Produced by Yellow Bird UK, Young Wallander is a sort-of prequel series to other adaptions of Swedish novelist Henning Mankell’s books about inspector Kurt Wallander, back when he was a fresh-faced police officer. Regardless of that, this six episode series is set-in present-day Sweden, but filmed in Lithuania and with everyone speaking English in various accents, to better market the show on Netflix. You don’t have to be familiar with the source material or character in order to enjoy this offering, which could draw comparisons to 2018’s successful Bodyguard, though not as gripping.
Wallander, played admirably by Adam Pålsson (Avenue 5), is bored with the mundane nature of his job spent responding to noise complaints and such, but soon becomes enveloped in a case which continues to broaden its scope the deeper he digs. Living in anonymity as an officer in a low-income housing development largely run by gang leader Bash (Charles Mnene, Misfits), that low-profile is abandoned once a seemingly socioeconomic charged murder occurs there, and he is tapped Detective Hemberg (Richard Dillane, The Last Kingdom) to assist. Deillane is superb as Hemberg, who becomes a sort of mentor, along with Frida Rask (Leanne Bet, Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens) while working the case, and seems to be laying the groundwork for Wallander’s formative years.
The series manages to dabble in large themes that are prevalent today such as; racial tensions, protests, immigration, and wealth disparity, but can never really afford the time to explore them at the cost of advancing the investigation forward. Perhaps the casual underlining of these topics is designed to lay the groundwork for future series involving Wallander, whose empathy is a trademark of the character, but banking on a renewal for the show is a gamble.
Some of those virtues lie with an engaging yet sometimes wavering story arc, which is designed to be a hunt for puzzle pieces that help decipher a larger picture. The only issue there being that the payoff is sort of a letdown, and they often telegraph clues to the point where the audience seems to be ahead of Wallander himself, and that’s a dangerous line to walk. That naivety displayed could be explained by his youth, but it grows frustrating to watch him consistently put his life and the lives of those around him in dangerous situations, especially for those unaware of the type of man he’s supposed to ultimately become.
The direction of Ole Endresen and Jens Jonsson who split the series episodes, combined with the camera work of cinematographer Gaute Gunnari create a sundry of interesting backdrops from the drabness of Wallander and Bash’s complex to the posh Munck family mansion and everything in-between, especially a wild deviant filled club known as The Cube. This isn’t an action-packed series, so it relies on its detective drama and fascinating cast of characters to keep your attention.
There are some deeply compelling scenes mixed in throughout that keep you on edge, and some moments where you certainly care about what happens to various people. Sometimes it’s because Wallander has screwed something up, and you don’t want the weight of that to fall on him. Other times, he’s making a genuine effort that nobody else seems especially concerned to. He develops a litany of complicated relationships including working with Bash, and then becoming romantically involved with Mona (Ellise Chappell, Yesterday). Mona works for an organization which aids refugees, supported by Gustav Munck (Alan Emrys, Johnny English Strikes Again), who becomes a person of interest in his case.
Other subplots and characters are stimulating for the moments they are given, but are mostly abandoned as quickly as they are developed.
Young Wallander is an entertaining enough detective story and easy to get through quickly, but it is banking on a chance to continue its story from the first series, which isn’t always guaranteed. Its debut was not especially riveting, and runs the risk of getting lost in the shuffle once there is a barrage of new content available. If given an opportunity to further develop central characters, it should continue to evolve into what made it popular with fans of previous installments.
