Beck, the series, can sometimes be as slow and plodding as the old man himself but this episode is a cracker, which takes the team into areas darker than they have even dared before.
We’ve been leading up to these events for some time; with the loose cannon detective Josef and the corrupt police boss Klas Fredén clearly both heading for some kind of violent resolution to their story arcs.
Josef wakes up in a hotel room with a dead girl – even he doesn’t seem to know what happened. He stumbles out into the night and goes on the run.
Flashback to a shooting at a petrol station some days before; the Beck team investigates, but can’t find any motive for the killing of a family man. More likely, they conclude, the intended victims were a scarred woman and girl inside the building, who have disappeared.
Josef, his career on the line after his violent run-in with SAPO agent Kent in the previous episode, gets an irresistible offer from Klas Fredén, now in charge of SAPO – do a favour for him, and Josef’s charges will be dropped, along with Alex’s. In a reflection of Jenny’s corruption by Fredén in the previous episode, Josef takes the bait. His assignment is to find the scarred woman who has come into possession of a stolen painting of Dante’s Inferno – Fredén says this is at the request of the Belgian Sureté, the first of many lies.
Josef tracks down the woman through a colleague at a strip club, but when he confronts her in a hotel, she winds up dead, the painting gone, and Josef on the run.
The Beck team concludes from CCTV footage that Josef was the only one to enter and leave the room, so they – particularly the judgemental Steinar – are rather too quick to assume his guilt. In fact, Beck says it was probably a mistake to employ him in the first place.
When it seems that there’s no hope for Josef, three new bits of evidence emerge; one of the strippers points the finger at the dead girl’s sugar daddy, a gangster known as The Red Knight; Josef follows Klas Fredén and sees him having lunch with the very man; and Alex finds more CCTV footage, showing two killers climbing into the window of the hotel room where the girl died.
Josef confronts Freden, who tries to slime his way out of things as usual, justifying his corruption by arguing that keeping the gangs happy makes for a peaceful life; but his taped confession, together with the fact that he has the missing painting, seals his fate. Josef turns himself in, and the Beck team raids Fredén’s suspiciously luxurious house, leading him to kill himself, with his brains ending up appropriately splattered over the stolen painting. The Red Knight and his gang of drug dealers, killers and people smugglers are also rounded up.
It’s a clever resolution to a saga that has been a while in the building, but it leaves the Beck team with difficult questions to answer as to whether they have been corrupted by Fredén, the rotten apple in the barrel.
Plot-wise, we have a few questions – why did Josef not remember the events in the hotel room? Okay, he’d been knocked on the head presumably, but it was a bit convenient that everything was a blank. Secondly, why would Fredén be daft enough to have lunch in public with a known gangster? And thirdly, if the gangster’s aim was to recover the painting stolen from him, why then give it to Fredén? And why would Fredén accept it, as it would be clear evidence of his corruption?
These few plot niggles aside, this is the best Beck has been for some time. We didn’t even have to put up with much of a comic interjection from Beck’s neighbour, just a brief observation about shredded boxer shorts.
But can Josef redeem himself in the eyes of the team and the force? Will the eager Steinar jump in to fill his place? And who will replace Fredén as their boss? Anyway, it’s not going to be a comfortable time around the water cooler for next week’s final episode of the season, and it will be tough to top the events of Inferno.
Chris Jenkins
READ MORE: OUR EPISODE ONE REVIEW
READ MORE: OUR EPISODE TWO REVIEW
Beck is broadcast in the UK on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer
The Killing Times 
Grannen isn’t his name. It means “the neighbour “.
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Valdemar is his name IIRC.
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It is, but even the IMDB credits him as ‘Grannen’, or on Wikipedia, ‘Valdemar Grannen’.
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Quite right, but he’s credited as “Grannen”.
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Some thoughts on the plot questions.
1. Maybe he was hit in the head as he exited the toilet and never saw anything. He cuffed her to the bed and went to the toilet to take a pee. He never doubted that he was not the one killing her.
2. The head of the company was seen as a respectable business man and not a known criminal (yet). But agree, risky for Klas considering what Klas knew about him.
3. I think the main aim for him was to get to the woman. Klas agreed to help him but his overblown ego wanted the painting in return.
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Have to admit we gave up on this one.
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Just felt it was too Josef centric. First episode it was Vilhelm and now Josef, who seemed to be able to get exactly what he needed (car, cable ties, dictaphone) and evade capture remarkably well. And very disappointed in Alex for lying to save him. Always thought Freden was slimy and very political, never thought of him as corrupt until this episode.
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Freden has clearly been ethically dubious since his arrival in Beck several series ago. This was a fitting sudden and dramatic coup de grace for him, and his “quid pro quo” in the previous episode was a nice clear reveal of his modus operandi (not just political, but corrupt, and enjoying his power too much) in lead up. I agree the only major plot hole was Josef not knowing he’d been knocked out, but that is not inconceivable. The painting clearly was to be Freden’s reward for handing over the informant (a further confirmation of his sin, and the insight into his luxury home and bachelor lifestyle – the Bang Olufsen opera, fine whisky, preening delectation and notable solitariness – were also nice touches) and the Red Knight was a legitimate business man
at the point they met, although I agree a public assignation was perhaps lacking the caution you’d expect.
Also Freden is not Beck’s boss and has not been for years, he is a higher up in other police departments, latterly the “Swedish CIA” SAPO. But the lingering question might be the bigger fish he alluded to in his final interview.
I have always found Beck strangely compelling and enjoyed its annual return. A long-standing and expert cast that they are not afraid to kill off, now and then, adds to the appeal. The biggest question is probably how they handle the old man’s retirement. His grandson surely too callow to take on the mantle, but his introduction perhaps a clear sign of intent for the franchise.
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In ”Inferno” , Oscar was converted to a villain and was held in cudtody. In the following movie, he turns up in jis normal police habitus, as if nothongvhad happened. What have I missed or misunderstood? Please explain, somebody!
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