Ah...how thoroughly lovely to have Inspector Kurt 'Weepy' Wallander back on a Sunday night, played to perfection by Kenneth Branagh. In a big divergence from the source novels, Kurt has moved in with his lady friend (played by Saskia Reeves) and ten year old son and into his dream cottage by the sea (this doesn't happen in the novels until the very last one). Half of the supporting cast seems to have gone too (with Tom Hiddleston now Loki in The Avengers, cast in Thor because he worked with Ken on Wallander!) although Ann-Britt is still around. Is Kurt happy? In one scene he says to Ann-Britt that "basically, I'm a cheerful person" to which Ann-Britt rightly laughs her arse off.
Of course this being Wallander happiness can't last and its not too long before Lucy the labrador has dug up a human body in Kurt's garden. As well as this, Kurt is investigating the death of a young Polish girl who has fallen or been pushed off of a ferry. It's a typically twisty turny tale, a tad more gruesome than usual with a graphic murder scene in a car and poor Ann-Britt getting one to the head from a sledgehammer and ending up in a coma. As she was helping out Kurt cue lots of guilt, angst and silent tears which Branagh does so well. Somehow the two plots manage to dovetail together without feeling like a cheat and Skane looks as desolate, depressing and strangely beautiful as usual, captured in some nicely thought out shots by director Toby Haines. All in all, the next two Sundays are already eagerly anticipated!
GK Rating: ****
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