Young Wallander

Young Wallander is a drama web television series based on the writings of Henning Mankell about fictional Inspector Kurt Wallander. The series premiered on Netflix on September 3, 2020. In November 2020, the series was renewed for a second season.[1]

Young Wallander
Promotional poster
Written by
  • Benjamin Harris
  • Jessica Ruston
  • Anoo Baghavan
  • Ben Schiffer
Directed by
  • Ole Endresen
  • Jens Jonsson
Country of origin
  • Sweden
  • United Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes6
Production
ProducerBerna Levin
Running time41-52 minutes
Production companyYellow Bird
Release
Original networkNetflix
Picture formatHDTV 1080p
Audio formatStereo
Original releaseSeptember 3, 2020 (2020-09-03) –
present

Pålsson explained that the pre-imagining (i.e. Young Wallander being set in the present day) made more sense than a straight prequel as it allowed for the social commentary which is a strong element of Mankell's original Wallander. [2]

This choice of setting the series in the modern day has been criticised in a number of reviews. [2][3]

Premise

Young Wallander is a young, edgy, and modern series that sees Henning Mankell’s iconic detective Kurt Wallander investigate his gripping first case. The story focuses on the formative experiences – professional and personal – faced by Kurt as a recently graduated police officer in his early twenties.

— Netflix[4]

Cast and characters

Episodes
No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date [5]
1"Anti Immigration at Home"Ole EndresenBen HarrisSeptember 3, 2020 (2020-09-03)
In Malmö, a young Kurt Wallander becomes witness to local Hugo Lundgren, who is tied to a fence with a grenade in his mouth, blows up in his neighbourhood. The police suspect a young boy who lives in his neighbourhood, whom Wallander also knows. He promises the boy's mother that he will find out why he was suspected. Despite his efforts, he learns that the police have evidence based on the boy's arguments with Lundgren the same day before he died. Lundgren's murder sparks anti immigration protests in the city, which Wallander is attached to. Amid the protests, neo nazis burst through the protesters and cause havoc and starts attacking bystanders and other officers. Wallander sees the man from the scene of Lundgren's murder, and chases him through a subway station before cornering him by a locked gate. The man chants in a foreign language as Wallander moves in to arrest him, but the man pulls out a knife and stabs him before fleeing.
2"Nightclub Smugglers"Ole EndresenBen SchifferSeptember 3, 2020 (2020-09-03)
Waking up in the hospital, Wallander discovers that Reza has been placed into intensive care after the anti immigration protests spiralled out of control. He and Hemberg later talk to the Hugo Lundgren’s parents again about their son’s whereabouts. While Wallander speaks to the father, Hemberg talks to the mother, who reveals that she knew that Hugo snook out the night of his death and that the father was informed to cause him any stress. Wallander speaks to Mona, a pro immigration protester who works a local shelter about the man he was chasing. She also treats his wound before leaving. Hemberg and Wallander speaks to Isak, Hugo’s best friend who reveals that they both frequented a nightclub named The Cube, and at the night of his death, Isak had left him there. Hemberg questions Ibra’s mother, who subsequently reveals that she didn’t know about Ibra’s whereabouts after going to bed. At The Cube, Wallander speaks to Bash about supporting Ibra, which he is reluctant to do, but later agrees to it. On his way out, Wallander is attacked by club guards.
3"Mona & Munck Connection"Ole EndresenJessica RustonSeptember 3, 2020 (2020-09-03)
Wallander wakes up beside a lake and struggles his way back to the city. He comes back to the church, where Mona again tends to his wounds. Continuing to work with Hugo Lundgren's case, Wallander and Rask go to talk to Gustav Munck, the founder of the Munck Foundation. They inquire if he knows anything about their suspect, who Wallander suspects after all was staying at the church shelter. Munck gives them the address for the newlocated shelter, where they speak to the refugees about if they have seen their suspect. However in the midst of it, they are called to Lundgren's football club, where Rickard Lundgren has threatend the coach. Wallander manages to talk him down and brings him back home. Bash also gives a statement to the police, which leads to Ibra getting released. Reza's wife, Jasmine, receives news that he has woken up in hospital. The next day, when Wallander arrives at the relocated shelter, Yara, one of the refugees he spoke to, has been reported missing after having not shown up to her doctor's appointment. The police manage to track her phone after she made a 23 second call to her husband, and discover that she is in Västra Ingelstad. Wallander arrives in the forrest where Yara is, together with her husband Zemar. He reveals that he was blackmailed by a powerful man into supposedly killing Hugo Lundgren. Reinforcements arrive and bring Yara and Zemar to the station, where an unknown sniper shoots him.
4"Assassination Closed?"Jens JonssonAnoo BhagavanSeptember 3, 2020 (2020-09-03)
Wallander, Hemberg and other police officers storm the neighbouring building of the police station and make their way to the roof, where they discover that the sniper is Rickard Lundgren, Hugo's father, who is arrested and claims that he gave his son justice by killing Zemar. Yara is later questioned about Zemar, detailing that the man that had blackmailed him, had threatened to deport them if he didn't do as he was told. She also explains that Zemar did small jobs prior to his last assignment. After expressing a theory about the blackmailer, Hemberg sends Wallander to take a few days of work. In the meantime, he discovers that Ibra has gotten involved with a local gang, and later gets Bash to look into it. He also visits Reza, and they look into the Lundgren case and the church attack, and discover a common connection to the Munck Foundation, though Reza points out there is no clear motive, which also Hemberg told Wallander earlier. Wallander later convinces Rask to assist him with the Muncks after discovering that Hugo's best friend, Isak, was in a photograph with Karl-Axel. Karl-Axel claims that he barely knows Isak, though Wallander suspects otherwise. He later finds Isak at a crack house after he is reported missing, and Isak explains that he was involved with drugs and that he fears that the people he owes debt to are after him. He argues that it must be the same killer given that his dog and Hugo were both killed with a grenade, and that Gustav Munck was the one who hosted the parties he sold drugs at.
5"Billionaire's Black Tie"Jens JonssonBen HarrisSeptember 3, 2020 (2020-09-03)
Feeling that Gustav Munck has a connection to Hugo Lundgren and his murder, Wallander goes to the 70th birthday party for Leopold Munck, hosted by the Munck family with Mona to try and get something out of Gustav. At the party, he also encounter Leopold's ex-wife before questioning Gustav. He denies that he knows Hugo and accuses Wallander for throwing around accusations before asking him to leave. Mona expresses anger at Kurt for using her to question Gustav. Wallander later sees Ibra with a gang on his way home, and asks Bash for help. He confronts the rival gang that beats Ibra and Bash interrupts, managing to calm the tension. At the police station, Isak is brought in to identify the man who threantend him, who turns out to be one of the enforces at The Cube, but the club has closed. The investigation later connects arms dealer Eman "Dodo" Dodovitch to the Munck family, but Dodovitch proves it was legal business. With Reza's help, Wallander diggs into Gustav Munck's past, expecting to find something that proves his theory that Gustav was in the shadows of his brother Karl-Axel. They discover a case from his boarding school where a younger student was tortured, which had led to Munck getting expelled, however, the school never reported the incident. Wallander later speaks to the victim, Thomas Van Rosen, who reluctantly gives him an account of what happened. However, he also reveals that Gustav was not the one who tortured him.
6"Bomb"Jens JonssonBen HarrisSeptember 3, 2020 (2020-09-03)
Wallander manages to convince Hemberg and Rask that Karl-Axel Munck is responsible for the murder of Hugo Lundgren, but Hemberg points out that they don't have concrete evidence. As a result, Wallander begins to follow Munck, and is told by Hemberg to have patience. Wallander later speaks to Leopold Munck, who reveals that he had changed the inheritence to Gustav because he had built the foundation from the ground up. Wallander concludes that Karl-Axel wasn't aware of the change. The Commissioner questions Karl-Axel's motives and reveals that the Munck's funds youth programmes, shelter and other society projects. Hemberg and Wallander speak to Karl-Axel themselves, using their questioning about Dodo as a diversion to get DNA samples, which Hemberg manages. They conclude that Karl-Axel must have wanted to get rid of his brother in order to stay relevant to their father. Wallander concludes that Karl-Axel must have targeted Gustav's newly opened shelter, however it's revealed that the bomb is not there. Wallander concludes that Karl-Axel did know about the inheritence change after all when they discover that it took effect the previous Thursday. He learns from Mona that Gustav had canceled the opening of the shelter in favour of looking into the new Munck shipping facility. He and Hemberg races to the facility, securing Gustav and the workers. However, the bomb is in Gustav's car and explodes, killing Hemberg in the process. Though Wallander and Rask question Karl-Axel, he denies responsibility, but gives them gratitude for saving Gustav's life. Following Hemberg's death, Wallander resigns from the police and invites Mona home to himself for the first time.

