Gunvald episode worst ever?

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I was wondering that myself - even in his last scene he's shot almost entirely from behind, and losing your closeups in the edit has long been a favourite way of getting back at someone you didn't get on with during the shoot. It certainly gives the impression he left on bad terms, but I've not seen anything that confirms it (though I suspect only the Swedish press covered the circumstances of his departure: my guess is typecasting and the character going Rambo).

That would be enough to make you wonder--a departing major cast member, and the audience barely gets a look at him! I'd read a few patchy things here and there about Persbrandt's having some drug issues, mainly, it seemed, the ubiquitous cocaine--sometimes that's a fast ticket to making oneself unpopular on a set; but I've never read enough to know much about his case, and since I don't read Swedish, I doubt I'll be much more enlightened on the topic. A damned shame, in any case--the character deserved a lot better sendoff than that.

Generally the latest season amplifies the problems of season five, which just about got away with having a semi-Bond villain in the Japanese Shunga Painting and killing off one character as a season finale (always a sign of a show that's run too long when the showrunners look for a regular to kill in a massive political conspiracy story) but showed all the signs that so many long running shows have of feeling the need to ‘go big’ to keep its viewers attention rather than concentrating on the human cost behind the murders its weary hero investigates as much as the mechanics of the crime that was the great strength of earlier stories

I enjoyed the Shunga ep in a guilty pleasure sort of way, but even as I was watching it, I knew it was way out of the ballpark of Beck's original universe, and far over-the-top (okay, seeing Gunvald getting strung up like that, Bond-fashion, was a definite draw, lol). Reminded me of the Krister Henriksson Wallander series when they began introducing 'supervillains' late into the game. It hurt the tone of the series, and the show never quite recovered. Why the need on the creative end to go from quotidian crime to the 'Goldfinger'-type stuff is hard to understand, except, as you say, it's a fear of losing audience interest in the same characters and situations. Almost never works though; the one thing that saved the Shunga story (besides Gunvald in his chauffeur's attire) was the character of Beck's German inspector friend-- a more interesting and likeable character than these sorts usually are.

But with Eye of the Storm with a bearded Gunvald finding his long lost eco-friendly love and the son he never knew he had being kidnapped by eco-terrorists who plan to blow up a nuclear power plant going rogue and racing against the clock to save them and Sweden while Beck just looks mildly embarrassed and everybody acts unprofessionally the series really hits a low where everyone seems to forget what it's about.

Ugh. I was beginning to like the path Gunvald was being taken down in the latter episodes--the reuniting with his sister and her child, the wary friendship with Beck's daughter and her young son--the character was being given a bit of emotional breathing space, while still maintaining that arm's-length emotional presence, and it had me wondering where these storylines might have led--apparently to this, with Great Loves and long-lost offspring. Jesus. I was already having qualms over the 'major cast member death'-- I tend to agree that's a move that nearly always signals that the writers are treading water--and this sort of cheap tactic sounds as if they'd pretty much given up entirely.
Whenever MHz brings the series back I'll certainly re-watch the early ones, but should they begin airing this lot I think I'll give it a pass for now. Pity.


50 Is The New Cutoff Age.

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