SERIES REVIEW: The Crow Girl (S1)

Erik Axl Sund’s novel The Crow Girl inspired a bidding war among publishers before it was snapped up and eventually released in 2016. It and he were hailed as the next big thing, a worthy successor to the likes of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö and Henning Mankell. The novel weighed in at 700 pages, and was described, among other things, by one critic as “Tolsoyian”.

So how do you distil a whopper into a six-part series? With great difficulty, it seems.

Before we get into it, just a word of warning: there are some big twists in this series, and I want to discuss them here to some extent (because I can’t not, they really that contentious) so if you truly don’t want to know what happens, please do not read any further.

So The Crow Girl.

A few years ago I was being asked repeatedly what made a Nordic Noir a Nordic Noir. What set them apart from everything else? What made them so successful? What were their defining characteristics?

Naturally, I would point them to The Killing and The Bridge and explained that, on top of good, tightly plotted procedural drama, these series and those like it frequently gave us quirky, driven, obsessed characters (often dealing with trauma), and, crucially, a second story that referenced contemporary socio-political themes (we’re talking big company greed, immigration and/or ecological issues). Nordic Noirs also gave us various, seemingly unrelated narrative threads in each series, slowly bring them together even though to begin with they felt like separate storylines to begin with.

The Crow Girl takes these reference points and pushes them to absolute nth degree.

Sund’s original Sweden-set story has been transplanted to Bristol in the UK, and stars Eve Myles as DCI Jeanette Kilburn and Dougray Scott as her partner and best pal DI Lou Stanley. They are two really good leads (it’s actually odd seeing Scott – especially after his leading turn in Crime – take somewhat of a back seat in this), and then you add in the always-great Katherine Kelly as haunted psychologist Dr Sophia Craven, and you have a very strong triumvirate. And, as you would imagine, all three are very good – especially Myles, who is so, so good at playing normal. She’s so naturalistic in her acting style and so instantly likeable in everything she appears in.

So to the story, or, in The Crow Girl’s case, stories plural.

First, the body of a teenage boy is dumped outside a seemingly random location. Turns out that this location is owned by Carl Lowry, a doctor who, on the same morning, is arrested for possessing indecent images of children. Kilburn is convinced from the get-go that Lowry is connected to the murder.

Lowry is then sent to Dr Craven for psychological analysis and evaluation. Kilburn also wants to interview Lowry, and this where these two first come into contact. A strong friendship develops between the two, despite being very different personalities. (As good as Myles is very good at playing ‘normal’, Kelly is very good at playing slightly detached, cool characters… Britain’s equivalent of Gillian Anderson, perhaps?)

Craven, we find out, is haunted by a former patient called Victoria, who is intense, dangerous and liable to do something to herself or anyone. Victoria went missing just when their sessions were getting juicy.

Another thread: we see a young girl carry in a wounded crow into her kitchen, where her stern mother take it from her and snaps its neck. The girl earns the nickname ‘crow’ from there on in. Her real name is Victoria.

And then we see another teenage girl – Maddie – I think in the present day (but who knows at this point?) begin to come of age and rebel against her parents – Ben and Mary Burkeman – the very same two who scolded the young girl with the crow.

Oh, and there’s one more thread – that of illegal immigrant Jamal, who tries his best to navigate the hostel process but is sucked into a world of illegal fighting rings.

Oh, AND ONE MORE THING. In among the bodies, a NEW body emerges that reopens a cold case.

Oh, and there’s a corrupt cop storyline just in case you didn’t have enough to process.

To say there’s a lot going on is an understatement but, despite PLOT OVERLAOAD, it is very watchable because it sort of feels familiar in a Nordic Noir sort of way, Myles and co and really very good and the actual kernel of the story is a compelling one.

But just when you were enjoying all the narrative threads beginning to come together (and I was!), they throw in a twist so… outrageous, contentious and incredible in a very bad way that you soon find yourself shouting ‘OH COME ON THAT’S NOT FAIR!’ at the screen. A reveal of a certain character goes way, way beyond sleight of hand and instead is an absolute cop-out. (I don’t want to go on because I don’t want to give it away to those who want to watch.) I am still genuinely shocked that they thought – after introducing a character and letting us get to know a character six hours’ worth of television – that they could get away with this sort of reveal.

Just when you’re collecting your thoughts, it just kind of ends with a ‘to be continued’ scrolling across the screen.

So not only does The Crow Girl present us with a twist that just… well, is tantamount to cheating… it also doesn’t wrap up the story in one series, leaving us completely short-changed. How very, very annoying.

Which is a shame because this series – which had some really good elements, strong performances and some actual things to say – was heading for a four-star review. Instead, the last few minutes – literally the last few minutes – marks it down.

Unbelievable, Jeff.

Paul Hirons

The Crow Girl is show in the UK on Paramount+