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A reason “Downton Abbey,” a Masterpiece drama about masters and servants, was such a huge hit in the United States is that it appealed as an old-world version of “The West Wing” — instead of electoral politics and all the president’s aides, “Downton Abbey” romanticized patrilineal power and the weird upstairs-downstairs bonds built into the British class system.
“Borgen” is in that league, even though it is a political drama set in, of all places, the Danish Parliament. The same Danish team behind the original version of “The Killing” created “Borgen,” and it too focuses on a strong woman, only this time she leads not a homicide investigation, but an entire country.
Birgitte Nyborg (Sidse Babett Knudsen) is the prime minister of Denmark, and she relies most of all on Kasper Juul (Pilou Asbaek), her media adviser, or as the species is called in Copenhagen, “spin doktor.”
And it is remarkable how much suspense and psychological drama the show squeezes out of cabinet shuffles and health-care-reform bills in a small Scandinavian nation (population: nearly 5.6 million). Ruling coalitions are slim, fragile and challenged almost weekly, and the battle to stay in office can turn as conspiratorial and ruthless as any Borgia power struggle. (Every episode opens with a quote, and while some are from Churchill, most are from Machiavelli.)
As the American election approaches, cable news is filled with political advisers past and present, and lately even fictional dramas seem as obsessed with staffers as the politicians they serve. Campaign aides were the stars of the HBO movie “Game Change,” in March, eclipsing John McCain and Sarah Palin. The Hillary Clinton character who was the star of “Political Animals” on USA this summer relied most of all on her son, also her chief of staff. Political gurus are gently mocked on “The Good Wife” on CBS or pilloried on the HBO satire “Veep.”
On the ABC series “Scandal,” the political adviser is instead idealized. In that self-serious but addictively trashy nighttime soap opera by Shonda Rhimes, the Washington fixer played by Kerry Washington is the heroine and alpha character — even the president, an ex-lover, has to beg for her attention.
“Borgen” takes a far subtler and more beguiling view of people and political relationships, even though it is shown with subtitles and is almost impossible to find on screen.
Season 1 traced Birgitte’s transformation from the head of a small centrist party to the head of the Danish government. Birgitte’s was an unexpected, exhilarating rise that at times turned brutal and lonely, and only Kasper, and the viewers, truly shared it.
Season 2 followed her quest to hold onto her post, and at times, her soul.
It’s a psychologically astute show in which characters evolve in ways that can be surprising but are always internally consistent. Birgitte is a charming, idealistic politician with a hidden vein of pragmatism and cunning. Kasper is a womanizer and a slick, even slimy campaign operative, but he is his best self in the dirty world of politics, a fiercely dedicated and loyal aide who intuits Birgitte’s needs, fixes problems and doesn’t make a fuss or ask annoying questions.
And Kasper is one of the few consolations the heroine of “Borgen” has, because even in Denmark, it turns out that women can’t have it all. Birgitte has what looks at first like the perfect Ikea marriage: a handsome husband who puts his own business career on hold and takes over rearing their two children so his wife can pursue public office. But once Birgitte becomes prime minister, the demands of her job take a toll on even his patience.
And the prime minister isn’t the only one supporting the point that Anne-Marie Slaughter raised in that infamous “not having it all” essay in The Atlantic. The problem spans three generations. Katrine (Birgitte Hjort Sorensen) is an attractive, ambitious and hard-working journalist in her early 30s, and is alone and lonely despite a few passionate affairs, including an on-and-off one with Kasper, who is also her best source. (It’s a very small country.)
Katrine doesn’t need to explain her blues to Hanne (Benedikte Hansen), her editor and confidante. Hanne is a grizzled former foreign correspondent who is divorced, estranged from her grown-up daughter and living alone with her dogs and a steady supply of red wine.
Not unlike its depiction of politics, “Borgen” provides a bleak assessment of the female condition that is also sympathetic and layered, with occasional glints of bone-dry humor. The image of women in power isn’t always cheering, but it is respectful — Birgitte and her ilk don’t indulge in the usual catfights or “All About Eve” rivalries that fuel so many dynamics on television. There is sexism, even in Denmark, but the women of “Borgen” don’t play into easy stereotypes and neither do the men they rely on.
“Borgen” may be the hardest show to find on American television, but at the moment it’s also one of the best.
Where to Watch ‘Borgen’
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
Trying to find “Borgen” is a little like trying to do arithmetic with the Red Queen in “Through the Looking Glass” — it can seem foolhardy to even try.
Link TV is in the midst of rebroadcasting Season 1 (Episode 5 will be shown on Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times; the finale is on Nov. 18) and is planning a marathon of Seasons 1 and 2 over Thanksgiving weekend, so it’s not too soon to start figuring out how best to watch it.
ON TELEVISION Link TV is available by satellite on DirecTV and the Dish network. While some of its programs are also offered by major cable systems, “Borgen” is not one of them.
ONLINE LinkTV.org also shows programs online free, but it is a complicated setup: each episode is available online after broadcast for two weeks. But viewers can’t go back further than two weeks to watch initial episodes. All episodes of Seasons 1 and 2 will be online for two weeks after the Thanksgiving weekend marathon.
ON DVD Discs are sold on Amazon.com, but they are European editions that do not work on most North American players.
Season 3 is in production and could be ready for broadcast in the United States next spring.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/ar...ref=television