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Borgen Season 3 begins two-and-a-half years after the end of season 2 and we learn that Birgitte Nyborg (Sidse Babett Knudsen) has withdrawn from her political career and sports a new British boyfriend, Jeremy (Alastair Mackenzie).
You also discover, in the opening credits, that Philip Asbæk‘s (Kasper Juul) third place has been replaced by Søren Malling (Torben Friis). Okay, so Birgitte doesn’t need a right-hand man when she’s out of power, but since Juul was a major component of seasons 1 and 2, it does jolt you a little. Thankfully, he is still in the cast.
Torben Friis’ boss, Gregers Toft, is seen telling him that their ratings are down, which isn’t good news for the management, yet he points to the fact that the audience rate Friis’ news programmes highly, hence quality can stand proud despite the slight drop in the number of viewers. One show that gets great audience appreciation is political debate in “Juul & Friis”. Alas, Gregers is on his way out and the bean counters are about to be in charge once again, so his tenure is threatened.
It comes as little surprise, yet welcome relief, that after all this time in the private sector, Birgitte decides that her political will is stronger than anything and she yearns to be back in the hot seat and so now is the time to attempt to take back control of the Moderates and secure her position in power yet again. She hires Katrine Fønsmark (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen), who has since split from Kasper, to help her get back to where she was, while Katrine is getting into the joys of motherhood like full nappies and the child’s screaming tantrums, with Kasper joining in playing happy families as the father.
Turncoat Jacob Kruse (Jens Jacob Tychsen) now leads the Moderates, so Birgitte doesn’t get a look-in and ultimately wants to set up her own new party, bringing in Katrine as her strategic manager, the job which Kasper used to hold. So the former PM is kind-of doing a ‘Jerry Maguire’ – setting up a brand new business and hoping others will come in with her.
But will this new party take her all the way back to the top, or will someone be along to stab her in the back? After all, politics is far from a friendly game, and there’s always someone who’ll want to get one step ahead.
This is the final season of Borgen and it’s just as fantastic as it always was. Yes, it’d be wonderful to have a fourth season, but this is mostly a drama centering on a handful of key characters so you know that further seasons would result in big cast changes and, with political topics, scenarios would be repeated before too long. Hence, while I’m looking forward to what the cast and creators do next, I would like to see them all work together on something soon. It’s like when you have a favourite film series. There’s only so many sequels they can do before they have to move on, so it’s best when they work together but on a brand new project.
Borgen Season 3 is Danish political drama at its finest!
Borgen is filmed in an odd ratio. It’s not 16:9 and it’s not 2.35:1, like some recent Channel 4 dramas like The Fear, Secret State and Utopia, but somewhere inbetween at 2.20:1. It’s different, but it works really well and gives a good, cinematic look to the world of Danish politics. The print is crisp and clear throughout with no issues and looks fantastic on my Panasonic 50″ Plasma TV.
The sound is in DTS HD 5.1 and is fine, but there’s nothing to speak of going on in the surround channel.
Unfortunately, in this package there are no extras, but while the DVD is a straight £30 at the time of release, the Blu-ray is merely teetering over the £20 mark, so given the fact that you’re getting ten hours of top-quality powerhouse drama with stellar acting, writing, production and direction, the lack of extras is not an issue with this release and I can highly recommend you make a purchase.
There are subtitles in English during any Danish dialogue, but when there’s occasional English dialogue, this isn’t subtitled. Chapters are very thin on the ground with just 5 per hour-long episode.
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FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
10 10 7 0 |
| OVERALL | Unmissable |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 10 * 60 minutes (approx)
Year: 2013
Released: December 16th 2013
Chapters: 5 per epsiode
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Languages: Danish
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 2.20:1 (HDTV)
Disc Format: 2*BD50
Directors: Jesper W. Nielsen, Henrik Ruben Genz, Louise Friedberg and Charlotte Sieling
Producer: Camilla Hammerich
Series writing credits: Jeppe Gjervig Gram, Maren Louise Käehne, Maja Jul Larsen, Adam Price, Maren Louise Käehne and Jannik Tai Mosholt
Music: Halfdan E
Cast:
Birgitte Nyborg: Sidse Babett Knudsen
Katrine Fønsmark: Birgitte Hjort Sørensen
Torben Friis: Søren Malling
Kasper Juul: Philip Asbæk
Bent Sejrø: Lars Knutzon
Jon Berthelsen: Jens Albinus
Nete Buch: Julie Agnete Vang Christensen
Jacob Kruse: Jens Jacob Tychsen
Grethe Fønsmark: Michelle Bjørn-Andersen
Jeremy Welsh: Alastair Mackenzie
Michael Laugesen: Peter Mygind
Hanne Holm: Benedikte Hansen
Ulrik Mørch: Thomas Levin
Gustav Juul Fønsmark: Charlie Top-Nørgaard
Philip Christensen: Mikael Birkkjær
Lars Hesselboe: Søren Spanning
Hans Christian Thorsen: Bjarne Henriksen
Svend Åge Saltum: Ole Thestrup
Niels Erik Lund: Morten Kirkskov
Magnus Christensen: Emil Poulsen
Laura Christensen: Freja Riemann
Simon Bech: Anders Juul
Pia Munk: Lisbeth Wulff
Dan: Kasper Lange
Pernille Madsen: Petrine Agger
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.