4 out of 5

Created by: Baltasar Kormákur

In the tradition of all those slow, moody dramas you like – you know, your matter-of-fact Scandinavian noir like The Bridge – comes ‘Trapped,’ a slow-burn small town murder mystery.  Ah, Broadchurch, you say, but no dead children and/or David Tennant’s need apply.  Plus, this small town happens to be in Iceland, and thus blanketed with a permanent winter white, with more on the way to complicate matters and prevent the big city Rekyjavik boys from coming down to investigate the sudden, and troubling, appearance of a completely dismembered body.  Ah, those black metal fans…  But no, we’re told that that’s not the type of business to expect in Seyðisfjörður, and thanks to the stunning production (shot on location in Siglufjörður) and the involving acting of our leads – especially local sheriff Andri (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) – we very much believe that.  We believe that this is a quiet, sleepy locale, stirred into some recent controversy by the government’s attempts to shush people out of their land to allow for a profitable real estate deal; we believe that this is the exact type of remote location Andri would escape to from his troubled past.  And so the passion with which he throws himself into the mystery is convincing, and wonderfully immersive.

Though if government controversy and troubled past had you rolling your eyes at the cliches, yes, that occasionally happens as well.  These are rare missteps: when Trapped starts to behave like a typical drama, with backroom deals, and relationship woes, and shady characters doing evil deeds shot in shadow and distinguishing characteristics cropped by the frame.  But the show trudges on past these tropes, steadily, confidently, and emerges victoriously on the other side: all of these elements end up being both very minor asides, as well as relevant to the plot beyond use as red herrings or distractions.  Characters are actually _enriched_, the plot deepened.  We just have to mug at the camera a couple of times to do so.

The most rewarding aspect of the show, which is certainly the Scandi noir influence, is how soberly it treats its story.  There are twists, but the structure does not hinge on it.  Revelations are thus allowed to organically develop and be responded to, which adds to the completeness of the viewing experience.  I also sincerely appreciated – mild spoilers – that the discovered body is as grisly as this gets.  There’s no secret pedophile or depraved killer.  Dark things are going on in Seyðisfjörður, yes, but again, it is a darkness that’s earned, and not splattered across the screen with cheap one-upping antics.

I watched this via the BBC, so obviously the value of this show (and the many other foreign productions BBC has aired) is recognized.  Now we just have to wait and see who snaps up the US rights to determine if we get a good reproduction, an overly arty one, or a CW version.