Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Deadwind’ on Netflix, A Finnish Crime Drama That Twists a Familiar Format

If you love international crime dramas then Netflix’s latest series has your number. The Finnish thriller Deadwind follows Sofia Karppi, a no-nonsense detective who has to balance dealing with an incompetent rookie detective and her own personal tragedy as she tries to get to the bottom of a gruesome murder case. Yes, there will be dark lighting, and no, nothing is as it appears.

DEADWIND STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: An unknown man is shown digging a hole in the middle of the night, so already Deadwind is starting off on on ominous note. Sure enough the camera pulls back to reveal what he’s burying — a dead body wrapped in plastic. We’ve got our first look at the killer, so let’s bring in the detectives.

Black and white opening credits time! Slow motions shots of various unsettling things are shown: a woman with a gun, a man running to a car, a different man fighting against prison restraints. Over the course of about a minute, Deadwind clearly establishes that this is going to be a show about the detectives dedicated for bringing down this murderer. Don’t expect flowery language or needlessly moody shots from this crime drama. Deadwind is all about murder-stopping business.

The Gist: Deadwind follows the favorite protagonist of any international crime drama — a no-nonsense female detective who’s using work to escape her own demons. This time our law-abiding hero is the Helsinki Police Department’s Sofia Karppi (Pihla Viitala). She’s an excellent cop trying to run from the accidental death of her husband.

Joining her is rookie detective Sakari Nurmi (Lauri Tilkanen), an attractive younger man whom she has no interest babysitting. Together they have to uncover what really happened to Anna Bergdahl (Pamela Tola), a young woman whose body is found buried by a remote pier. As Karppi and Nurmi become more and more involved in the case it becomes clear that their victim was connected to something far bigger and more nefarious than a single crazed killer.

Our Take: When Netflix finds something that works for it, the streaming service doubles down like no one else. From Marcella and Glitch to Safe and Bordertown Netflix has an excellent track record of bringing great crime thriller’s stateside, and Deadwind follows that trend. There’s nothing particularly revolutionary about series from its first episode. It’s a brooding, well-acted detective drama that entices viewers with its central mystery but keeps them watching because of its conflicted leading lady.

But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. By-the-books brooding crime dramas are great in their own right. Deadwind‘s first episode does an solid job of building an air of intrigue around its central victim, spotlighting her too-composed current husband, her violent ex-husband, and questioning why this woman felt the need to change her identity. And Viitala gives an amazing performance as Detective Sofia Karppi. Karppi has the exasperated gruffness you would expect from a 50-year-old cop, though she happens to be a young mother. It’s a delightful turn of the genre.

Another twist in this fairly routine crime drama is Detective Nurmi, a character who is so frustratingly incompetent he’s either the worst or best part of this series. Nurmi is a rookie who has allegedly been doing well on the force while Karppi took time off to mourn her deceased husband. “Allegedly” comes to mind because when we first meet Nurmi he mistakes the red wine on Anna’s discarded clothes for blood, doesn’t notice that her purse is missing, thinks she folded her own clothes, and proposes the theory that Ana just decided to take a drunken swim in the middle of the night. No, Nurmi. No.

Karppi immediately shoots all of this down and starts to actually solve what is very obviously a crime. The younger detective later shows her a slideshow about the victim’s life on a portable tablet proving that he does have some worth, but at least in the show’s first episode, he is a terrible detective.

But Karppi is so gritty and good at investigating it hardly matters. Ultimately that’s what gives this show life. It’s the gritty-cop meets rookie-cop drama you would expect paired with an excellently portrayed unhappy detective character study

Sex and Skin: There are murders to solve; there’s no time for this tomfoolery! However, there is some implied chemistry between Karppi and Nurmi, so who knows where that will lead.

Parting Shot: After tracking a lead to a shipping vessel, Karppi jumps onboard alone with a loaded gun. As she sneaks around the boat looking for her suspect her phone rings, giving her away. The final thing we see of Deadwind‘s first episode is Karppi’s unconscious body as her daughter calls her. Someone has taken out our hero.

Sleeper Star: This one is going to Jani Volanen, the actor behind Ana’s current husband Usko. Every scene he’s in asks whether or not he killed his wife and whether or not he knows more than he’s letting on. Volanen walks that difficult line extraordinarily well, coming across as suspicious one minute and completely innocent the next.

Most Pilot-y Line: At one point Nurmi approaches one of Anna’s former co-workers by saying “Hey bro, we’re on the same side.” He’s young, the show yells. He doesn’t play by formalities!

To the testament of the show, Karppi, and this random office worker, everyone rolls their eyes at his cringe-worthy attempt to connect to his source.

Our Call: If you’re a fan on international crime dramas, you already know what this is. It’s going to give you 12-episodes of an engaging mystery you can knock out over a long weekend. If these types of shows are your jam (*raises hand*), stream away and enjoy. But Deadwind isn’t anything you need to drop everything to binge.

Stream Deadwind on Netflix