The Bridge: Episode Four

"How's your scrotum?"

"Small talk isn't your strong side…"

In spite of the above quote, there's not much humour in this episode. The stakes are raised, things previously set up are unwound, new characters and plot threads emerge. The reason for the low morale of the Danish police is becoming clear: tomorrow is the verdict in a trial of four police officers accused of unlawfully killing an immigrant, and one of their number is being leant on to keep silent for some unknown reason. A morosely silent, middle aged couple are introduced, and the man witnessed all this. Oh, and that bloke Anja's staying with, Lasse Jönson? He's well odd, he has memory lapses, he thinks he's a samurai, and he's planning something big for tomorrow, after which Anja, a self-indulgent, deeply unlikeable Holden Caulfield of a character, will get to keep the flat. Oh, and what was that odd jump cut while he was playing with the sword?

We get some fleeting appearances of the killer, too, starting very early on. He's male, he dresses in black, and the first shot on the stairs seems to show a long leather jacket. Er, it's me. Except it isn't; the action sequences later on show him to be quite athletic, which is not like me at all. We have a second red herring, too, in Lasse, although Stefan continues to simmer nicely as our suspiciously obvious main suspect.

Charlotte is most interesting here, as she's the fly in the ointment, the one variable for whom the killer hasn't planned. The four millionaires, it's assumed, at least by Saga, are meant to refuse the ransom, thereby proving the killer's political point. At first, she sticks to this presumed script and pretty much insists that everyone refuse. But as soon as she discovers, in a scene that reminds me of Katrine meeting her dead lover's wife in Borgen, that a woman who can only be her late husband's lover has gone to see his coffin. Worse, her daughter-in-law knew all about the affair. This is not the sort of thing the murderer, with his psychological profile, could possibly account for, but Charlotte determines to pay the whole ransom herself out of pure spite for her husband and his daughter. The most selfish character in the programme performs the most outwardly selfless act, and her grand emotional gesture is thrown into the mix.

Of course, the immediate consequences are limited. The killer stops bleeding Bjorn, but he dies anyway. But an unpredictable gesture has been thrown into the killer's plan. No doubt there will be ripples.

Martin gets more and more likeable. The scene between him and Mette, his wife, where she reveals to him that she's pregnant just days after his vasectomy, is so very sweet. The dialogue is all about how the could possibly make room for another child and whether to keep it, but we know they will. The dialogue is counterbalanced by their laughter, and affection for each other, and mutual happiness. But all is not completely well in the house: who is this "Frida" whom August is chatting to?

The Bridge: Episode Three

"I had sex as well."

"How did you find time for that?"

"It doesn't take long."

"What's his name?"

"I can't remember."

Well, I've certainly crossed Saga off my list of "fictional characters I might conceivably consider sleeping with". It's a funny exchange, though, and while it's the best in the episode it's one of many amusing little "odd couple" between her and Martin. She has no sense of embarrassment whatsoever (and that, if nothing else, makes me jealous) and has no ability to infer what other people want or are implying. Hints mean nothing to her.

There's a big question here, of course: is there something a bit uncomfortable about using the traits of Asperger's for comic purposes? I wouldn't use a stronger word than "uncomfortable", but I do wonder. But it isn't as though I don't find Saga funny. And it's rather touching how her boss, Hans, is quite fond of her. That scene between the two of them is rather sweet, even if it does hammer home rather unsubtly (not that hammering tends to be subtle, but you know what I mean…) that she and the murderer probably have similar personalities. And I bet she will end up withdrawing her report on Martin eventually, probably for a completely random reason.

The police in Copenhagen are rather less of a happy family, and Martin's boss is rather more beleaguered, especially with the whole Monique Brannan debacle. Still, it's interesting how both sets of detectives wear very casual clothes and are always calling each other by their first names. Hans even has rather longish hair although, yes, I know- pot, kettle. You wouldn't see any of those things in a British cop show.

As far as the plot is concerned, this episode is mainly about introducing new plot threads, as the poisoning of the homeless people is not really the focus of the episode, except to establish Sonja as having survived, and to push Stefan back firmly into "red herring" territory. He ends up looking so very guilty to Martin and Sonja; it's a surprise they don't arrest him there and then.

No, the homelessness angle is really about the reality show- style kidnapping of Bjorn, and the way four rich people have to donate £20 million krone or krona within a few hours if he's not to die. One of those people, interestingly, was to be Goran, except he's dead. Things haven't gone to the murderer's plan and he must improvise, which is one of his weaknesses according to the Malmo psychologist (who dresses much like I do, yay!), and make do with Charlotte, who has inherited her husband's money and thus joined up with the main plot. Of course, after the events of episode one she will only speak to Martin, not Saga. This, of course, teaches us one of the rules by which this series operates; events in one episode can have unforeseen consequences a couple of episodes later. Interesting, then, that Martin's son August admires the political agenda of the "truth terrorist" and is speaking to a mysterious online someone.

Definitely unforeseen is the whole angle with Anja. She's a very middle class rebel, but her only communication with her mother is through sudden, awkward violence and her dad is too busy throwing dinner parties in his massive house. So she plays at being homeless and shacks up with a creepy male stranger. I have no idea where this is going, but she's clearly going to play a big part.

This episode feels very much like set-up for the most part. Exactly what's being set up is a mystery to me at this point.

The Bridge: Episode Two

"Do you want to have sex at my place?"

"Yes, definitely!"

"Good, let's go."

Two episodes in, and I can already tell apart the words for "no" in both Danish and Swedish. Saga certainly says it a lot. It's also becoming clear that this is really good telly. Really, really good telly. Spiral and The Wire good telly. The plot's rather slow burn, and it's easier to spend these reviews talking about themes and characters, but it's unfolding very nicely indeed.

