Borgen: Season 4

Sooo. the fourth season. On the one hand, I think it's better made - written, acted - than the third which suffers from Alex the over the top villain and very blunt media satire, and promoting Torben to third main character after Birgitte and Katrine, then giving him a storyline not justifying that promotion. Whereas season 4 doesn't do that. The premise and the ensuing dilemmas are well chosen and truly interesting - there's a massive oil find in Greenland, which on the one hand would give Greenland a lot more status and a shot at true independence, but on the other is a potential environmental disater from Denmark, and soon, Russian, Chinese and Americans are circling - and the big theme - how far do you for for power, and when does power become its own goal, rather than the instrument with which to achieve the goals you originally set yourself? - is consistently executed. Also every character given screen time is well used. (Including Torben's, who is back to supporting character and, who made me like him in a way I never had before as Katrine's fatherly confidant.) The new characters - Asger, Birgitte's Artic expert and later Arctic minister, Rasmus and Oliver, the civil servants working with her, the new (female) PM Birgitte has a push/pull dynamic with, Hans the Greenland minister who is the Greenland politician most seen this season and his children, Emmi, a Greenland civil servant - are all interesting, and I came to care about them. As for the previous regulars still around, their relationships with each other go through various interesting twists and turns. (More in the spoilery section.) Above all, it's a great performance by our main actress as Birgitte.

So why I'm not cheering the new season and feeling ambivalent? Because in a way, it's Borgen: Breaking Bad. Not quite, but almost. And that can be hard to watch. Not in a "badly made" and definitely not in a "out of character" way, but in a "I'm currently getting pummelled by RL and want a story that's not the darkest timeline we're in" way.

( On to spoilery details )

Like I said: it's all well done. But not exactly this viewer emotionally needs at this point in her life.