This is a multi-layered 10-part series that directly or indirectly involves the activities of the Danish Energreen energy company. Its poker-faced managing director Alexander ‘Sander’ Sodergren (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) presents it as a forward thinking company that is concerned about the ecology of our planet. As the series progresses we learn that he is a skilled manipulator of his staff, politicians and the media.
Sander turns a blind eye to the dodgy practices of his traders (except when they are likely to be exposed), plays the stock market at the cost of his rivals and in the science-fiction-like setting of Abu Dhabi he uses all his skills to get investment in a fantastic superconductor project. Behind closed doors he admits the project is more a dream than an imminent technological breakthrough, proving yet again that behind the mask of ‘saving the planet’ he is a ‘simple businessman’ who is there to make a profit at whatever cost. He’s not that bothered about giving power to the people it is just a means to an end.
In the Energreen legal department, ambitious Claudia Moreno (Natalie Madueno) gets promotion by discovering dirty dealings in the company. Her work quickly impresses Sodergren, who has great plans for her future career. At home she is separated from her husband and they share looking after their child as best they can, though this soon runs into difficulties when he plans to move to Paris.
Elsewhere, we get police officer Mads Justesen (Thomas Bo Larsen) who is suspicious of a death at an Evergreen wind turbine construction site. He thinks the company is cutting corners to hit production targets and promises the Ukranian workers that he will tackle their health and safety concerns. Ironically, his intervention makes things far worse for the workers and he makes it his mission to get justice for them. Like Claudia’s, his home life is complicated, he has to juggle with the demands of work and looking after his children and wife, who has multiple sclerosis and a secret that he unwittingly discovers.
Into this heady mix is the storyline surrounding young garage mechanic Nicky (Esben Smed Jensen), who wants to earn enough to buy an apartment in a good area for his partner and their baby. So he is easily led astray by Bimse (Lucas Hansen) a reckless fellow mechanic, who drags him back into his old life of stealing cars to order, this time for a ruthless and impatient Serbian gang (aren’t they always). This has inevitably far-reaching consequences when they steal a car containing an iPad with Evergreen secrets on it.
The spread of stories and characters, makes it hard going at first but after a couple of episodes it does pull you into the unfolding drama as it brings in new characters and lets loose twists and turns that you don’t expect. It is an intriguing, engaging and beautifully shot look at the underbelly of corporate wheeler dealing that will make you think twice about the source and production of electrical power, and the political powers that run our modern world.
FOLLOW THE MONEY / CERT: 15 / DIRECTORS: VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: NIKOLAJ LIE KAAS, THOMAS BO LARSEN, NATALIE MADUENO, ESBEN SMED JENSEN, LUCAS HANSEN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
