Eyewitness

This show was a pleasant and refreshing surprise for me, a fervent aficionado of Scandinavian crime fiction who has a particular soft spot for Norwegian television productions. Norway has delivered some excellent crime television series like Acquitted, Wisting, and Mammon and I've greatly enjoyed each and every one of them in recent years. Nevertheless, Eyewitness has escaped my radar for a long time as it was shot in 2014 and I've only discovered it lately as I was browsing relevant webpages in search of a quick fix of Nordic noir. I've binge-watched the six-part show in one sitting and I couldn't stop myself from watching one episode after another to discover what the brilliant writers have in store for the viewer. It is one of the most well-written, tightly-woven television scripts that I've ever encountered in the genre while the high production values and magnificent performances by the cast make Eyewitness on of the best Nordic television exports during the last decade. Every scene of the show constitutes an equally essential piece to the overall puzzle of the plot and there is not even one superfluous take or redundant dialogue in this six-hour Norwegian gem. The setting of the show is the little town of Mysen, the hometown of the popular Norwegian jazz saxophonist, Jan Garbarek, that provides a quiet, idyllic background for the story to unfold.

The story begins with two teenage boys, Henning (Odin Waage) and Philip (Axel Bisøyum) secretly meeting in the woods in order to make out, but they are interrupted by what seems to be a gang-related shootout: a man, who is tied and put in the trunk of a car driven by a bunch of heavy-set bikers, manages to escape and kill his captors. When he realizes that the two youngsters are eyewitnesses to the massacre he enters the wooden hut where they are hiding in order to silence them forever. Nevertheless, Henning surprises the unknown intruder and hits him hard in the head with a frying pan as he is about to kill Philip. Thus, Philip sees the face of the killer,and his visage is burned into his retinas. The two teenagers flee the scene of the crime and they return to their everyday lives after they swear to one another that they won't ever tell what happened in the forest to anybody.

Helen (Anneke von der Lippe) is Philip's stepmother and also the chief of the police squad in Mysen. When the bodies of the bikers are found in the forest, Helen is drawn into a complex investigation that involves criminal motorcycle clubs, the Balkan mafia, undercover cops,and pedophiles who escape justice. Soon a dead teenage girl is added to the equation, daughter of a foreign mafia boss who wants to take revenge for his loss. Philip tries to follow the investigation, knowing that he can't help Helen in any way due to his oath. Moreover, Henning seems to be very reluctant to admit his homosexuality to the small community of Mysen, thus making things more difficult.

I choose not to reveal anything more for the story as I wouldn't wish to spoil a magnificent viewing experience that will keep the viewer on the edge of his seat for six hours. Eyewitness casts some of the most popular Norwegian thespians such as Tobias Santelmann (Marcella, Borderliner, Acquitted), Fridtjov Såheim (Acquitted, The Wave, Lilyhammer), and Yngvild Støen Grotmol (Izzat, Ride Upon The Storm). The show explores many themes like homosexuality, broken families, and their impact on the children, drug use and abuse, sociopathy,and others. It is the best choice for every Nordic noir devotee and everyone who enjoys crime TV series that feature a compelling plotline and strong characters.

You can find this series on Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...