New jumpers!

Anyone who didn’t have numb bum on Saturday night needs to get onto iPlayer ASAP. After two hours of edge-of-the-seat Danish drama it was time to dash to the bathroom, make tea, check Facebook and all the other things I couldn’t drag myself away from The Killing III and Sarah Lund to take care of over the two hours I was transported.

To say this subtitled thriller is gripping is like calling Buckingham Palace ‘spacious’. I actually forgot I needed to go to the loo, such was the engrossing nature of this third series, and Sarah Lund doesn’t even start the series with her back fully into the job at hand. She’s done her 25 years and she wants her quiet life. Danny Glover’s got nothing on how much she must feel she’s too old for this s*** (see Lethal Weapon if you really haven’t a clue to what I’m referring. In fact, it might be a good idea to see it anyway as it’s been a while).

The Killing III reminds me exactly how good The Killing and the Killing II were with its writing, character craft and plot intricacies. It’s not so much that I’d forgotten, alright – maybe I hadn’t had it at the forefront of my mind – but more that “The Killing is excellent” had become such a media mantra that is had sort of lost any kind of meaning. Yes, it spawned the wholesale purchase of a number of other Danish political and crime series for BBC4, and an interest in subtitled shows and films amongst those who would have previously given them a reasonably wide berth. But I hadn’t seen it for a while.

Anyway, Sarah Lund is back, on form and with a brand new woolly jumper. Her mother is still fussing over her; her son is frankly fed up with the absent parent Sarah found herself to be, and Sarah’s love life appears to be non existant. Although there is a chap from Special Branch she’s working with who suggests hints of liaisons when they were both at Police Academy together, but he has a ‘Darling’ on the other end of the phone so that might be a bit of a non-starter.

Professionally speaking, it’s great to see Lund concentrating on a clue and then charging off without telling a soul what’s going through her mind again. There is no ‘Lund’ in ‘team’ still, it would seem.

There is a kidnapped girl, an economically powerful family, a tempestuous coalition government in the wings, and a grudge. All are intriguing but the grudge really grabs as it’s the vaguest. It would seem that the parents of the kidnapped child owe a ‘debt’ of some kind yet to be fully realised.

Like the first couple of chapters of a really good book, these opening episodes grab from the outset and hint at the larger marvel and narrative journey embarked upon. Regardless of the hype (and odd name), The Killing III is a splendid crime thriller, with such believable characters they suspend disbelief at the incredible plot twists. Prepare for Numb Bum II this Saturday when the next instalment has us gripped.

The Killing, episodes 3 and 4, BBC4, Saturday 17 November 2012; episodes 1 and 2 on iPlayer.