A Nuanced, Highly Charged Exploration

Sometimes it’s easy to paint the world in monochrome. People get ideas about the world around them, and deeply held convictions can be hard to confront. Creator George Kay and Director Kristoffer Nyholm challenge the way people perceive the police force in Blood Sacrifice (Blodsoffer). By refusing to call all police officers good or bad, they take a nuanced approach to what often becomes a sensitive, emotionally charged conversation.

It’s Friday night at 1:15 am when the phone rings at police dispatch. Someone has dialed 112 — the Swedish equivalent of 911. A woman is heard screaming for help, claiming that someone is going to kill her. Two patrol officers are dispatched to the woman’s location after the call drops. One officer goes in to investigate while his partner waits by the entrance ready to back him up if necessary. When he radios for help, his partner charges in.

The next day, Detective Thomas Berg (Jakob Oftebro) is handed the case of two officers killed and beheaded and arranged as though it were a ritual. Unsure of what to make of it, he begins investigating every lead. Unfortunately, there simply isn’t much to go on. That is, until the next Friday night at 1:15 am when the phone rings again at dispatch and a cry for help results in another two police officers losing their heads.

Jakob Oftebro and Peter Andersson are a compelling father-son pairing onscreen.

It’s become clear that Thomas is looking for a serial cop killer, but bureaucratic red tape leaves him with only one detective. He passes over his friend and colleague Max (Henrik Norlén) in favor of the rookie on the force, Natalie (Electra Hallman). Thomas begrudgingly accepts help from his father, Alfred (Peter Andersson), a former detective well respected by the force despite having been fired.

The three detectives become the centerpiece of an investigation that casts a net much wider than any of them could possibly have anticipated. Thomas’ family drama provides a much-needed conversation about the families of police officers and the sacrifice they make to support their loved ones. Still, the bigger fish to fry is the police as an institution and the people who make that institution up.

As the case is investigated, it’s revealed that Alfred is less than perfect. That’s true of Alfred as a cop and even more so as a father and grandfather. While it seems absurd at first that Alfred is even being secretly read in on the investigation into such a sensitive case, it eventually becomes clear that Alfred is not the only one to play in the gray area of the rules.

Blood Sacrifice explores the nuances of police work beyond just simply good or bad.

Cops are portrayed in so many different ways throughout the course of Blood Sacrifice. The police union chief, Britta Sköld (Anna Maria Käll), is driven by ego. She puts on a face of trying to protect her members, but that armor cracks under even the slightest amount of scrutiny because, more than simply being safe, Britta wants to be the one who made them safe. Other characters are corrupt. Thomas and Alfred both make choices throughout their investigation that don’t put them in the best light.

It becomes clear that even when well-intentioned, the police are just humans like everyone else. They can do great, awe-inspiring work, but they can also make terrible choices. Blood Sacrifice shows officers with unwavering ethics and a desire to do the right thing for the right reason. The series also shows officers with severe trauma. It makes the case that officers often just need someone to hear them, and that the institution often scoffs at therapy even when members of the force want it.

Jakob Oftebro and Peter Andersson are brilliant in bringing Thomas and Alfred to life. Despite being limited to five episodes, they find ways to show their characters changing — sometimes for the better and sometimes for worse. Their onscreen chemistry is impeccable, making for a believable father-son duo even if their relationship has more dysfunction than warmth.

Plot threads are dropped unexpectedly, with Blood Sacrifice instead choosing a safer route in the end.

Unfortunately, despite an important message and great performances, the writing at times was extremely confusing, and the ending was so cliché that Alfred says so explicitly, almost breaking the fourth wall. After spending the first four episodes setting up a great premise and exposing every weak spot within the institution of police work, the last episode ends up feeling derivative and is the weakest of the entire season. In fact, it nearly undermines the four episodes that precede it.

Threads are dropped where choices look like they’ll result in real consequences, but at the end of the Blood Sacrifice finale, it’s all smiles and no one is talking about the real problems that several people’s choices caused. Understandably, characters are ready to have a good day after so much uncertainty, but it still feels unsatisfying to have seen so many seeds planted that were never re-examined.

With its final episode, Blood Sacrifice reaches a completion in story that is overwhelmingly rare these days.

Where Blood Sacrifice gets it right is by finishing the story. As of this writing, a second season hasn’t been ordered. If the series isn’t renewed, the story ends on a completed note. There are no cliffhangers to resolve, and these dropped threads will only ever be a minor annoyance.

Blood Sacrifice refuses to reduce the police force into “all police are bad” or “all police are good.” By taking a more nuanced approach to the institution, it shows that institutional issues can certainly influence people one way or the other, but it puts the responsibility for choice on the person making it.

Blood Sacrifice never pretends that all police are justified in every action they take, but it also refuses to see every police officer as a monster. Ultimately, the series makes its strongest point by recognizing that there is rarely anything simple about the people behind the badge—or the institutions they serve.

Blood Sacrifice is streaming now, exclusively on Netflix.