If you get a chance, I rec "Arne Dahl" based on the Pseud of the author of the books on which the series is based. Swedish with subtitles. Part of what I like is that I find the ensemble of characters interesting. The name of the group translates as "A Group", but I prefer to think of it as the "A team". Led by a tough-as-nails woman in her fifties who is involved in a long distance romance with a Black American FBI agent. The field team includes a former Mr. Sweden and body builder who contributes physical strength, a short dark haired woman who does OK at hand-to-hand in spite of her height, but is a championship shooter, a computer wiz born of Chilean refugees and a good cop in the modern high tech sense, an ex-crooked lawyer now an honest cop expert at lateral thinking and making intuitive leaps, a cop with a troubled marriage who is a good cop in a more old fashioned way - kind of the generalist on the team, and also really good at making judgement calls when in a hurry. Then there is Viggo, who as far as I can tell is a warm body. Although I've described them by contribution to the team, they are written and acted as three dimensional characters. Not as nearly as cliched as I make them sound. The soap opera aspect is done well. It is not exactly Castle level froth, but not as dark as many Swedish crime dramas. Some of the dark stuff is also worthy of a Castle episode, but much more straight-faced, for instance an evil CIA conspiracy. In terms of the balance between absurdity and darkness I'd put it between Castle and Broadchurch, closer to Broadchurch than Castle, but not by much. In case it is a trigger for anyone, most of ensemble end up in a hospital near death in one episode or another, barely surviving gruesome injuries by bad guys.

I discovered the above, because my Mom, while recovering from the concussion has lots of time to watch TV. She discovered MHZ Public Interntional TV [link] . It mixes news from non-English speaking nations (some in English, some with English Subtitles) and international mysteries (all in languages other than English with subtitles.) She likes Montalbano a lot and Arne Dahl. She finds the main character in Dolman dull - a police officer should not be a ingenue gothic heroine - and does not really care who is behind the conspiracy. She also thinks Antigone 34 is pedestrian - a grittier French Officer Friday with tits. She thinks the Maigret series is pretty true in spirit to the Simenon novels. She thinks "Blood on the Docks" is Ok when you have a concussion, but does not recommend it to anyone with a fully functioning brain. Even with a concussion, says "The Half Brother" makes her want to throw stuff at the television.

I'm just starting the finale of Broadchurch. I'm already a sobbing mess again starting with Nige being given the article on his biological mother (that was fucking mean of Alec).

I love that as we discover people's secrets, you get them. You get why they did what they did, you get why they were silent or squirrely about information. There's no mustache-twirling or contrived machinations (that I've spotted). Just a lot of "now that I know the facts, I can see why you did what you did".

Halfway through. Need some air (if watching live, were commercial breaks adequate for reaquainting oneself with composure?).

I'll admit that I got to suspecting the son, and thought it couldn't be more awful than that. Or maybe that would have been more awful, but as a kid there might have been an element of naivete that would have eased some of the evilness...

She likes Montalbano a lot

Montalbano rocks. And the Swedish one set in the 17th century is good, too. Though it's Swedish, and therefore grim. Their taste in crime drama is intriguing.

MHZ is where we get most of our news.

The whole sequence with the old man was the worst part for me

I was watching and thinking "This man's life has been destroyed. And he's an old man, too old to leave and start over. His life is destroyed in this town, what can he do now?" And then the follow-up to that question, god.

To think that I only suspected the true killer once, and it was due to a bit of 24-esque "Is he acting shifty or are the directors of the episode telling the actor to be weird for the sake of red herrings", I'll have to rewatch that scene, it was so on the nose.

I figured the interview with the kid was a tangential way of flushing out the dad, so that's when I decided on him.

Anyone else out there watching Bones tonight? They've assured Sweets at least 20 times that no one blames him for what happened with him and Pelant, and I have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. That's what happens when you only watch every 4th or 5th episode, I guess.

Bones - still the worst show airing at 8 pm (or 9 pm DVR watch) to have dinner while watching. Yuck.

The Castle people need to get the people from Chuck to do their dramatic two-parters.