My wife and I just binged two seasons of Rebecka Martinsson on Acorn via Prime Video, and loved it. The narrative takes in the northern-most town of Sweden, Kiruna. Rebecka comes from there, is working in Stockholm when the series begins, and goes back home, changing from being a high-class corporate lawyer to a country prosecutor. The transformation is not easy for her - her mother committed suicide and her father died in a car accident. She does find love there - but not easily - and a great group of police to work with.
But before I tell you anything more, here's a kicker: Ida Engvoll plays Rebecka in the first season (see's in the picture above). She brings an incredible combination of sweetness, spunk, evanescence, and melancholy to the role. And ... she's gone in the second season. Sascha Zacharias, who played a minor character in the first season, plays Rebecka in the second. And she does a pretty good job, but ...
I read somewhere that Truffaut or Godard or some legendary French filmmaker once fired an actress in the middle of a movie and hired someone else to play her character. He said the audience would never notice. I have no idea if they did. But I do recall when Dallas the TV series brought in a new actress to play Miss Ellie (Donna Reed replaced Barbara Bel Geddes) and that was a complete travesty. I have no idea why Rebecka Martinsson took such a risk. And though I very much enjoyed the second season, I missed Engvoll.
By the way, Rebecka Martinsson, a propos its location, is very much Nordic Noir - with a vengeance. Major, likeable characters are prone to die, and, jeez, a little baby is frozen to death in a backseat of a car. But that's leavened with wisecracks and repartee - the best coming from Anna Maria Mella, a chief detective or whatever the Swedish title, very well played by Eva Melander - and the scenery is downright breathtaking.
We'll definitely be watching the third season. I just hope the producers don't pull another Dallas on us.
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