Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Hedda Stiernstedt, Filip Berg, Daniel Larsson, David Nzinga, Bahar Pars, Alida Morberg, Andre Ericksen, Ester Udden, Anja Landgre.

When the makers of a serial decide in their infinite wisdom to take a story back before the events in which made their original premise a success, they leave themselves open to the kind of questions that would not befall them had they carried forth from the moment in which the initial resolution had been created.

Unless the story is water tight, unless it offers a full back story to which the audience can firmly believe in, it can sink without a trace, it can thrash in the cold hard stare of a viewer’s perplexed emotions and ultimately go under the fathomless betrayal of what could have been a marvellous story.

Such fate is not only reserved for the Nordic Noir stories that have gripped the television audiences in Britain and elsewhere, other such serials find themselves bereft in what was a sea of calm, and yet for those behind Black Lake, it feels as if the waters have revealed a secret akin to cynicism, of exploiting what was a good series to the point of rehashing an idea just to stay relevant.

Where the serial redeems itself is in the performances of Hedda Stiernstedt as single mother Minnie Karlsson and Andre Eriksen as Uno Lejon, the leader of the rehabilitation programme to which the others have found themselves enrolling in. In these two actors the premise of Black Lake is given credence, it is given shape and the appreciation of the Noir to which these particular dramas have become a staple diet for British viewers.

An unnecessary prequel, the second series of Black Lake is one which could have built up the reputation gained, but instead leaves the viewer underwhelmed by the whole experience.

Ian D. Hall