Production

On September 11, 2019 it was announced that filming had begun.[6] Although set in Malmö it was shot in and around Vilnius, Lithuania. [7] On November 6, 2020, Netflix renewed the series for a second season.[1]

Critical response

Reviewed by Ellen E. Jones in The Guardian who gave the series 3 out of 5 stars. "Netflix’s prequel to the Wallander novels and TV series takes place in the present day, weaving in contemporary politics – but would a straight origin story have been better?" Jones felt a more traditional prequel set in the 1970s may have been more interesting: "Just imagine if the show had researched and recreated 70s Malmö, where the Henriksson-timeline Wallander would have been a rookie? Imagine exploring how that very specific time and place – the era of plane hijacking, radical politics and Abba’s Eurovision win – shaped Wallander’s character? Now that would have been a case worth digging into."[7]

Reviewed in The Daily Telegraph by Chris Bennion, the series was given 1 star out of 5. "Here we have it, ladies and gentlemen – surely the worst TV drama of the streaming era. Or, to put it another way, if you loved Wallander, you’ll hate Young Wallander."[3]

Reviewed by Beth Webb for NME, given 3 out of 5 stars. Webb states "Despite its strong aesthetic, the show’s target audience seems unclear. Wallander has built a sizeable following over its extended lifespan, and older fans may struggle to connect with this modern version. But the story doesn’t feel suitable for a younger audience either. As a short, suspense-laden crime drama, this is a justifiable watch, especially with its low-episode count. For those seeking another dose of their favourite seasoned Swedish inspector however, you’re better off revisiting the original."

References
  1. White, Peter (November 6, 2020). "'Young Wallander': Euro Detective Drama Renewed At Netflix For Season 2". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  2. "TV to Go: Tortured Swedish detective Wallander is back with Adam Pålsson's younger version". Metro Newspaper UK. 2020-09-01. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  3. Bennion, Chris (2020-09-03). "Young Wallander, Netflix review: the worst TV drama of the streaming era". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  4. "Young Wallander". Netflix Media Center. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  5. "Young Wallander – Listings". The Futon Critic. Retrieved August 30, 2020.
  6. "Filming Begins for Netflix's Young Wallander Series". VitalThrills.com. 2019-09-11. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  7. Jones, Ellen E. (2020-09-03). "Young Wallander review – back to the future with TV's gloomiest copper". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
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