Wisting's Whiffing

A Norwegian crime drama that's been keeping me guessing, but not in the way you might expect.

Sep 16, 2024

Imagine you’re watching a fictional television series about a distinguished senior police detective. He’s a tall, stone-faced figure who puts in lots of extra hours on the job, and is highly regarded and respected by his peers, subordinates, and the community he serves. Many consider him a hero. Newspaper headlines and media reports even refer to him as such.

Next, imagine that same detective royally screwing up nearly every case he works on. He has exceptionally bad instincts, and in the few instances in which he doesn’t crap the bed, it’s his adult daughter (a journalist) who unwittingly derails the police department’s efforts. Imagine that most of those mishaps could easily be avoided if the detective and his daughter simply talked to one another for more than a few minutes in passing, and compared notes — something that doesn’t happen, in large part, because the detective inexplicably doesn’t answer his cellphone when he sees that it’s his daughter calling (regardless if he happens to be busy at the time). Incidentally, the detective also doesn’t answer when it’s his son trying to reach him, though he does occasionally make lunch or dinner plans with his boy… only to reliably stand him up (and either not realize or a care about if for several hours).

Now, it’s not that the detective and his crack-unit team of investigators don’t solve crimes. They do… kind of. Sure, it may take several years in some cases, and it’s typically because a suspect will blurt out an unsolicited confession, or evidence will fall right into someone’s lap, or an individual from outside the police department will put two-and-two together and then hand their work over to the police (for which the investigator will take modest-sounding credit at a press conference or award ceremony, where he’s once again celebrated as a hero).

Lastly, consider that the detective loses every physical altercation he finds himself in, including against perpetrators who are much older, smaller, and slower than he is. Seriously, it’s like the guy’s never gone through any basic hand-to-hand or self-defense training in his life.

You might think by now that I’m actually describing a satirical comedy (or possibly an Inspector Gadget reboot), but I assure you I’m not. I’m describing Wisting, a critically acclaimed Norwegian crime drama. The investigator in question is William Wisting, and the character and series are based on a series of bestselling novels. My wife and I started watching the show a few weeks ago.

If you check out the trailer, you might get an idea of what compelled the two of us to give it a shot:

Looks pretty good, doesn’t it? Compelling story. Cool setting. Decently acted. Sharp cinematography. There’s even Carrie-Anne Moss to lend it some acting gravitas and American appeal. The show is clearly intended to be taken seriously, and the critics have certainly recognized it as such.

But with the absurdities I described above, I’ve been more fascinated by it than anything. It’s as if the show’s writers decided from the beginning that they were going to conduct a cutting-edge storytelling experiment: infusing a sober crime drama with intense characters (which I’m sure the novels do), with objectively atrocious police-work… in part to see if the audience picks up on the latter.

I mean, it’s pretty clear to me that Wisting (the television character) and his bumbling are really a detriment to his community, but I’ve seen no evidence (at least online) that other viewers do.

I proposed the “inside joke” theory to my wife. She doesn’t buy it. But I really do wonder if I’m onto something, because while some of Wisting and company’s screw-ups require a little disassembling and afterthought to truly recognize their consequences, a lot of the botchery is just right there in your face. And if my theory right, I’ve really got to hand it to the writers for going in such a bold direction.

Allow me to provide some examples from the first season alone, and tell me what you think (warning, lots of spoilers ahead):

Wisting is unaware that his neighbor has been dead, in his home, for several months. After eventually walking next door and discovering the badly decomposed body, Wisting determines there to be no signs of foul-play. Natural causes. Case closed. Only, Wisting’s daughter (who has no police experience) later discovers a good amount of evidence (just by poking around in the home a little, and asking a few questions) that the neighbor was actually murdered. She tries to tell her father as much, but Wisting keeps blowing her off, essentially patting her on the head and sending her on her way.
Wisting doesn’t know a serial rapist/killer is living in his town until a fingerprint brings two FBI agents over from America, who quickly point out to Wisting and his team that dozens of young blonde women (fitting the killer’s well-established M.O.) have gone missing in the area over several years. News to them! The revelation sheds new light on the mysterious disappearance of the long-missing (and young and blonde) niece of a former police-colleague of Wisting’s (who’s since gone off his rocker because Wisting’s investigation into the matter turned up nothing).
Wisting does manage to keep secret the fact that the FBI is in town, and assisting with the investigation (news that would alert the killer that law-enforcement is finally closing in on him). Good job, Wisting! Unfortunately, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Wisting’s daughter ends up sleeping with one of the FBI agents, and leaks a photo of the agent’s ID to her boss… who promptly reports the FBI’s presence in the local newspaper.
The serial killer is quite up in age (from being able to get away with years of raping and killing on Wisting’s watch), and moves pretty slow. But somehow he has enough zeal to kidnap Wisting’s young, blonde daughter (I guess to go out strong). Thankfully, Wisting shows up at exactly the right moment… not to save the day, but to get his ass kicked (badly) by the geriatric killer, from which he has to be saved himself by one of the FBI agents.
After being publicly hailed once again for his bravery and closing the case (despite the FBI doing all the real work), we learn that an earlier Wisting case was marred by planted evidence, and that the wrong individual may be serving hard time in prison because of it. Wisting had nothing to do with evidence tampering (phew), but does concede that he’s never had much confidence that the individual he put away for years actually committed the crime he was convicted of. Holy hell!

