Which is my excuse for being late with my blogging. Even now, I need to find a suitably lightweight blog subject. Like cosy crime. Fortunately, Swedish Television has decided to air a generous number of comforting British crime shows as an autumn pick-me-up for us dog-tired Swedes. Somewhat unexpectedly, the second series of Ludwig is the one I've had the most time for this far.
Now, don't get me wrong, I really liked the first series of Ludwig as well. Only, one would have thought that I'd care even more for a show like Bookish, where the viewer actually has a sporting chance of solving the mystery, or Marble Hall Murders, where I've read the book (a great read for a long train ride). I had a good time with both these shows. I was a bit surprised by the description of Knecht Ruprecht as an ultra-scary Krampus-like figure in Bookish – surely not? – and I have notes concerning the unnecessary changes to the plot of Marble Hall Murders (Why Corfu? Why "The Tiny People"? Why isn't Julia stout?), never mind that it's the author himself who's made them. But these are merely quibbles, when there's slick storytelling and the cream of British actordom to enjoy in both series.
Ludwig, however, brought a satisfaction all of its own, which is hard to explain seeing as there's a minimal chance for the audience to work out each episode's murder mystery. Instead, you sit back and watch puzzle master John Taylor aka Ludwig be brilliant as he solves murders, now as himself rather than masquerading as his absentee twin brother James. The mysteries have a classic puzzle element, and though it doesn't always play as decisive a role in the solving of the crime as we're led to believe, there is no way we as viewers can crack the case with the information we are given.
This makes Ludwig a more unusual crime series than it at first appears. It doesn't really invite us to do any detecting of our own, which ought to damage the show but strangely doesn't. There's something relaxing about simply watching a character being clever rather than trying to be clever yourself – it's a bit like those Sherlockian deductions which are there simply to make you marvel (and not think too hard about ways in which they cheat). I've always scoffed at the assumption that whodunnits are satisfying because everything is tied up neatly, as opposed to the often messy reality of crime fighting. But in Ludwig's case it might actually be true. I love watching John tie a case up in a pretty bow and be successful at work in spite of his social ineptness.
That doesn't mean the show is perfect. Secondary characters like the new Detective Constables are often thinly sketched, the overarching mystery of James's disappearance grows ever more outlandish (a murdering local politician? Really?), and the second series takes no time to remind us of what actually happened in series one which aired about a year ago. A "previously on" would have been appreciated (maybe there was one which we Swedish viewers missed?).
Nevertheless, the hook of the overarching plot still holds: we want James to be found and his disappearance to be explained, but at the same time we don't want John to have to give up his place as part of a loving family. David Mitchell is funnier than in the first series, but he also sells the poignancy of his reply when James's wife Lucy asks him why he doesn't believe James simply ran away because he was tired of his life: "Because it's so nice."
I'm up for series three, though I suspect they can't spin out the James mystery for more than three series. And I wonder if they can possibly find a non-preposterous conclusion to the "murderous local bigwig" plot.
