Elliot’s Watching week of 4-18-21: Borgen

 Elliot’s Watching week of 4-18-21

Season 2 of the Danish series Borgen from Adam Price picks up right where Season 1 left off - and, to its credit, I can make the highly unusual observation that Season 2 is actually better than the debut (almost invariably the course of a miniseries is downward over time). This improvement is I think the result of two factors or trends. First, perhaps recognizing that there will be little interest in or tolerance over time for further elucidation (and at times confusion) about the many Danish parties and splinter groups that the Prim Minister Nyborg (Sidse Babett Knudsen, a tour-de-force - she owns this role!) must hold together to form a government so instead the series examines the role a small country like Denmark can play or must play in world events that would seem far beyond its ken. So we get a few episodes about the PM’s efforts to broker a peace agreement between warring African nations (based obviously on the Sudan) and episodes on climate-change politics, pressure, and responsibilities. Anyone who’s worked in government will recognize the veracity of the portrayal of life inside a major government office, and most will recognize the role of the media - exaggerated here, but still on point - in political coverage. The second key element that advances this season is excellent integration of personal and family crises into the main plot - never feeling tacked on or gratuitous, but growing out of the lives of the characters and interwoven with the political/media responsibilities: a case of childhood abuse, several relationships on the rocks and worse, and the PM’s struggle to help her teenage daughter who is experiencing panic attacks - a struggle that, unfairly, calls into question Nyborg’s capacity to serve in high office.