Good guy goes bad

I have written before about my great admiration for the Swedish actor Reine Brynolfsson. On a recent Swedish film buying spree, I was excited to see that he had starred in a TV drama called Kungamordet last year. This 4 part series concerns Gert and Linda Jacobsson and their abusive relationship. Although they have been married for 30 years, Gert has become more and more physically abusive towards Linda. Linda has developed a severe alcohol problem in an attempt to deal with the abuse.

To make matters even more complicated, Gert was recently the Finance Minister in the Social Democratic government. When his party loses the election, he begins a plot to oust the current party leader and take over that position himself. At the same time, he acquires a pretty young assistant, Yasemin Aydin. Yasemin is a recent college graduate and very eager, but she doesn't know that others are conspiring against her: Gert has evil designs on her, and her own family is secretly plotting to have her married to a cousin in Turkey.

Eventually, Linda has enough and flees to a battered women's shelter. Before long, Yasemin joins her there and the two women become unlikely allies. This series was very difficult to watch at times, but it did showcase the talents of both Reine Brynolfsson as the unpredictable abuser, and the wonderful Marie Richardsson as the abused Linda. Even so, it dragged at times, and could easily have been one episode shorter without losing any of the action.

Final Verdict for Kungamordet: Three Gherkins, for being a very realistic dramatization of an abusive relationship