Deadwind (Karppi), Nordic noir from Finland, puts a cop named Sofia Karppi at the center of a complex mystery series. Season 2 of this successful series is already in the works.
Fans of Nordic noir will definitely want to watch Deadwind (Karppi). It’s slow and convoluted with numerous subplots, but it’s a fine Finnish offering to the genre.
Sofia Karppi (Pihla Viitala) is a young cop who returned to Helsinki after her husband’s accidental death in Germany. She has a 17 year old step-daughter Henna (Mimosa Willamo) and a son Emil (Noa Tola), who is about 10. Sofia is a grieving widow with a rebellious teen. So, of course, she goes back to work in a demanding job as a homicide detective.
Sofia is assigned to work with Sakari Nurmi (Lauri Tilkanen), who transferred into the homicide division from a job where he was pushing numbers all day. She regards him as inexperienced and an inconvenience to her investigative style most of the time.
Their first case is to investigate the murder of a woman named Anna (Pamela Tola). In the 12 episodes it takes them to find out what happened to Anna, they stumble on many other crimes and investigate numerous characters.
Anna worked for Alex Hoikkala (Tommi Korpela) and was having an affair with him. Alex, his sister Julia (Pirjo Lonka), and his brother Roope (Riku Nieminen) ran a company called Tempo. Alex invented a material that was durable enough to work in wind energy development. Their company was waiting for a permit from the Helsinki city counsel that would allow them to build apartments powered by the wind energy advancement.
Anna’s husband Usko (Jani Volanen) was, of course, a suspect. Other suspects appeared as the case grew more complicated, including characters from Anna’s old life as a champion swimmer. She suffered under a coach who liked young girls. There was an eco-activist, a stalker, and business owners. Plenty of suspects.
A German company wanted to buy Tempo, and Alex’s sister Julia wanted to sell. The relationship between all the characters and what the German company actually wanted Tempo for was hard to unravel.
Flashbacks were used to fill in details, as the two investigators uncovered new clues and answers. It was an effective way to tell the story. You didn’t see how the crimes happened in a linear way, you saw them as the investigation uncovered them. It keeps the audience guessing as to what really happened along with the cops.
Humor? In Nordic Noir?
In this Finnish noir drama, nobody smiled and nobody seemed happy. The cast were curt and stoic Finns. But there was some humor.
Koskimäki (Raimo Grönberg) was Sofia and Sakari’s boss in the police. It was very funny how he was always trying to take her off the case, send her home to rest. He was ridiculously sexist. Or perhaps he thought she needed more time to grieve the loss of her husband. The only thing that was really clear was he didn’t like her working on the case.
Part of the reason it was funny to me was because she was clearly a superior investigator. Smart, relentless, intuitive – she could out investigate Sakari in her sleep. However, by the end of the season, the two of them had bonded into a great team.
Sofia would supposedly be off work and “resting” as ordered by her boss, but she was running around alone getting into dangerous situations as she investigated further and further into Anna’s death. She’d call Sakari to join her after the facts were uncovered.
In one subplot, Sofia and Sakari took off and went to Germany to dive in caves, where they found important evidence. They didn’t tell Koskimäki where they were or what they were doing until Sofia had to call Koskimäki for help because Sakari had been snatched by some bad guys.
Another thing I found funny was Sofia’s son Emil, who had a long, tangled mop of hair just like his mother, telling his mom that she’d never get another man in her life if she didn’t comb her hair. I have to report, she didn’t comb her hair.
Finally, Sakari’s car was a running joke. Doors wouldn’t open. The seat belts didn’t work. Once it just quit in the middle of nowhere.
General Thoughts
I like the Finnish title Karppi, better than Deadwind because the series is clearly about Sofia Karppi. Yet Netflix decided Deadwind had more familiar appeal for Americans. Her personal struggles as a mom and grieving widow were interesting. Her style as a cop was built for drama.
The visual setting – in Helsinki, inside various homes and apartments, in snowy open spaces, in forests, and by the ice-filled ocean – it was all stunningly photographed. Every episode was directed by Rike Jokela. He also co-wrote the series with Kirsi Porkka and Jari Olavi Rantala.
