In 2013, “House Of Cards” debuted on Netflix and became the streaming service’s flagship. transmission. It was the beginning of using consumption habits to create fiction. Viewers were known to be interested in political drama and nothing more interesting than walking through the corridors of the White House. Even because “The West Wing” was already beginning to be a distant memory. That same year, towards the end, the third season of “Borgen” premiered, a Danish political drama that had already won many fans outside of Denmark. Nearly a decade later, “Borgen” returns for a fourth season on Netflix, “Borgen: Power & Glory.” In this almost decade, “House Of Cards” has remained as a memory of another time. “Brgen”, however, was lost.
At the end of the first decade of this century, some Danish series began to be successful in the United Kingdom and, from there, throughout the world. “Sunglasses,” a song from Black Country New Road, opens with the line “Welcome to the best new six-part Danish crime drama,” a kind of statement about how Danish (or Northern European in general) series filled a void. in British cinema. television in the last decade and peaks. And, in fact, they justified –and justify– our time. “Forbrydelsen”, or “The Killing”, was the first big impact. It was the beginning of an “everydayization” of crime in fiction, bringing the concept closer, through reality and not through possible tricks more common in American fiction, an industry that precisely adapted “The Killing”, with a first season that lasted the idea was fine, but from then on it was downhill (until Netflix brought it back for a final season, where they gave it an ending with some dignity).
[o trailer da nova temporada de “Borgen”:]
“Forbrydelsen” did not come alone. “Broen”, or “The Bridge”, was a series black that arrived shortly after and that guaranteed that one could speak of a police series in northern Europe (out of curiosity, an American version was also tried, without great success). And in the middle of “Forbrydelsen” and “Broen” was “Brgen”, who was nothing like these two. In fact, it was nothing like what we had seen on television before. It was a political drama that explored the present and modernized the discourse and vision of politics. He was serious and brave.
It arose in a world somewhat parched by the absence of “The Wire”, which ended in 2008. Interestingly, the fourth season of “Borgen” premiered on the same day, twenty years later, as the beginning of “The Wire”. Like David Simon’s creation, “Borgen”, created by Adam Price, explores the dynamics between different powers, interconnecting them with an existential naturalness that brings us, as citizens, closer to the context of the series. It is a rare thing and “Borgen” did it -and continues to do it- without needing to claim the greatness of American television. It feels real, it makes us feel alive within that fiction.
In the center is Birgitte Nyborg, played by Sidse Babett Knudsen, who is elected prime minister at the start of the series. She is a surprise and also the beginning of a political career sustained by ideas of the future that collide with other desires for power, whether political or financial. “Borgen” means “castle”, which is also the nickname of Christiansborg Palace, where the three powers of Danish society cohabit: the Prime Minister, the Parliament and the Supreme Court. The title reveals the innocence of trying to do something that, until then, was rare on Danish television: a purely political drama that combined functionality and topicality.
“Borgen” was not only the first, since Adam Price got his formula right. The idea of a woman in power gave the series a certain security, but it was the ideas that confronted the idea of capitalism versus a sustainable future that acted as the engine of its success. “Borgen” brought to the table issues that were rejected in the rest of the fiction. And he did it with urgency, justification and relevance. With much more material than any documentary that can be suggested in the food from Netflix.
Almost a decade later, it returns with the same intensity. Without nostalgia for what was left and, yes, with his hands on the present: in the very first episode the War in Ukraine is mentioned and the importance of the Danish government having a position on a specific issue. Birgitte Nyborg is no longer Prime Minister, but we already knew that from the previous season. She is now Minister of Foreign Affairs and this season begins with a crisis on her hands: the discovery of oil in Greenland triggers a diplomatic escalation that brings back some ghosts from the past.
The conflict of opinions is immediate, direct and harsh, in the good tradition of “Borgen”. And that connects us, as viewers, to the microcosm of this narrative, where the networks and connections between different pillars of society –for example, politicians and the media– are engines to feel that a society is moving forward. “Brgen” returns, nine years later, as if time had not advanced. The world and Denmark are different, but returning to this universe brings back a feeling that disappeared with “Borgen” in 2013: that, as viewers of fiction, we can be active elements of a change. Even if it’s in our heads, for fifty-odd minutes at a time.
Source: Observadora
