Ranking Every HBO Miniseries From Worst To Best

The 2021 Danish miniseries started off with a noble intention. Taking inspiration from the murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall, the conceit was to make a crime drama that didn’t dwell on the lurid details, attempting to tell a story of loss and grief without exploiting a real tragedy. To that end, the series keeps the murderer out of sight, and features no blood or violence.

With all these caveats, though, The Investigation is all the same yet another installment in the worrying trend of dramas based around violence against women. It attempts to deglamorise the genre and succeeds to a degree, but at the heart of the series is a real murder that took place just four years ago, without which there wouldn’t be a programme.

The focus on the investigation rather than the crime is patient and methodical but can lapse into tedium at times. Director Tobias Lindholm seems so concerned with avoiding exploitation that the series can feel a little flavourless. If there was this much concern over the subject material, perhaps the idea was a non-starter from the off.