[Paulraff]

Originally Posted by KJ44

Birgitte speaking English and French was a highlight for me

She studied acting in Paris for three years, and in New York for two years after that.

The Danes could do worse than elect her as their real PM in this modern age where image, poise and soundbites are so important.

She'd get my vote. (Over that dodgy-looking car salesman anyway. Didn't look to me like a man of true integrity. Hehe!)

[the_lostprophet]

Originally Posted by Paulraff

The Danes could do worse than elect her as their real PM in this modern age where image, poise and soundbites are so important.

Yes - they've got a kind of modern, quite glamorous woman as their PM at the moment however. I think the Danes nickname her 'Gucci Helle'. Apparently the way that worked out was quite amusing because she was elected not too long after the first series of Borgen so it was kind of life imitating art.

[elfcurry]

Originally Posted by Paulraff

She studied acting in Paris for three years, and in New York for two years after that.

Yet she still manages excellent English.

The Danes could do worse than elect her as their real PM in this modern age where image, poise and soundbites are so important.

She'd get my vote. (Over that dodgy-looking car salesman anyway. Didn't look to me like a man of true integrity. Hehe!)

Do you mean the character played by the actor who previously played Danish PM but in this is a car salesman? Or the Machievellian reptile who might be mistaken for a dodgy salesperson?

I thought part 1 - 89,000 children was extremely good, matching the very best of any Nordic crime drama. Part 2 was good too.

[Magpie11]

As brilliant as Series 1.

But I miss Sanne

[striing]

Originally Posted by Magpie11

As brilliant as Series 1.

But I miss Sanne

Me too. But realistically they couldn't keep her after they spent the whole series saying how crap she was.

[Magpie11]

Originally Posted by striing

Me too. But realistically they couldn't keep her after they spent the whole series saying how crap she was.

Awww, that was part of her appeal. Although, to be fair, she was much more efficient in the end

At one point I was sure Birgitte was going to say 'get rid of this sourpuss and bring me Sanne back'.

But it's not gonna happen is it ?

[solare]

I watched this for the first time last night and enjoyed it. I haven't seen series 1 but I think it's possible to start watching at series 2 and not be completely lost.

I also watched The Killing series 1 last week and actually prefer that to Borgen so far (but that's probably because I prefer murder to politics ) Interesting to see two actors from The Killing turing up in Borgen.

The Danish language is nice to listen to. Sometimes, when watching a subtitled programme, I can find the original soundtrack a bit annoying (there are a few languages that I just don't like the "sound" of). But Danish has a pleasing "sound" and a lot of words seem quite similar to Dutch and German words.

Fnally, I was amused by the title of Episode 2: "In Brussels, no-one can hear you scream." So true!

[KennyT]

overnights: (not incl HD)

21:00 - 970k (4.0%)
22:00 - 805k (3.8%)

K

[KennyT]

Is it just me, or has Birgitte (sorry, I mean Sidse Babett Knudsen) lost some weight since s1? She was desirable before but she's damned sexy now!

K

[KennyT]

Originally Posted by KennyT

overnights: (not incl HD)

21:00 - 970k (4.0%)
22:00 - 805k (3.8%)

K

Including BBC HD

21:00 - 1.08m (4.5%)
22:00 - 852k (4.0%)

K

[the_lostprophet]

Originally Posted by solare

But Danish has a pleasing "sound" and a lot of words seem quite similar to Dutch and German words.

And loads of words are similar to English! There's a Dane on the Guardian series blogs for these shows who spends vast amounts of time educating us on the similarity of our languages e.g.

"Skal vi sende ham hjem nu?" = Shall we send him home now?

"Vi var her først" = We were here first

and there are lots more! He says that we just need to realise how similar so many of our every day words are to Danish words due to the Viking era - he put up a huge post with tons of details about it. The word order is generally far more similar between English and Danish than it is between Danish and German - Germans apparently often verbs at the end of sentences put whereas the Danish word order is pretty much like ours as you can see from the examples above.

I'm so used to hearing Danish in these shows now that I can detect the similarity myself at times.

I've noticed too that when Swedes and Norwegians say 'first' in their languages it sounds like how a Scot says 'first'.

[solare]

I agree! There are so many similarities between our languages. When you see the sentences you quoted written down, they don't (at first) look recognisable, but when you read them aloud then it's clear! I will take a look at the Guardian blog - it sounds interesting.

[tealady]

Originally Posted by KennyT

Is it just me, or has Birgitte (sorry, I mean Sidse Babett Knudsen) lost some weight since s1? She was desirable before but she's damned sexy now!

K

I thought she had lost weight, most apparent when she walked to the lift on the way to see Bent.

[catsitter]

I was disappointed that the US Secretary of State on the phone was a man.

(Also, he didn't sound American! Are we sure it wasn't a prank call? )

[striing]

Originally Posted by catsitter

I was disappointed that the US Secretary of State on the phone was a man.

(Also, he didn't sound American! Are we sure it wasn't a prank call? )

Haha I thought that. They filmed this before they knew anyone outside Denmark would see it. I'm guessing any English speakers in series 3 won't have Danish twang.

[david1955]

Great to see how Denmark regards the EC in the same way as we do. Giving a failed politician a job as Commissioner, clearly not regarding that job as important.

I see Katrine is still living in that bedsit place with papers strewn all over the place. Makes a change from a UK journalist who would no doubt be living in an immaculate minimalist flat by the Thames

[solarflare]

I love the Machiavellian machinations of it all!

And I've got a bit of a crush on Katrine

[chloe_26]

Originally Posted by tealady

I thought she had lost weight, most apparent when she walked to the lift on the way to see Bent.

She's probably on the Troels Hartmann diet

And I want the piped blazer she had on....

[Chapelamble]

The titles of both episodes were excellent.

One of the names mentioned for commissioner was Troels but sadly not Hartmann.

[chloe_26]

Originally Posted by Chapelamble

The titles of both episodes were excellent.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01px0j8/?t=3m55s

[Woodentop]

First time viewer of this. Also late to TK only watching last series. But The Bridge was my hook and am thoroughly intrigued by Scandi drama now.

Fell asleep watching episode 2 on recording about 2am and will watch tonight. However it was bizarre to see the PM(TK) reduced to car sales and that the one portrayed in this show seems to work very small hours and actually tries to have a normal divorced family life. She seems unconvincing in depth and emotionally torn. However, will see how series plays out and having not seen the evolution from series one, accept I may be misjudging things.

[capekdeh]

So good!!! I really enjoyed last night episodes. I miss the sexy secretary, though. The new secretary is so mean to magnus. She's so efficcient, but so cold and mean.

[redandwhiterob]

Is the plan to show 2 episodes every Saturday?

I have recorded it but really not sure if I should buy and watch watch the first series first or not

[Straker]

Originally Posted by redandwhiterob

Is the plan to show 2 episodes every Saturday?

I have recorded it but really not sure if I should buy and watch watch the first series first or not

Get the first series. All the backstory leads to a greater appreciation of what’s going on now.

[lala_dos]

Can you lovely people who've watched season 1 tell me if a noob can watch season 2 without having seen any of season 1? I'm sure this question has been asked before but I really don't want to go through the thread as I haven't tried to watch last night's episodes before.

I'm a late comer to this Scandi stuff. The Bridge converted me, thought the Killing 3 was great and I've heard lots of good things about Borgen.