Skip to content
The Legacy Season 2 picks up one year on from where Season 1 finished, which ended up splitting families apart in more ways than you can imagine.
IMPORTANT: This review assumes you have seen all of Season 1.
As Season 2 begins, Signe (Marie Bach Hansen) has long since taken over Grønnegaard, her relationship with Andreas (Kenneth M Christensen) never recovered and she’s still not bothered getting the decorators in as the house looks like the same bomb site it did when Veronika owned it. It doesn’t help that Thomas (Jesper Christensen) has dropped a sprog with Isa (Josephine Park), who was only meant to be staying for one night… sorry, given birth to a wonderful new extension to the overcomplicated family, namely Melody (Naya Sejling Beck, and at least three extras. Hey, as Jordy sang in 1992, It's Hard To Be A Baby ), and he’s basically turned the place into a hippy commune, as it’s full of drifters.
I bought my house in 1998, for example, and a year later I did not still have the previous owners knocking about. I kept envisaging Eddie Murphy to turn up and recreate the moment in Trading Places when he casually asked others to vacate his property with a “Get, the fuck, out!!!”
The selfish Emil (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard) is stuck in Thailand where the cops are, literally, taking the piss since they’re still testing him for taking drugs, Frederik (Carsten Bjørnlund) is still trying to gather up what’s left of his marbles, Solveig (Lene Maria Christensen) is still hot as ever, Signe is setting up her hemp fields business and Gro’s (Trine Dyrholm) still in the cellar bootlegging her dead mum’s works of art, which reminds me of an old Crystal Tipps and Alistair episode – which I wish I could find online – where she put together a load of old tat in about five minutes and sold it to a local shop which promptly put the artwork on sale for £500, a sum which felt like a hell of a lot of money back in the ’80s, even though it’s not to be sniffed at now. And talking of that, Gro’s still sniffing around the permanently-grinning Robert (Trond Espen Seim). Has he got love eggs up his arse or something? That smirk’s never off his face!
In addition, since Season 1, handball coach John (Jens Jørn Spottag) has had a haircut and I’m not sure if he’s had some work done on his face, or the make-up’s improved, but he actually looks slightly younger. Will Season 3 see him revealed as Denmark’s answer to Benjamin Button?
The first episode does not set the scene well as it just brings everyone into the episode in the most intensely tedious way, aside from a baptising with a difference, and while I’d heard disparaging things about Season 2, I was hoping it hadn’t gone downhill throughout. Thankfully, while it is slow to get started, it does improve better than the word that had spread, and even though it’s a lot less about Veronika’s legacy and more about families not getting on big-time, there are still scenes where you could cut the tension in the room with a knife. In fact, I was halfway through eating my dinner in one scene in episode 3, and I found myself having frozen with my fork in mid-air, not yet reaching my mouth…
That said, at one point in this, Signe says of her ever-annoying family, “Christ, will it never end?” and there were storylines in this season about which I felt the same. There are also some soap opera-like moments where two people will be talking or doing something, and in bumbles a third person, stumbling across a revelation. Then again, this also happened with Season 1 at times.
One slight difference – whereas series 1 episodes each started with a recap, then a first new scene, then the opening credits, Series 2 leaves anything new until AFTER the opening credits. Not sure why the change as I quite liked the layout associated with the first series.
A few observations which I’ll wrap inside a spoiler heading, so don’t read if you haven’t watched the series…
All of the episodes are a little bit shorter this time. For Season 1, they were close to around an hour, but now they’re around 53-56 minutes. Given that there’s only seven episodes this time instead of ten, and since there’s a lot less going on, the writers have clearly run out of ideas. It’s definitely something that should’ve been left at one great series rather than one great series plus one that’s limping around. Of course, as to whether you should watch it, well, if you’ve seen the first one then you’ll want to know how certain storylines are resolved, and then you may as well complete this one. It’s a shame it’s not as good, but then a sequel isn’t always as good as its original.
I don’t yet know if there’ll be a third season, but if there is, I may be interested but I won’t be craving it. I think enough of the Grønnegaard story has been told.
The Legacy is broadcast in 16:9 and this Blu-ray in is crisp and clear 1080p high definition, looking pin-sharp throughout, as you’d expect, 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. However, we still occasionally get the haunting guitar strumming of the main theme, sounding like the incidental music from zombie-apocalyptic future videogame The Last Of Us.
Sadly, this time round there are zero extras. Okay, so there wasn’t a great deal to shout about with the first season, but still, something is better than nothing.
The Legacy is mostly in Danish with occasional dialogue in English, and characters cutting between the two. Annoyingly, the English dialogue isn’t subtitled so as characters sometimes talk quickly, some of this dialogue might get missed and you think, for a moment, that the subtitlers have nipped out the back for a break.
The menu features some subtle animation plus a small piece of the theme, while chapters are better than previous Nordic dramas have been served, with 7 per episode. Arrow have also placed some Nordic Noir trailers before the main menu – they’re skippable, but they should really be placed in an extras menu.
The Legacy Season 2 is released tomorrow on Blu-ray and DVD, and click on the packshot for the full-size version.
The Legacy Season 2 – Official UK trailer
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
6 10 7 0 |
| OVERALL | 6 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 7 * 55 minutes (approx)
Year: 2015
Released: July 27th 2015
Cat.no: FCD1128
Chapters: 7 per epsiode
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Languages: Danish, plus some English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 1.78:1 (HDTV)
Directors: Jesper Christensen, Mads Kamp Thulstrup and Heidi Maria Faisst
Producer: Karoline Leth
Creator: Maya Ilsøe
Series writing credits: Maya Ilsøe, Maja Jul Larsen and Lars Andersen
Music: Kristian Eidnes Andersen, Magnus Jarlbo and Sebastian Öberg
Cast :
Gro Grønnegaard: Trine Dyrholm
Thomas Konrad: Jesper Christensen
Signe Larsen: Marie Bach Hansen
Veronika Grønnegaard: Kirsten Olesen
Frederik Grønnegaard: Carsten Bjørnlund
Emil Grønnegaard: Mikkel Boe Følsgaard
Solveig Riis Grønnegaard: Lene Maria Christensen
Robert Eliassen: Trond Espen Seim
Lone Ramsbøll: Kirsten Lehfeldt
Lise Larsen: Anette Katzmann
John Larsen: Jens Jørn Spottag
Kim: Peter Hesse Overgaard
Aksel: Mikkel Arndt
Henrik: Bo Carlsson
René: Josephine Raahauge
Ole: Morten Kirkskov
Svend: Michael Moritzen
Martin: Rasmus Botoft
Camilla: Marijana Jankovic
Jan: Jens Andersen
Niels: Ian Burns
Janne: Nanna Buhl Andresen
Villads Grønnegaard: Victor Stoltenberg Nielsen
Hannah Grønnegaard: Karla Løkke
Andreas Baggesen: Kenneth M Christensen
Melody: Naya Sejling Beck
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.