The Eagle—A Crime Odyssey: Season 1

The Eagle is a fine international police procedural from Denmark that ran for three seasons starting in 2004. The title character is police officer Hallgrim Hallgrimsson (Jens Albinus), nicknamed “The Eagle” for his keen expertise in solving homicides. This skill comes at a price, of course: he's a tortured and tormented soul coping with personal tragedy, flashbacks, and a touch of PTSD from some sort of early life trauma. That makes for an engaging mix of character interaction as Hallgrim is charged with gathering an elite team of experts in their field for a new special investigative unit that will face an array of criminal activities, terrorist threats, Russian mobsters, and other challenges. The show also brings some of their backstories to the fore to make the human affairs (including romance) as much a part of the narrative as the dangerous unraveling of crime. The stories unfold in Denmark, Iceland, and Norway, sometimes spilling over into other European locations. Compiling all eight episodes from the first season, this is a solid foreign TV drama. Recommended. (T. Fry)