Entertainment
‘Bordertown’ Opens Up A World Of Crime Dramas
If you're looking for a new TV series to start, you basically can't go wrong with crime dramas. They're suspenseful, emotional, compelling, and heart-pounding all at the same time. Lucky for you, there's a brand-new one that came out on Netflix on Friday, March 31: Bordertown. Oh, and the other thing about crime dramas is that just when you think the mystery is solved, something happens to pull you back in and leave you wanting more. If that's the case with this new series, I imagine that you're going to want to know if Bordertown will return for Season 2 as soon as possible.
No official word about Bordertown's fate has been announced by Netflix. However, a story published by Drama Quarterly in July 2016 featuring interviews with Matti Halonen and Lionel Uzan of Bordertown's production companies, Finland's Fisher King and France's Federation Entertainment, respectively, says that Season 2 of the series is "already in development."
Regardless of whether or not Bordertown will be back on Netflix in the future, you should totally start watching the drama when it premieres. There has been some buzz about the series around the world and in the United States, which must mean something, right? Bordertown's series premiere on Finland's YLE1 in October 2016 drew a record 1.1 million viewers, which is roughly a fifth of the country's population, according to the Nordisk Film & TV Fond. The series also took home the awards for Outstanding TV Drama, Best Actor (Ville Virtanen), and Best Actress (Anu Sinisalo) at the Finnish Golden Venla TV awards, basically Finland's version of the Emmys, in January, the Nordisk Film & TV Fond reports. With all of that popularity and acclaim, it seems very likely that more Bordertown will be in our future.
Plus, the synopsis of the series is just downright intriguing. Bordertown begins with Chief Investigator Kari Sorjonen (Virtanen) moving to a small town on the border of Finland and Russia with his wife and teenage daughter in an effort to enjoy a slower pace of life. But as the town's new police chief, Kari soon finds out that is the last thing he'll be getting as he's tasked with investigating a string of murders that he discovers are not only connected to each other but also to his family.
Bordertown is just the latest Scandinavian crime drama that's sure to wow audiences. The Killing was based on the Danish series Forbrydelsen. And let's not forget about Stieg Larsson's hit Millennium trilogy of novels and films.
In fact, if you're looking for another foreign-language crime drama to watch after you finish Bordertown, Netflix is most definitely your friend. Here are just a few of the streaming platform's original crime series that'll keep you on the edge of your seat.
'Case'
At first, the case that opens Case seems pretty straightforward to investigators. After a teenage girl is found dead after appearing to hang herself, the autopsy confirms it's a suicide. But two attorneys and an investigator soon realize that there's more to this case than meets the eye, and they stop at nothing to find the truth in Case, whose first season is available to stream on Netflix. When everyone is a suspect in this Icelandic series, how could you not want to find out whodunnit?
'Ingobernable'
Things go from bad to worse for Mexico's First Lady Emilia Urquiza (Kate del Castillo) in Ingobernable, whose first season recently premiered on Netflix. First, she decides to divorce her husband, who also just happens to be the president of Mexico, at the beginning of this series, and then her ex is soon found dead after falling from a building. When Emilia is found near the scene of the crime, well, the authorities go on a wild hunt for her, and she is just too tough to surrender. This Mexican series is giving me some serious Gone Girl vibes, and I like that.
'Hotel Beau Sejour'
You definitely don't want to book a room in Hotel Beau Sejour anytime soon. That's where teenage girl Kato Hoeven (Lynn Van Royen) finds her dead body in a bathtub after being brutally murdered. Kato is stuck between the living and the dead as she investigates her own murder in this Belgian series, whose first season is available to stream on Netflix. Most of her loved ones don't know that she's still walking around, but there are a few people that can actually see her. Think of Hotel Beau Sejour as an even darker Lovely Bones, if you can believe it.
'Historia De Un Clan'
Like Bordertown, Historia de un Clan is all about family. The one in this Argentinian series just happens to run a kidnapping and hostage ring, as families do. Actually, Historia de un Clan, whose first season is available to stream on Netflix, is based on a real-life crime family, the Puccios. I don't know what's creepier: all of the terrible things the family at the center of Historia de un Clan does to people or those unsettling rubber masks they wear while doing them.
'No Second Chance'
A kidnapping is also at the heart of No Second Chance, whose first season is available to stream on Netflix. After Dr. Alice Lambert (Alexandra Lamy) wakes up in the hospital, she learns that she survived being shot, her husband was killed, and their daughter was kidnapped. Alice plays by their rules and hands over ransom money in an effort to get her daughter back, but when they get wind that she has alerted the authorities, whoever has her baby is keeping her and isn't offering up any second chances. Alice soon realizes that she's got to think and act like a criminal if she wants any hope of getting her daughter back. No Second Chance is a French adaptation of American author Harlan Coben's novel of the same name.
'El Marginal'
El Marginal is as gritty as TV shows come. The Argentinian drama, whose first season is available to stream on Netflix, follows a troubled former police officer named Miguel (Juan Minujn) who agrees to go undercover in jail in order to reduce his own prison sentence. You see, a judge's daughter was kidnapped, and he's hoping that Juan can gain some intel so they can track her down. Of course, dealing with the inmates won't be easy, and it seems like a life of crime will be tempting for Juan, too.
See, didn't I tell you there are plenty of exciting foreign-language dramas to keep you entertained while you hope for Bordertown to return?
