Anne Holt - The Killer Within Us - Season 2 - DVD

Movie: Detective Ingvar Nyman (Henrik Norlén) and former profiler Inger Johanne Vik (Melinda Kinnaman) enjoy their private happiness. They are quietly preparing for the birth of their child when a very special case demands all their attention. After US President Helen Tyler (Kim Cattrall) disappears without a trace during a state visit to Stockholm, Inger Johanne and Ingvar are tasked with working with the FBI to solve the disappearance before it can go public. But not only do they have to deal with an all-powerful enemy, for Inger Johanne the case also takes a very personal turn: she has to work with her former mentor at the FBI, Warren Schifford (Greg Wise), which opens up old wounds for her. Can she push aside this dark chapter from her past and work professionally to save the life of the US President? Time is running out.

Mode - The Murderer Within takes a relatively new path into its second season. It is immediately noticeable in a positive way that the characters have been consistently developed. Ingvar and Inger Johanne live together and look forward to a happy future as parents-to-be. But of course this is not allowed in such a crime series. Therefore, the makers bring a dark shadow of Inger Johannes to Stockholm and thereby open the series even more to the international market. With Sex and the City star Kim Catrall and her Hollywood colleague Billy Campbell (The Killing), as well as the British Greg Wise (The Crown), the second season has quite prominent additions.

The only question is, has the series gotten better as a result? That can neither be confirmed nor denied. On the one hand, this season loses a bit of the atmosphere that is commonly referred to as typically Nordic due to the obvious squinting across the pond. On the other hand, the appearance of Warren Schifford in particular makes for an interesting development in the relationship between the main characters. The story itself is not quite as gripping as the first episodes. Nevertheless, the whole thing remains exciting.

You have to give the creators credit for trying not to just pick up where the first season left off, but to develop the characters and tell a whole new story. This works really well in places, in other moments you miss the intensity of the earlier episodes. All in all, however, the quite exciting story and the good actors can make up for the small weaknesses. And therefore, in the end, there is also a: worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: As with season 1, the technical realization of the series is on a good to very good TV level. The picture is absolutely clean and the overall sharpness is perfectly satisfactory, especially in brighter outdoor scenes. Coloration is very atmospheric and even in the darker scenes there are hardly any quality point deductions. The audio, available as a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, does a good job of showcasing both the dialogue and the atmospheric soundtrack. Not really spectacular, but perfectly adequate for a crime series. Good.

Extras: On the third disc there are around 35 minutes of promo interviews with the cast. Not much, but quite informative in places.

Conclusion: Anne Holt - The Murderer Within breaks new ground in season 2. The familiar characters are consistently developed and the story even kicks it up a notch with an international conspiracy. It doesn't always work, but it's definitely exciting until the last minute. If you liked season 1, you will be well served here as well. The DVD presents the individual episodes in good picture and sound quality. As a bonus there are some interviews to see. Bottom line a clear: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp