Bordertown, or Sorjonen in Finnish, follows Kari Sorjonen, a haggard and world-weary detective who moves to Lappeenranta from the big city of Helsinki with his wife, who grew up there, and their teenage daughter. Paulina, Kari’s wife, has recently survived a battle with brain cancer, and she and their daughter, Janina, find themselves struggling with Kari’s emotionally distant behavior as he constantly runs from their family to crime scene after crime scene, only to return home to hide out in their basement, parsing through his memories of crime scenes. All three seasons are now available to stream on Tubi, completely for free.
The crimes portrayed in each episode are varied, with some of them feeling shockingly brutal. This is softened somewhat by the show’s score, which again, can only be described as haunting as it plays over complex character moments and beautiful shots of the Finnish landscape. There is, however, a distinct lack of that typical American emotiveness, which can be jarring if you aren’t expecting it, but somehow gives more depth to the emotional moments that are shown throughout the series. Like a lot of other examples of Nordic noir, the show feels purposeful and contemplative at the same time. And it builds incredibly well.
“Detective Inspector Kari Sorjonen follows in a long tradition of savant detectives; he’s eccentric, brilliant, obsessive, better with evidence than navigating social situations. But as created by Miikko Oikkonen, he’s also complex and nuanced,” says critic Sean Axmaker of Stream on Demand. One viewer agrees with Axmaker’s take, rating the series 4.5 out of 5 stars, and saying, “Ville Virtanen plays a detective as you will see nowhere else. Convincing and emotional as a deeply traumatised cop on the autism spectrum. Seeing things no one else sees, yet completely unable to handle personal and interpersonal relationships. With a strong supporting cast (including the city of Lappeenranta), this is Nordic noir at its finest. The well-paced and scripted episodes will keep you guessing.”
