Kari Sorjonen (Ville Virtanen), his wife Pauliina (Matleena Kuusniemi) and daughter Janina (Olivia Ainali) move from Helsinki to a small town near the border with Russia. Kari is slightly strange and while his erratic behaviour puts some people off – like Johanna Metso (Niina Nurminen) of the Serious Crimes Unit in Lappeenranta – he gets results with his insight like a savant.
In other crime dramas, like ‘Death in Paradise’, the detective has sudden eclaircissements near the end of each episode, during which he finds the answer to the puzzle all in a rush, like a lightning bolt falling from the sky and illuminating the mystery. In that show, the detective rounds up all the suspects, as in a traditional Agatha Christie, and unveils his knowledge before the assembled cast so that you can see their reactions – it’s the nub of the story, we want to understand not just who but also why. In ‘Bordertown’ these little moments of revelation happen throughout each episode, on the scene of the crime, in the office, or in the forensic lab in front of the slowly decomposing cadaver of the latest victim.
I’d already saved ‘Bordertown’ in the Netflix app when, a couple of weeks ago, Mikey from Lincolnshire brought the show to my attention again in a tweet. When I responded to say I’d already bookmarked it he added, “but don't watch the new full movie on Netflix to end season 3 of Bordertown, before you've watched all of them... top tip.” In fact I’d responded to his tweet about ‘Karppi’, another Scandi noir about which he said, “Really hope there's more seasons. One of the best things on #Netflix.” I bookmarked that show as well.
Season 1 of ‘Bordertown’ is made up of several multi-ep stories but some characters bleed over in several of ‘em, for example Lena Jaakola (Anu Sinisalo), a Russian secret service agent whose daughter Katia (Lenita Susi) gets caught up in a pedophile ring with links to Mikael Ahola (Mikko Leppilampi), who works for the city administration where Pauliina’s trying to get a job.
It’s a small town.
The fact of its being close to the border with Russia is central to the plots of each of the stories, for example ‘Dragonflies’, where party drugs are brought across the line of demarcation for sale in Finland. The method of importation is in dogs’ bodies, a feature that is suitably grisly (these sorts of crims dramas are characterised often on Netflix as “gritty”) but we do know – at least we should, by now – that people love a bit of blood to go with their Doordash delivery.
Episodes 8 and 9, which made up the second-last intrigue Kari and his team had to solve, ended up being a bit tight and I didn’t quite work out the reason behind these murders, but the stunning complexity made up for a bit of inconvenience.
This show is heavy on visuals and I recommend it if you like police procedurals. Virtanen is talented and speaks English, so it’s possible we’ll find him acting in a show made in the US. Here’s wishing!
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