Deadwind (Karppi) is mostly in Finnish, with some German and English. You can watch it on Netflix.
Have you seen this series? How did you like Sofia Karppi? Are you ready for a second season with this police woman?
Discover more from Old Ain't Dead
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Pingback: Recommended Foreign Language Films and TV Series - Old Ain't Dead
Spoiler alert: Just want to know why Nurmi left. Something about white bloodcells. Was he telling Kharppi he had an illness?
For me it was kind of obvious that the exposition to radiation while he was diving in the abandoned mine caused him a cancer (leukemia I thought …)
It was a clue that he had AIDS, low T cells , low CD4 count from his prior high risk lifestyle with drug abuse.His cough was a sign of having pneumocystis carinii an opportunistic pathogen causing pneumonia associated with AIDS.
Radiation poisoning, from the dive in the mine cave.
I had two thoughts about it. Perhaps he had some secret he wanted to deal with on his own. Or perhaps it was a way to write him out of the second season.
Pingback: Review: Deadwind (Karppi), season 2 - Old Ain't Dead
I binged on this series twice, Fast moving , interesting story lines and the 2 main actors are so beautiful. I love Scandinavian thrillers and Deadwind is one of the best. I hope season 3 will Come on soon.
From Australia.
I watched season 2 again and discovered more dialogues that I had missed. How did that happened?
“,Anyway I am loving this show more n more. I also think there is a developing love affair between Karppi and Nurmi…..2 characters who could not be more different….she…impulsive, bossy, energetic, junk food and beer lover while he is calm, refine, cool, loves good healthy foods and good wines and even with is low paying salary still bought a 2nd hand quality car ( I think it is a BMW though there is no brand displayed) . Both are not into commitment especially Nurmi who does not want anyone to depend on him because he has a sad past and possibly poor health and Karppi is too involved in her work but despite of all these reasons they are having feelings for each other which Will probably end in heartbreak.
The season ends in Hanna being arrested By Nurmi without consultation with Karppi anD that will bring in a rift in their relationship but it has to be done since Karppi won’t do it. Maybe this is the way of keeping Karppi out of trouble with the law.
I found a lot of humour in the this couple dialogues. They often bickered like 2 old married couple . Love Nurmi question how Karppi husband can tolerated her.
I do hope this series will continue but with this stupid virus, who knows when production can begins.
Any thoughts to add to this?
I’m not sure a series this dark will turn into a love story. But, of course, anything is possible.
Like I said it will be heartbreak…dark ?
Any idea if season 3 are in the works?
Yes, there should be a season 3 sometime in 2021.
Good I am enjoying it even though I only speak English ! Hoping for a third season and good writing for scripts !
Thank you…..hope I will still be around in 2021
I hope so too
I’ve watched both seasons twice!! Absolutely love this show and hoping there will be a season 3. There is something about the two stars that is so appealing…..especially Lauri Tilkanen. The photography is stunning. Just a really great show!!
I agree that a 3rd season would be good.
It seemed so unprofessional that the police didn’t take Anna’s laptop straight away allowing her stupid husband to investigate the murder at his own risk…
And Sophie’s hair…. I’m on S1 Ep3 atm and her hair looks so so bad! I wonder if she combed it before her husband died.
And why was she allowed with that crazy hair at the crime scene?
The only thing I would suggest her to do is moving to a different country with more sunshine and better hair products
I enjoy the series, though I agree the hair is so annoying, almost draping over the corpses. As for the son, if he is being bullied perhaps a hair cut would help.
S1 Ep4 Alex : Linda, tell me where you are!
Are you kidding? He is watching his wife on a video call with a duct tape over her mouth and asking this question???
Alex was supposed to be an intelligent business man. Who can make wise decisions in a stressful situation. I wonder now if he is actually intelligent… maybe he bought his diplomas to cover up the fact he is an imbecile.
I do love Scandinavian shows. So far this one is the worst
Deadwind S4 please!!!
Karppi & Nurmi ♥♥♥