The Chestnut Man
The Chestnut Man or Katanjemanden is a Danish miniseries released on Netflix not too long ago. I binged the entire series about a week ago, but I let some time pass so other people could get a chance to watch it, as I might have to spoil a few things to really give my opinion on the series. So if you haven’t watched the series yet, go watch it, it’s short and fine.
The overall story is nothing new. Two people are assigned to some murders that may be connected to an older case. It’s a story we’ve heard and seen many times before, yet it’s a story we like to see many times again. I’ll be the first to admit I really like small crime/thriller murder mystery type stories, despite them being very similair in many ways.
The story unfolds pretty much as you expect it to. It ties itself together in what I thought was quite a nice way. I did guess who the killer was quite early on, but I still liked the twist.
I overall found myself enjoying the series as I watched it. I thought the characters were mostly very good and very well acted. The tone, music and kills all worked for me. And the story pretty much worked too, until the last episode. This series does as many other small crime shows have done before. They start out very interesting and arrive at a very interesting spot, setting up for what could be a very good climax, but ends uå descending into mediocrity.
The last episode of the series is painfully mediocre. It has all the characters put in a very interesting and tense situation, but fizzles out. The villian who has been smart throughout the entire series suddenly makes sutpid upon stupid decision. The series takes no risk and does absolutely nothing unexpected in the last episode. It had every chance to be brave and better than so many other shows like it, but alas, it ended up doing nothing interesting and ending on a very mediocre and predictable episode.
Even though the ending is a bit of a let down, it is not bad. It’s just safe and predictable. The series is overall fine and provides good entertainment. It’s only six episodes so it’s a relatively quick watch. The characters are good and despite quite a few flaws, the series is an overall good time