THE BREAKTHROUGH – Review by Diane Carson
The Breakthrough charts the second longest Swedish murder investigation.
Most streaming crime dramas and police procedurals offer six, eight, or more episodes with lots of action. Therefore, the quiet, Swedish four-episode Netflix series The Breakthrough is both surprising and impressive, for it avoids all the usual clichés: the car chases, the explosions, the shootouts, the dark alleys, etc. Instead, it burrows into the second longest murder investigation in Swedish history.
October 19, 2004, in Linköping, early in the morning, an unprovoked, hooded young man fatally stabs eight-year-old Adnan, casually on his way to school. The murderer then attacks middle-aged Gunilla, screaming as she intervenes, attempting to aid Adnan. Immediately, the detective known only as John promises Adnan’s parents and Gunilla’s husband that he will find the killer. Despite DNA blood evidence and the murderer’s hat, access to national and international databases, what follows is a frustrating sixteen year pursuit of false leads, dead ends, and useless interviews, with fallout including the breakup of John’s family life, a stunned Swedish community, and victims’ relatives emotionally devastated.
Based on journalist Anna Bodin and genealogist Peter Sjölund’s 2021 novel, The Breakthrough: How the Genealogist Solved the Double Murder in Linköping, the series takes dramatic license with some facts while incorporating critical details, accurately crediting forensic genealogy for its critical identification of the Golden State Killer in the U.S. Learning of this, John enlists Per who uses this scientific tool to search family trees through public DNA databases. Time is running out, John warned that the fourteen-year investigation is weeks away from the cold case files. Meantime, Per lacks sufficient DNA samples to trace the crime scene DNA needed to identify the killer. Suspense builds.
Credit to the actual detective Jan Egon Staaf and co-screenplay writer/genealogist Peter Sjölund who became the first in Europe to employ forensic science to solve a murder. Most significantly, the series relates the ripple effects of the murders and the toll on the community, law enforcement, and relatives. As John, Peter Eggers registers the demoralizing, distressing impact on him, crushing his relationship with his son and wife. Gunilla’s husband sleep walks through the years while Adnan’s parents struggle daily. As it should be, director Lisa Siwe emphasizes the human tragedy, the perpetrator all but an afterthought. In Swedish with English subtitles, The Breakthrough is streaming now on Netflix.
