TV Reviews: House of Cards and The Bridge

For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past few months The Bridge has become one of the most loved Swedish crime series to ever grace TV (and Netflix - which is the medium I watched it on). And House of Cards (the Netflix original series) stars the brilliant Kevin Spacey and won an emmy for best directing. In this post I shall be reviewing both for your reading pleasure.

The end of Breaking Bad left my very sad heart with a major gap to fill. What am I going to do with those spare hours in my day where I would drool over Jesse and be utterly flabbergasted by Walter White. There was only one way to get over this major loss, find another amazing TV series to watch. After trying Dexter and not really liking it (it was very overly stereo-typically American) I thought I would give House of Cards a try. I knew pretty much nothing about American politics and at throughout the series there were times when I had no idea what congressman Frank Underwood (played marvelously by Kevin Spacey) was talking about. This also isn't the type of series you fall in love with either. There are no characters which really connect with the audience; Frank and his wife are both very harsh people and will do anything to get where they want to be. But I suppose this is just a true representation of American politics. The story does en-capture the viewer however; I couldn't help but watch more and more of House of Cards. And with a new series coming on February 14th, I won't have to wait much longer to see more.

The Bridge is the closest I've come to finding a TV series I loved as much as Breaking Bad. The story was just unbelievably good; a body is found on the bridge which links Denmark and Sweden, meaning both countries police forces have to work together to solve the crimes of one killer which unfold before them at an incredible rate. The leads Saga, played by Sofia Helin and Martin played by Kim Bodnia are perfect in their roles of Swedish and Danish detectives. I've liked crime series in the past, Wallander, Silent Witness and Whitechapel (series 1), but the The Bridge simply outshines these by a mile. Now i'm going to go and hunt down series 2 ->

My ratings:
House of Cards (Series 1): 7/10
The Bridge (Series 1): 9/10

By Rosie.