Young Wallander Season 1 (2020) Review

This show hit Netflix on Thursday and with it having only 6 episodes I thought I would give it a watch, I mean I got distracted by playing the new Avengers Game on my PS4 but here is my review for the show. The premise of the show sees a young cop come across his first investigation which changes his look on his life. 

Main Character

Adam Palsson who is about the only thing Swedish about this show, which I will go into more later plays Wallander here and he does an alright job, I know very little about the character in the books so I am just judging him on his performance here. He is a likeable enough guy in the lead and you will end up rooting for him in his investigation. But there is just nothing special about him here, honestly he is just a police officer and I just didn't find anything to truly hook myself onto him. I think it is mostly the scenes that involve his personal relationships that I didn't quite care for and it were the weaker elements of the show. 

Supporting Characters 

Now we get into the cast, which are not Swedish at all, first of all is Richard Dillane who plays Wallander's boss and I thought he was good here. He is a good boss, tough when he needs to be but willing to support his staff when necessary and I think that comes across well, he is just a cool mentor for Wallander and their dynamic investigating the crime is the highlight here. The rest of the cast didn't do much for me, their is a romance here, and I guess it is okay I just never got invested into it because it is totally rushed and feels like it was just thrown in here because every show needs a romance. The villains aren't given much time for you to care and when the motivations are revealed it isn't that interesting and it is more that we don't actually learn enough. Also Wallander has a friend that he seemingly cares about, until he forgets about him for the second half of the season. 

Story

The story is interesting as you see the cops attempt to work out a murder which takes place at the beginning of the show, the show takes twists and turns that mostly work well and will keep you watching and invested in the plot. It is just that there are some parts of the plot that didn't quite work for me and they mainly involve Wallander's personal life, I understand why they are here but they didn't do much for me and mostly get forgotten about towards the end of the season. Also the ending just straight up sucks, it totally screws over Wallander as a character and makes you wonder why you supported him throughout this show. 

Script

The script does a good job with its twists, for a show like this that is crucial, as it keeps you watching for the six episodes. But none of the dialogue really stands out at all, there is no humour and the drama just never hits the really high levels. 

Style

This show does a good job in intriguong you as these people go though investigating different people and places and I must admit I wasn't sure where it was going with it's story and that is down to how it is filmed. This show has a methodical pace, it works at times and doesn't work at others, mainly it feels like you can go a whole episode without the pace picking up at all and it does come across as more slow then methodical. Also the cast is just a bit strange, it really emphasises the different cultures in Sweden yet a pretty much all British cast slaps that notion in the face and I wish more Swedish actors could have been used. 

Overall

Overall, this is an average show that I expect will be forgotten by next week. If Netflix were aiming for a new franchise here I don't think this is it and unless you haven't got anything to watch, I would avoid this show. 

Rating - 5/10