If you enjoyed The Killing (either the American or Danish version), then maybe you want to try Borgen ("Government") from the same creators. I just watched the pilot online and thoroughly enjoyed the first episode about three dueling Danish political parties sparring over immigration and how to restore Denmark to its rightful place among nations (sound familiar?). The series first ran on Danish TV last year and season two started broadcasting there in September of this year. LinkTV fortunately make online viewing very easy, with the series running Saturday nights on that channel starting at 9:30 pm EST. However, you only have about two weeks after each showing to catch it online. The pilot was broadcast October 29 on Link TV.
Here is a quick summary of the series from Link TV:
Like its American cousin The West Wing, Borgen uncovers a world of political gamesmanship, the intricate public and private lives of politicians, media spinners, and the reporters who traffic in their triumphs and failures. The setting is Borgen, the nickname for Denmark's parliamentary building, ("The Castle" in English). Our hero is the smart and sexy populist Birgitte Nyborg. After scoring her party a landslide victory through her idealism and work ethic, she now faces the biggest dilemma of her life: Will she succumb to pressure to compromise her ideals and maintain her political position?
The acting throughout the pilot is superb and the pace is pounding as the underlying motives and foibles of the characters is revealed very early. It is also educational to see the political squalls in another country. Of course, the recent battles over debt restructuring in Greece and Italy are in the newspapers daily, so we know that Europe has its problems. Yet this intimate look is pretty amazing.
I just read that NBC is planning to remake Borgen as an American series. I think it is perfect just the way it is, and coalition politics in Europe is quite different from our system. That said, NBC is putting the same team that gave us Friday Night Lights onto this project, which is very hopeful given the quality of their previous work.
Given the quality of this latest production, I may go back to the original The Killing (Forbrydelsen) for another take on Danish society. I think something is lost in translation when we remake another country's story. Unfortunately, it is hard to get the original Danish version. Netflix and iTunes show nothing on the series and Amazon is selling it for $100 but it will not run on U.S. DVD players. Hopefully, the popularity of the series will encourage greater curiosity about its origin and bring the Danish version of the series to American TV sets.
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