laduqesa

This was a very watchable series. It's a much darker scenario than many others of Viveca Sten's novels or screenplays but still frothy enough not to be depressing.

Yes, there are cliches such as the maverick, suspended, female detective, a male cop whose home life is breaking down and a closeted gay guy but these are woven into the fabric of the story to make a coherent and easy-to-watch narrative.

The plots were fantastical at times with characters doing unexpected or downright dangerous things. A little too much intuition was used in the solving of the cases too. However, in the main, this was worth watching. I saw the lot over a couple of days and it filled in some time very enjoyably. I'd recommend it but don't expect "The Bridge" or "Forbrydelsen".

Oscar wants an open relationship and Sergio doesn't. That's the premiss of this clever little film and how the two lovers negotiate their way round it.

Sergio's strategy is to pretend to give in and tie Oscar up with rules and regulations until the latter doesn't know where he is any more.

They're both attractive boys and convincing as a pair of settled partners who've been together for years. I've seen Eudald Font in several other shorts and he always plays a blinding part. He's great here too.

We get to a resolution but there's one final idea that comes to mind. Will the boys take it up? That's for the imagination.

I enjoyed this light-hearted romp. I'd recommend it to fill in a quarter of an hour.

This was a relevant series to the times. Finland has changed, Finlandisation is no more. The policies of Kekkonen and others have been trashed in the new reality. The series revealed this decisively and showed that there were still relics of a bygone age. Prime Minister Kai Laavakura hadn't grasped the fundamentals of the shift and wanted to negotiate, even illicitly treating with shadowy forces. President Linnea Saaristo has "got it", despite her inexperience, and takes a firm grip on the situation despite exposure to realpolitik in the shape of a disinterested United States.

Set pieces were extremely well done and realistic. However, the kill ratio between the Finnish conscripts and troops against professional mercenaries was exaggerated and strained credulity.

I loved the scenes of the army on the streets of Helsinki, a city I know and love. One of the final scenes was of a tank by the statue of Marshal Mannerheim which seemed appropriate and a wake for a dead soldier portrayed the drink the Marshal immortalised.

Access to other state buildings was granted such as the Presidentinlinna and Eduskuntatalo. I used to live in Finland and it was so warming to see the old streets I used to know so well. I was rooting for the President all the way.

This might be a niche interest but I would still recommend this to an international audience. It's a timely reminder of what might happen after the disaster of Ukraine and the non--attributable warfare originally used there in the Crimea. We live in perilous times.