Post Description

Raid (TV Series 2000)

"Raid," pronounced like "ride," is a Finnish TV series (12 episodes and a later movie) about a scruffy hit man whose nickname relates to the bug spray ("kills indoors an outdoors" is one version). The series is very entertaining, wryly funny, and follows the strain of crime fiction that flows from Western, cowboy fiction. Raid and the Blackest Sheep is the first of the Harri Nykanen novels (on which the series was based) to be translated into English by the new Ice Cold Crime imprint.

The book is essentially a road novel rather than a mystery, though there are some revelations at the end. Raid is helping a career criminal named Nygren who has returned home to Finland for a kind of farewell tour, settling scores and making amends. A hard-nosed detective is trying to find out if Nygren is planning a last heist, and Raid's friend on the police force, Lieutentant Jansson, is lured out of a rehabilitation center (where he's supposedly losing weight) when Raid calls him.

The result is a wild ride across Finland, with colorful characters among the police and the criminals very much in evidence. Raid himself is a curious combination of laid-back friendliness and ruthlessness, with a dash of very dry wit. Nykanen's writing is quite unlike anything else in Scandinavian crime fiction (even the other Finns), with perhaps more in common with neo-noir writers like Alan Guthrie. The book also has something in common with the dour and off-center comedy of the leading light of Finnish cinema, Aki Kaurismäki.

Cast: 
  Kai Lehtinen  ...  Raid (12 episodes, 2000)
  Oiva Lohtander  ...  Komisario Jansson (12 episodes, 2000)  
  Pekka Huotari  ...  Vanhempi konstaapeli Huusko (12 episodes, 2000)  
  Kirsti Väänänen  ...  Vanhempi konstaapeli Susisaari (12 episodes, 2000)  
  Mari Rantasila  ...  Tarja, nakkikioskin myyjä (12 episodes, 2000)  
  Juha Muje  ...  Pornokauppias Sundman (12 episodes, 2000)  
  Tuula Nyman  ...  Apulaispoliisimestari Ritva Hakala (12 episodes, 2000)  
  Esko Salminen  ...  Uki Kukkamaa (10 episodes, 2000)  
  Ossi Ahlapuro  ...  Ylikomissario Tuomela (10 episodes, 2000)  
  Miitta Sorvali  ...  Komisario Janssonin vaimo (9 episodes, 2000)  
  Mira Kivilä  ...  Tutkija Arja Wessmark (9 episodes, 2000)  
  Anna Pitkämäki  ...  Pornokaupan apulainen Pirjo (8 episodes, 2000)  
  Tapio Liinoja  ...  Hammar (7 episodes, 2000)  
  Risto Aaltonen  ...  Liikemies Hallvik (7 episodes, 2000)  
  Minna Koskela  ...  Wathen (7 episodes, 2000)  
  Kari Sorvali  ...  Asekauppias Takamäki (7 episodes, 2000)  
  Rea Mauranen  ...  Ukin vaimo Raili (7 episodes, 2000)  
  Heikki Määttänen  ...  Suvela, poliisin vasikka (6 episodes, 2000)  
  Ilkka Merivaara  ...  Toimittaja Seppälä (6 episodes, 2000)  
  Kylli Köngäs  ...  Seija, Huuskon tyttöystävä (5 episodes, 2000)  
  Markku Maalismaa  ...  Rekkakuski Ratsumies (5 episodes, 2000)  
  Matti Onnismaa  ...  Pärnänen (5 episodes, 2000)  
  Timo Eränkö  ...  Tittonen, valtion virkamies (5 episodes, 2000)  
  Risto Salmi  ...  Perse-Arska (5 episodes, 2000)  
  Olli Ikonen  ...  Sisäministeri Noronen (5 episodes, 2000)

Post info:
Country: Finland 
Language: Finnish
Subtitles: English (12 x ext.srt)
Video: 12 x avi; best viewed with a media streamer with upscaling
Release Date: 6 February 2005 (USA)
Runtime: 504 min (12 parts)
Covers: streaming covers
ETA: before tomorrow's snow ;)

This is a spot. Thanks to polis :)