I have no problem with subtitles; indeed, I number among my favorite series "Wallander," "Beck," and "Van Veeteren," all three Swedish productions, and the French series "Spiral." What those three series – what any good series – offer are complex, realistic characters and plots. "The Eagle" is a mixed bag in both respects.
The title refers to the nickname of the main character, Hallgrim Ørn Hallgrimsson, whose middle name is Icelandic for eagle. The Eagle heads the operational side of a Danish government organization specializing in fighting international crime involving Denmark. The organization includes the usual cast of characters: a computer whiz, a forensics expert or two, a jack-of-all-trades tough guy, a blond love interest for The Eagle. The characters all have back stories (the most extensive, and oddest, being that of the main character), but the back stories lacked the depth necessary for me to feel emotionally invested in any of the characters.
The series spans 24 episodes, all of which can be viewed by streaming from Netflix. Each episode is about one hour in length, and the individual stories span two to three episodes. The series relies heavily on super villains: criminals who seemingly are able to go anywhere, kill anyone, elude the police at will, and who have an army of henchmen at their beck and call. The first of these, Sergei, serves to illustrate some of the series' shortcomings. After killing four people at an airport – including two policemen and a security guard – while masterminding the ruse of an airliner hijacking, Sergei is taken into custody. Despite these crimes, he is transferred from one facility to another in a passenger car, his only escort being the police officers in the car with him. If you can't see where this is heading, you will enjoy this series. After his escape, Sergei kills several more people, traveling between Denmark and Norway seemingly at will, before again being captured. This time when he is transported, to a ministry for questioning, the police have their act together – sort of. He is transported in a van with a heavily-armed SWAT team and motorcycle escort. Just about everybody involved is wearing body armor, except, of course, Sergei. And, just as unbelievably, the police fail to take the obvious precaution of securing the perimeter at their destination. Again, you know where this is headed. Plot contrivances that keep villains in play are effective when they are plausible and they take the viewer by surprise, but often that is not the case in this series. (As an aside, the actor who plays Sergei, Thomas Gabrielsson, plays one of the lead characters in "The Protectors," a series about the Danish Personal Protection Unit, an organization similar to the US Secret Service, a series that, in my opinion, is superior to "The Eagle.")
Don't get me wrong: this is not a bad series, especially when compared to most of what the American TV industry produces: production values are high; the cinematography is good; the European settings are a nice change from those of American and British productions; the cast is competent; the stories are OK. My disappointment is that it could easily have been better.
