Light On Dark Water

Wallander (3)

Bah. Psycho Christian death cult. Obviously I'm prejudiced, but I didn't think it was a very good story even apart from the annoying specifics. 

The episode is called "Before the Frost," and is based on a novel of the same name. Aside from compliments to the actors and photographers, I really have only one good thing to say about it: there are several moments that struck me as subversive of the general Christians-are-so-crazy motif. For instance, being pro-life is mentioned as one of the weird and scary aspects of the Christians. But there is a scene in which people are awed and deeply moved by an ultrasound view of an unborn baby. Whether these were intentional or not, who knows? though my guess is not. 

If this had been the first episode of the season, I probably wouldn't have watched more.

Maclin Horton
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16 responses to “Wallander (3)”

  1. Janet

    We watched the first episode of the second season last night and it was pretty good, but more than the grimness of the subject matter, there is that ever-present sense of despair. All of this bad stuff happens and there is never any light anywhere, or any hope of anything better. It’s like the Underworld in The Silver Chair.
    AMDG
    AMDG

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  2. Mac

    Actually the one I just panned is better in that respect. I can’t really elaborate on that without giving away a lot of the plot.

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  3. Janet

    So, I have to watch Psycho Christian Death Cult to get a little light, huh?
    AMDG

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  4. Mac

    Yep, as far as I know. Might be better off just to curse the darkness.

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  5. Marianne

    I was thinking about this post when I came across an article in the Wall St. Journal about a new reality TV show about some young Amish and Mennonites who leave their communities for the bright lights of the city. I was struck by the subtitle of the piece: “A new reality-TV show joins the pop-culture cheering for ‘liberation’ from religion.” I think that’s a pretty good summation of a lot of what’s happening now. Not necessarily outright hostility in the manner of a Hitchens, just a huge push away from, or against, belief and religion that’s dressed up as something good and reasonable.
    Here’s the link to the article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444358804578014724091190556.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

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  6. Mac

    I’ll have to wait till later to read the article, but yes, it’s certainly true about the cheering. I don’t exactly monitor the situation but I’m not sure whether it’s any worse now than 10 or 20 or even 30 years ago. The media in both its entertainment and news departments have done this to the point of cliche. There is a pop star/sex symbol named Katy Perry who comes from a strict evangelical/fundamentalist background, and the glee with which her “liberation” is treated is really irritating and depressing. Her parents must be heartbroken. I’m not sure I’ve ever even heard any of her music but reportedly her lyrics are of the lewd-n-crude variety favored by female pop stars now, which also is depressing in itself.

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  7. Mac

    I just read the article. It’s quite good.

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  8. Mac

    Moreover, some of the comments are worth reading. That’s unusual on a big commercial site.

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  9. Grumpy

    There was the Christian death cult one on the Swedish version. It was such a cliche I could barely believe that was where the story was going.

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  10. Mac on the used iPad recently acquired from sister-in-law

    One day maybe people will laugh at this stuff the way we laugh at cornball ’50s tv shows.

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  11. Janet

    You are making me laugh right now.
    AMDG

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  12. Mac

    I thought I should follow the trend established by you & Louise. I can’t believe I typed that much on that thing.

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  13. Art Deco

    One thing I think you neglect in your assessment is that the surrounding Swedish society is not portrayed in a flattering light. See the treatment of the evangelical pastor and the mother of the (largely concealed) protagonist (respectively ‘not-unsympathetic’ and ‘not-sympathetic’).

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  14. Mac

    I didn’t intend the post as a full assessment (partly because I was too annoyed to want to spend much time on it), but you’re right about those things, and others. They are what I was thinking of when I spoke of moments that are subversive of the general motif. Another one was the former roommate of the girl in the cult–with her badly-dyed hair, dull and slovenly air, and conventional apathy and cynicism, she wasn’t much of an advertisement for the mainstream, especially when contrasted with the cult-girl, who besides being very beautiful and sympathetic in her grief for her father, was certainly a person of serious thought and feeling. And I liked the exchange between the policeman and the cult-girl:
    “You can’t force religion on people.”
    “Why not? You force liberalism and secularism on people.”
    It’s still a question in my mind, though, as to whether these features were intended as you and I receive them. The pastor, for instance: not-unsympathetic to us, but was that what the producers intended? I honestly don’t know.

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  15. Art Deco

    I think she said “liberalism and social democracy” and the subject was ‘the government’ not ‘you’, but the point is similar.
    I had forgotten the roommate, who was portrayed as a deeply unpleasant sort (and differing from Wallander-fille, who was not bothered by her friend’s religious interests).
    It is interesting to consider how the pastor was meant to be portrayed. On the one hand, his resentment of the short prison sentance he received was unattractive. On the other hand, the context of his account of it makes officialdom look awful. Here is this impecunious bachelor superintending a shabby little congregation out in a rural area running food cupboards and trying to straighten out drug addicts in this anomic affluenza-addled world – and they throw him in the slammer for a teaching against sodomy heard only by his congregation and a pair of professional complainers.
    And, yes, the government does impose policy on the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden. What is sad about much of contemporary protestantism is that the impositions (one might wager) met little resistance and would meet little by their counterparts in the United States. Most clergymen are perplexing (and untrustworthy).

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  16. Mac

    I didn’t think I had the quote exactly right, but couldn’t check because I deleted the show from the dvr as soon as I watched it.
    “…the government does impose policy on the Church of Sweden…” Yes, that’s no doubt one of the things that our liberals find so attractive about Sweden.
    It would be interesting to see how the book treats the pastor. If anyone reading this has done so, please chime in.

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