This time the mysterious Stefan has another woman to "save", the strange and homeless Sonja. He also has an office full of underlings who are helping him with Veronika. He also has a scene naked where we see his penis, which seems rather fair, given how much we see of Sonja's boobs. There's a twist, though… Sonja is his sister. And there's another twist at the end, as six homeless people turn up poisoned, apparently by the murderer. Sonja seems ill, too, and Stefan speaks of a mysterious someone who wishes her harm. What does this do to his status as red herring, then?

As I mentioned last episode, I still have no idea whether Stefan and Sonja are Danish or Swedish, and this clearly isn't meant to be unclear- perhaps the subtitles could have pointed it out? The same is true of the murderer's recording, although at least we learn that it was recorded, on behalf of a mysterious client, by an actor speaking "standard Swedish".

The murder seems to have a political agenda, and the first of his five "issues" is the inequality of access to justice. Certainly Monique, the Danish prostitute, has not had the access to justice that Swedish politician Kerstin Ekwall has, er, enjoyed. Martin is appalled and upset to discover that the investigation of the previous year did not even stretch as far as to look at the missing girl's diary, and he's visibly upset by reading it. He's very much a "people person", if you'll excuse the awful phrase, and his empathy and instinct are clearly intended as a neat contrast with Saga. His instinct to go with a hunch and assume that Ferbé has drugs in his flat is such a massive contrast with anything she would do.

The funniest scene is, of course, our look at Saga's very direct pulling technique, the way she post-coitally just turns away from the man she's just shagged without a word and is cluelessly rude to him in the morning. The last thing she says to him is "Thanks!" There are some interesting contrasts here, most obviously with Martin's family life, current sexual inability and habit of confiding with his wife, but also between Saga using a stranger for sex while Martin feels deep empathy with prostitutes. Interesting, too, that each of them is displaying traits more often associated with the opposite gender, whether in relationships or personal traits.

The theme of whether or not to have children, so important last episode, is brought into sharp focus as Charlotte tries to convince the father of a boy on life support to let her husband have the brain-dead son's heart. There are all sorts of ethical agonies inherent in this, but Charlotte is "not interested in hypotheticals". And yet her husband survives only to dump her, and then die. Her selfishness has brought her only pain. Still, it's not yet clear what her role is other than to echo themes.

More of this on Monday: it's back to Buffy next…

The Bridge: Episode One

"Does he know… she's a bit odd?"

"If not, he'll soon find out."

Here we are then. Another Scandinavian TV drama and, on the evidence of this episode, a bloody good one. From the first shot of some driving gloves to the final revelation which leaves us wanting more it had me gripped. There is, I think, a slight comprehension problem for those of us from third countries in that we don't immediately know who's meant to be Swedish and who's meant to be Danish until we're told by the dialogue. I still don't know whether Stefan and Veronika are Danish or Swedish. It doesn't matter at this stage, though.

But let's start by talking about Saga Norén, shall we? Martin Rohde is the co-star, of course, and I suspect he'll turn out to be equally interesting, but Saga makes quite the first impression, to put it mildly. As so many previews have said, she seems to have Asperger's, but this isn't "diagnosed" by the script, and I'm not surprised. Whatever the merits of labelling people in this way, it isn't intrinsically very writer-friendly. Characterisation becomes a little more reductive and less interesting. Nevertheless, that's obviously how we're supposed to see her, initially with a fair bit of dry humour. She's deliciously yet innocently rude to everyone, and has loads of priceless scenes. She refuses to let an ambulance over the bridge, even though it's transporting a heart for transplant. She doesn't exactly show herself as a "people person" when rather brutally informing Kerstin Ekwall's husband of her death. She's calmly matter-of-fact, hilarious, and bizarrely wise in my favourite scene, as she calmly explains to Daniel Ferbé about how he's going to die. But the most revealing scene is where it has to be explained to her that, as she has to spend probably a long time working with Martin, it probably wouldn't be particularly clever to report him for letting the ambulance through!

She's a tall, blonde ice maiden, a very Swedish stereotype. She's cold, lacking in empathy, and a stickler for rules to the point of absurdity. Does this make her a Danish stereotype of a Swede? If so, does this make Martin the Swedish stereotype of a typical Dane? He smokes, which in TV these days is always symbolic: this clearly shows us that he's much looser and more relaxed. He's fathered five children with three different women. His basic social skills are present and correct. Interestingly, he's just had a vasectomy, which means he's symbolically emasculated. I'm not sure what to make of this.

It'll be fascinating to watch this interplay of the two countries, and their mutual stereotypes, over the course of the series. But it's interesting that these two languages are more-or-less mutually intelligible, albeit with a bit of enunciating and hand-waving. As they say, a language is a dialect with an army.

But there are other themes, too; the theme of how rigidly we should stick to rules is seen also in the determination of Charlotte, a wealthy and powerful woman, to bend the rules and secure a heart transplant for her dying husband, an event which ultimately fails because of factors she cannot influence. Also interesting and, at this point, puzzling, are Veronika and her Good Samaritan, Stefan, who seeks to save her from her abusive drug addict husband for reasons which are not yet clear. I suspect, given the contents of the CD in Daniel Ferbe's car, that we're supposed to think he's the murderer. But then it's probably too soon to think of him as the red herring.

Another theme is whether or not to have children. An earlier scene in which Martin and Saga discuss this is echoed by a conversation between Daniel Ferbé, an offensively good-looking hipster and twat, and an older colleague of his. Ferbé, of course, gets his comeuppance.

Oh, and the murder itself, intensely theatrical, is interesting too. There'll be more on that, I'm sure, and many, many more…