When I watched this movie, I was not only shocked at how ridiculous it was. I was even more shocked that it sacrificed all the believability that usually makes these Swedish versions of the Wallander films so impressive, one of the best series of police procedurals I've ever seen (and I've seen too many to want to discuss it).
After the fact, I learned that this episode had been released first as a movie in theaters, and then things started to make more sense. The overblown absurd dramatics, plus what seemed a bigger budget for effects, look clearly like part of a misguided attempt to sell the series to a larger audience.
The movie is trying to have the visual impact of something like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and doesn't succeed.
The first film in this series, Before the Frost, was also released in theaters, and thankfully is much much better than Mastermind. And at least knowing that Mastermind was trying to be something other than a usual episode in this series helps me understand why it goes so wrong--and helps me be glad that other episodes in the series did not try to repeat the errors made here.
After the fact, I learned that this episode had been released first as a movie in theaters, and then things started to make more sense. The overblown absurd dramatics, plus what seemed a bigger budget for effects, look clearly like part of a misguided attempt to sell the series to a larger audience.
The movie is trying to have the visual impact of something like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and doesn't succeed.
The first film in this series, Before the Frost, was also released in theaters, and thankfully is much much better than Mastermind. And at least knowing that Mastermind was trying to be something other than a usual episode in this series helps me understand why it goes so wrong--and helps me be glad that other episodes in the series did not try to repeat the errors made here.