The first episode of Netflix’s new Danish TV series “Warrior” looks to be the start of an intriguing and emotional story.
Following an undercover sting operation of a dangerous biker gang, the show tells the story of a police detective widowed by war and the former soldier she gets to go undercover. The first episode was emotional, interesting and suspenseful, and did an excellent job of setting up the rest of the series. By the end of the 47-minute episode, I was not only well acquainted with the characters and their emotional struggles, but also with the start of the story.
The series takes place in Copenhagen and the dialogue is all in Danish. As a result, I don’t feel it’s fair for me to comment on the quality of the actor’s performances. Reading what the actors say and trying to match the subtitles to their faces is decidedly different from experiencing the performances naturally. However, the actors did seem talented, and the translation was of a high enough quality not to be distracting. I can’t say with certainty that the actors delivered good performances, but they did at least seem to be acting well.
The characters themselves were quite interesting, and the show did seem very well-written. In one particularly emotional scene that highlights the series’ potential as a drama, the widowed detective’s child asks his deceased father’s commanding officer if he gave the order that got the boy’s father killed. The officer answers only “yes,” but the tears in his eyes and pained expression on his face tell an entire story of tragedy and loss.
Beyond the touching writing and intriguing story, the camerawork was exquisite. The entire episode was filmed with beautiful clarity, excepting only scenes where blurring was used intentionally for effect. Exciting angles and excellent lighting only made the episode more visually impressive.
I’ve always had trouble watching movies or TV in foreign languages. Something about disconnecting an actor’s words from their physical actions never sat right with me, and imperfect translations always leave me feeling like I’ve missed some of the connotative meaning behind pieces of dialogue. But while I was constantly aware that I was disconnected from the actors and the meaning behind their words, “Warrior” is a good enough show with a decent enough translation that the language barrier didn’t bother me as much as I was expecting it to. That’s a true testament to the strength of the show’s emotion and story.
There are six episodes of “Warrior” currently available on Netflix. So far I’ve only seen one, but it was good enough to make me break my usual English-language-only rule and give the other five episodes a try. I look forward to seeing how the tense and emotional story turns out, and I look forward to knowing what will become of the characters as they deal with the loss of a friend, a father and a husband. If the rest of the series is anything like the first episode, it should be an interesting watch.