In the last week I watched the first season of this Danish series on dvd; a few months back when Political Animals was broadcast more than one person told me the show to watch about a female top politician was Borgen, and I've also heard West Wing comparisons, so I was more and more curious.
Borgen in its first season shows the rise to power and first year in office of Birgitte (no typo) Nyborg; the other main characters are her spin doctor Kasper Juul, and tv journalist Katrine Fonsmark. Additionally, there is an ensemble of supporting characters (mostly various other politicians and media folk plus Birgitte's familiy), and while each episode revolves around a problem of the week, there are long term story arcs, and we see the fallout from actions in the pilot through the season. At first I thought Birgitte was a bit too idealistic to be believable as the party leader she already is when the season starts, but as it continues, the mixture of idealism and pragmatism, core convictions and power play becomes more rounded. One of the key structural differences to the two shows I've seen it compared to (see above) is the way the media world is handled, and Katrine's storyline in particular. The West Wing has Danny - who is only recurring and not in all the seasons - but generally speaking, all of the regulars are, well, working in the West Wing (or in the last two seasons for presidential compaigns). That's the show's pov, and while there is the occasional episode where, say, Danny's interests as a journalist and C.J.'s as a member of the White House staff collide, there is no question as to whose pov is privileged and whom we're supposed to root for. As for Political Animals, Susan starts out in a critical position towards Elaine but one that's based on admiration and only becomes more admiring throughout; she literally gets into bed with a member of the Barrish-Hammond family; by the time the miniserises ends, we're supposed to see as proof of Susan's integrity as a journalist that she doesn't run a story which her supposedly less professional rival and co worker wants to go with.
Meanwhile, Birgitte Nyburg is the heroine of the show, no question. But Katrine doesn't have a poster of All the President's Men in her flat for nothing. She and the tv programm she works for repeatedly clash with the goverment's interests, and she doesn't hero worship the prime minister. There is an episode where the President of a We're-not-calling-it-Belarus-but-that's-obviously-whom-we-mean former Soviet Republic is visiting Denmark at the same time a prominent regiime critic and exile is, and wants said critic arrested as a terrorist, where we're overwhelmingly in Katrine's pov, and not running a story is never presented as a good thing. Not that the dark side of the media is ignored, either. The only genuinenly boo-hiss character of the show is Michael Laugeson, who starts the show as leader of the Labour Party but loses his seat due to events in the pilot and the next episode and afterwards pretty much becomes the Danish Rupert Murdoch, using the Danish equivalent of the Daily Fail or Fox News to go after Birgitte & Co. (Incidentally, said rag sheet isn't solely presented as the spawn of evil, either, though he is; there is a journalist, Henne, who ends up working there for lack of alternatives but retains her investigative edge and focuses on issues rather than on private lives, too.)
Which reminds me: something that was fascinating to me is seeing a show revolving around politics which actually features a political system resembling the one in my own country, which obviously can't be the case with any American show, or for that matter a British one because the current British goverment is the first one in many decades to be a coalition goverment. Whereas a coalition goverment is the status quo for Germany, no matter which of the larger parties leads it. There hasn't been a single party in power since WWII. In Borgen, too, the prime minister is leading a coalition goverment, which means having to negotiate and deal with parties neither your own nor the opposition. And of course several of the issues are specifically continental-European as well; the episode where Katrina gets wind of a story that various CIA prisoners are brought through Greenland air bases relies on the paroxical " we don't approve of the way the Americans treat their prisoners yet actively abet in this way" situation we have here as well.
As far as personal relationships are concerned, the show is a good mixture between the surprising and the expected yet inevitable. An example of the later being the way Birgitte's marriage goes. (Not that being a female PM automatically means doom for your marriage - see Angela Merkel or, well, Margaret Thatcher), but with that much emphasis on marital happiness in the pilot and her husband's certainty he can handle essentially the traditional female role (i.e. main caretaker for the children plus a minor job instead of the best job he could get ), the dramatic writing was on the wall from the get go. More interesting because less predictable to watch were Birgitte and her various cabinet members, both female and male, and her spin doctor. (Another show would have either gone for mother figure and son there, despite them not having the necessary age gap, or UST; this one doesn't. ) Speaking of Kasper, his relationship with Katrina offers the counter point, though not always, to the one between Birgitte and her husband, which starts well and goes downhill. Kasper and Katrina used to have an affair but broke it off two years pre pilot for reasons that become clear in the course of the seasons. They currently exist in a difficult to define mixture of lingering issues with each other, friendship, hostility, attempts to use each other professionally while avoid being used, and then again being there for each other during at personal low points. Again, another show would have played "will they get back together again?" as a big question of the first season, but not this one. (Though it's clear Kasper is still in love with her. Katrine, however, hasn't forgotten why they broke it off to begin with and also has other love interests.)
At one point in the last third of the season, Kasper - who as the spin director is inevitably the most morally ambigous of the three main characters - gets a flash back episode of the type that Walkabout and Deas Ex Machina were for first season John Locke in Lost, i.e. flashbacks that give the audience, but not the other characters, key information about a the character at the heart of the flashbacks which suddenly reframe his behaviour in a new context. (Come to think of it, it's possibly the only thing Damon Lindelof avoided inflicting on his characters. Which, given Lost and the type of backstories everyone has, is saying something.) However, this information isn't presented as something that gives Kasper a get ouf jail free card in the current day storylines of the show. When certain things he did in the pilot catch up with him, he has to save himself through professional competence in the here and now, not via past exploration.
I really appreciate that the show explores the question of women in positions of power and/or influence in various ways, that Birgitte isn't the only woman in charge who has to somehow stand for all women. Her female ministers have inter-department rivalries just as the male ones do (and because we see both male and female ministers behave this way, there is neither a "catfight!" or a "women are the better rulers" subtext). And female networking isn't easy. Birgitte as PM can't be as uncompromising as a former protegé of hers, now the leader of a minority party, still is, and that changes their relationship; Henne first in the pilot sees herself as Katrina's mentor but immediately jumps on to the conclusion Katrina schemed against her to get her fired (Katrina didn't) in order to get her job; later on, they reconcile, but neither forgets what happened. And of course the boys' club is as entitled in Denmark as everywhere. Laugesen is vengeful against his former male colleagues as well, but his beviour towards Birgitte has that extra Woman-Who-Bested-Me poison, and the former conservative PM, while as a person far more sympathetic than Laugeson, is condescending as hell without realising he is towards just about any female politician around.
Problems of the week: more usually than not come with an ethical dilemma for Birgitte, as well with the more practical challenge of retaining control of the situation and/or trying to make the best of it if that's not possible. Again, the narrative usually presents several perspectives and doesn't necessarily tell us Birgitte's is the best one.
Actors and locations: no one looks like a super model or frighteningly thin. There are also, gasp, several middle aged women around. Katrine, who as a tv anchor is young and pretty, has to work for her figure as part of the job. The one part where the show tells me one thing and I can't quite see it is where several characters, not just Birgitte, describe Birgitte's husband Philip as sex on legs, and as I said - not my impression. But mileage will vary, etc. Location-wise, we get a few beautiful shots of Copenhagen and Kristiansborg, and Marienborg, but mostly the scenes take place in doors.
In conclusion: I really liked the show, and will keep watching.
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