The story moves along at quite a pace in these episodes. We’re learning a lot but still feeling pretty far from a resolution. What we don’t end up with is a long list of silly red herrings, which The Bridge and The Killing were famous for, and that is absolutely fine by me. The focus remains on the victims and how the unforgivable events at the Valhalla Boys Home connect them.
The missing woman Brynja is the body discovered murdered in the basement. She is given a glowing character reference by Hakon, the local police officer, as a lovely old lady. But the woman working in the town archives says quite the opposite – that Brynja worked in a nursing home subsequently to her time at Valhalla and was accused of neglect.
As Kata sits in the most picturesque petrol station you could ever imagine, surrounded by amazing snow-capped mountains, tech expert Erlingur takes a break from the endless CCTV work of this crime and sends her the video we’ve all been waiting for; the one recovered from Kari’s phone. It’s just as bad as we’d suspected – it shows a young girl being raped by a gang of teenage boys. How is her seemingly adorable chubby-cheeked son involved?
The files on the Valhalla home have been taken from the archive by the Ministry of Justice where, years ago, they compiled a report on all of Iceland’s children’s homes. Petur is the State Prosecutor, who pops up to defend the indefensible. The report is suspiciously short, marking the home as “exemplary” despite only four of the 12 boys being quoted. Petur says there’s nothing suspicious about this as the home was only open from 1986 to 1988, and Kata reacts angrily, overwhelmed by this obvious cover-up and by what’s going on with Kari. She’s given several serious dressing downs by Helga, who must have now realised that Kata her loose cannon.
Continue reading “The Valhalla Murders – Episodes 3 & 4”