How is William Wisting even still a police officer, let alone a detective? But like I said, that was just season one. Season two plays off the same theme. Warning: more spoilers. First, Wisting needlessly removes a violent prisoner’s shackles, which leads to the prisoner successfully escaping custody (Wisting doesn’t bother running after him), and the death of a colleague. Next, he falls for a tracking device being placed on a Roomba vacuum cleaner. Then, per usual, he gets physically manhandled and beat up by everyone he gets in a confrontation with.

I keep expecting there to be a chase scene where Wisting runs through a yard of rakes, stepping on each one, and popping himself in the face hard with handle after handle…and then, when finally makes it to the end of the yard with a bloody nose, receiving an award for being injured in the line of duty. We haven’t gotten to season three yet, so — who knows — maybe it will actually happen.

Anyway, all of this has to be on purpose, right? I mean, the writers have to know that any objective review of Wisting’s job performance would disqualify him from public duty. Heck, some of it may even be deserving of criminal prosecution. Yet, he’s portrayed throughout the series as an intelligent man of good conscience and strong integrity. And because of that crazy disconnect, I can’t stop watching the darned show! I truly find whatever the writers are doing so utterly fascinating that I’m sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the next no-sold Wisting blunder.

Bring on season three!

Have a favorite overseas crime drama? (There are actually a ton I like). Tell me what it is in an email or in the comment section below.

Daly on the Mind

Bernie Goldberg appeared on Bill O’Reilly’s show last week, and yours truly received an unexpected (and rather amusing) shout-out:

A little context: Years ago, Bernie was a longtime regular on The O’Reilly Factor, and these days he occasionally appears as a guest on O’Reilly’s web-show. Because of that connection and history, Bernie’s website (which I’ve long written for and host some video-series on) receives quite a bit of traffic (and a good number of subscriptions) from O’Reilly’s website. Thus, O’Reilly’s name comes up a lot on Bernie’s site, usually in the form of questions (in the comment section and weekly Q&As). And when I express my honest views of O’Reilly and his work, they’re not always complimentary (which he has apparently noticed).

At least he was a good sport about it.

The Hullabaloo

Last week on the Daly Express podcast, I talked to bestselling novelist Terrence McCauley about his books, his love of history, conspiracies, and more.

Here’s a preview:

You can watch the full video version on BernardGoldberg.com, or listen to the audio podcasts on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Social Media Meets Real Life

About a decade back, one of my early Twitter follows/followers was professional wrestler, EC3. He’s a reader, and we’ve kept in touch a little over the years. He was even slated to blurb one of my Sean Coleman Thrillers a while back, but a chaotic work schedule at the time kept him from getting it to me before the publishing cut-off date (thus Lance Storm became my first pro-wrestler blurber).

Anyway, when I saw (much to my surprise) that he would be coming through my town last weekend on a wrestling tour through Colorado, I picked up a ticket. The event was a lot of fun, and it was great catching up afterwards. He’s a very cool guy, and a tremendous athlete and entertainer.

Random Thought

Obligatory Dog Shot

It’s a stretch.

Catch Up on the Sean Coleman Thrillers

All of my Sean Coleman Thriller novels can be purchased through Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Books-A-Million, and wherever else books are sold.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading today’s Daly Grind.

Want to drop me a line? You can email me at johndalybooks@hotmail.com, and also follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and now Threads! If you haven’t subscribed to this newsletter yet, please click on the “Subscribe now” button below. Doing so will get these posts emailed directly to you.

Also, if you’re not caught up on my Sean Coleman Thrillers, you can pick the entire series up at a great price on Amazon. And if you’re interested in signed, personalized copies of my books, you can order them directly from my website.

Take care. And I’ll talk to you soon!