Reviewing the Thrills of Deadwind Season One
Ever since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo took over the crime and mystery scene, audiences have been hungry for more Nordic noir. Deadwind is a slow burn with masterful character work, but in order to watch it you might need a VPN.
Can You Watch Deadwind on Netflix?
Before we get into our review, it’s worth taking a moment to make sure you can even watch Deadwind. After all, what good is a review for a TV show you can’t watch?
In order to watch Deadwind, you might need a VPN to unblock Netflix and access the show in your country. Deadwind is currently available on Netflix for residents of Mexico, USA, Bangladesh, and several other countries. If your nation isn’t on the list, then you are going to need a VPN to access Deadwind on Netflix.
A VPN allows you to trick Netflix into thinking you are in a country of your choice. This is the best way to access all of the blocked content on the streaming platform. It’s not just Deadwind, but dozens of other movies and TV shows that Netflix has region locked.
Now that you can access any show or movie you want with a VPN, let’s talk Deadwind.
Does Finnish Noir Hold Up?
This is not your typical American, or even British, police procedural. Deadwind is a Finnish production from the mind of writer, director, and creator Rike Jokela. Jokela’s show has taken some strong inspiration from classic noir and made a bold move to break away from popular crime dramas like CSI: Miami.
Many of today’s popular crime dramas are all about procedure. Investigators argue over red tape and fawn over the latest gadgets that help them solve their cases. This is not the case for Deadwind—and it’s the reason why the show is so good.
Deadwind drops all the deadweight that bogs down the CSI police procedural shows and trades that for outstanding character work. In a way, this show calls back to the classic detective shows from the early days of TV.
Those shows were less about the daily grind of being an investigator, and more about the lives of the characters. Deadwind is all about Sofia Karppi, played by Pihla Viitala, who must balance her turbulent personal life with a slowly unravelling murder mystery that has farreaching implications.
It’s no wonder The Verge wrote an entire article on why “Nordic Noir” is taking over crime dramas.
It’s All About Character and Plot
Deadwind is a masterclass in pacing a TV show. Within the first half of the first episode, we know our principal character inside and out. The show puts the viewer very close to the personal life of Sofia Karppi. It wants you to feel like you are a close friend of hers and feel the tension she experiences as she attempts to balance her highly demanding, and often dangerous, life. It’s this kind of character work that is setting the show apart from a crowded field of crime dramas.
Audiences have grown used to bland police procedurals where each episode goes by with little emotional weight put on the lives of the characters. Sure, they might get into some difficult situations, but it’s rare to find true character work among these cookiecutter shows. Deadwind throws that all out the window and really invests time in getting you to know its characters and wanting to find out where they go next.
The show really starts to take off when rookie detective Sakari Nurmi, played by Lauri Tilkanen, starts to build a bond with Sofia Karppi. The tension and interplay of our two detectives helps carry the show through what would otherwise be a fairly familiar plot.
That is one of the show’s few shortfalls. No spoilers, but the basics of the plot revolves around our two detectives piecing together a highly suspicious homicide with a backdrop of personal drama and corporate corruption. This is a formula that should be very familiar, especially with American audiences. Thankfully, there’s nothing wrong with using some well-established plot devices if what you’re going for is stellar character work.
Deadwind has been wooing critics all over the world since its release on Netflix, but where is the show heading from here?
What’s Next for Deadwind
Deadwind is a popular series that has received some strong critical praise since it first made its way to Netflix. Rotten Tomatoes currently has the show resting with a very comfortable audience score of %79. The show has received positive ratings across the board and is fairly popular on the Finnish TV station Yle TV2 where it was first broadcast. When you’re in the movie reviewing business, looking at these healthy ratings is one of the best ways to gauge the future of a show.
With solid ratings like these, it’s no wonder that Deadwind was picked up for season 2. The second season is set to be released in April 2020 and we can’t wait to see where this show goes!
