Having really enjoyed the first series when it aired last year I looked forward to seeing the second series although I was a little nervous that it would suffer from the loss of two main characters after the tragic suicide of actress Johanna Sällström who played Linda Wallander and the death of the character Stefan Lindman in the final episode of the previous series. Thankfully this episode was good and saw the introduction of two new characters; Isabell and Pontus. When the local electricity sub-station is sabotaged and the man responsible for an exhibition of pictures depicting Mohammed is killed suspicion falls on local Muslims. The next day these attacks are followed up by a series of car bombs this leads to the army being called in to protect key positions around the town, one of the soldiers comments to Wallander that it is unlikely that these attacks would have happened had the local barracks not been closed a few years before. When there is a second murder it confuses matters, her links to the exhibition were tenuous; as a worker at the Job Centre she had sent a couple of workers to help there, surely that isn't a strong enough motive for murder, or is it?
While the story was a little far fetched that doesn't matter; murder mysteries often are, after an explosive opening the story was gripping throughout. Krister Henriksson does a great job as Kurt Wallander; his Wallander is more laid back than that depicted in the recent BBC Wallander stories staring Kenneth Branagh. While there is some political commentary it wasn't done in a heavy handed or lecturing way.
While the story was a little far fetched that doesn't matter; murder mysteries often are, after an explosive opening the story was gripping throughout. Krister Henriksson does a great job as Kurt Wallander; his Wallander is more laid back than that depicted in the recent BBC Wallander stories staring Kenneth Branagh. While there is some political commentary it wasn't done in a heavy handed or lecturing way.
