“Spring Tide: Season One” – TV Series Review

In the suspenseful crime drama , “Spring Tide (Springfloden): Season One”, Olivia (Julia Ragnarsson, probably best-known here from the hit film MIDSOMMAR) is a student at the Swedish police academy is assigned to examine a cold case from 1990 to explore what technological advances might have produced a conviction had it occurred today. Coincidentally, the case is a particularly brutal murder of a young woman that her late father had worked on, forever after haunted by his inability to nail the killer(s). Another plot thread arises as a couple of young punks randomly attack homeless people, recording and posting their vicious beatings to titillate seekers of sadistic thrills. 

In the early episodes we meet a slew of seemingly unrelated characters – so many that it requires extra concentration to keep up with the players and subplots while wondering how important any will become. One of the leads among the homeless is “Jelle”, who had been Detective Tom Stilton (Kjell Bergqvist) until a breakdown several years earlier left him a nearly empty husk of his former self. We meet several interesting folks among the street people (special nod to Anna Wallander’s contributions as Vera), plus good and corrupt cops, hookers adding varying degrees of help and menace, mostly-thuggish young men and boys and corrupt corporate honchos with dire secrets to keep buried.

Olivia’s efforts proceed slowly, making the first several episodes seem more complicated than they oughtta be. But the threads of old and new events gradually come together for a coherent 10-episode season of sleuthing, with somewhat above-average action for Eurofare in the mix. One character who arrives about mid-season ramps up the physical energy level of the remainder. That’s Abbas (Dar Salim) – a former white collar and brutal criminal who had been reformed into an off-the-books asset for the good guys. He might be the most interesting of the lot, perhaps deserving a spinoff vehicle. For comic relief, Johan Widerberg’s Minken plays a chatty, irritating, yet helpful informant, akin to Joe Pesci’s role as Leo in the LETHAL WEAPON movies. And the large cast turns out to be necessary for all the ground that the scripts cover.

That’s all you need about plotlines. As a sidebar, even though some gruesome things are shown here, following gorefests like MIDSOMMAR and the recent dark comedy GET AWAY, the sum total of which could kill off Swedish tourism, there’s one saving grace. Olivia parks her vintage Mustang convertible everywhere with the top down – even overnight. That’s something I don’t risk with my convertible anywhere in the good ol’ US of A.

Bottom line – Fine performances and solid stories that justify the effort of keeping the players and plotlines straight make this a worthy watch. Not every T is crossed or I dotted by the end, but there’s enough resolution to satisfy. And no cliffhangers to annoy you until Season Two, which already aired abroad, joins this one on our side of the Atlantic.

3 stars out of 4

“Spring Tide: Season One”, mostly in Swedish with subtitles, streams on MHz Choice on February 11, 2025.

https://mhzchoice.com/portfolio/february-11-spring-tide-season-1