Sebastian Bergman: The Cursed One, Parts 1 & 2

Swedish actor Rolf Lassgård—best known in the United States as the star of the original Wallander crime series—plays Sebastian Bergman, a criminal profiler who has been unable to overcome the deaths of his wife and daughter during the 2004 tsunami that hit Thailand. After belatedly returning to his hometown for his mother's funeral—two weeks too late for the event—he's recruited by police to help nab a serial killer. Invigorated by this assignment, Bergman comes out of his emotional miasma to use his profiling knowledge to apprehend the criminal. Lassgård does a fine job playing a tormented anti-hero; however, the script is strictly a connect-the-dots effort that will feel overly familiar to fans of police-investigative TV dramas. The one uncommon aspect here—details of Bergman's past indiscretions as a sex addict—ends up being a sour novelty that fails to enhance the development of the character or the direction of the story. Falling far short of the best of the genre, this 2010 Swedish TV series is an optional purchase, at best. (P. Hall)