Midnight Sun

On the top of the world - in Kiruna, inside the Arctic Circle in far northern Sweden - a man wakes, strapped to the rotor blade of a helicopter. As the helicopter blades start turning, centrifugal force forces blood to the man’s head with such ferosity that it splits his skull and his head explodes all over the mountainside. When the event is discovered, DA Burlin knows this is a serious case. He assigns the haphazard Anders to be his local Deputy on the case, but reaches out to French police when he discovers that the deceased man, Carnot, is a French national. Burlin checks with the helicopter company and discovers that one of their pilots, Kambo, cannot be found.

The day after, Burlin is pronounced dead. It could be a stroke but the autopsy will hopefully tell for sure what it is. Anders is promoted to lead the investigation, a role he’s manifestly unsuited for. Not only is he nervous and bumbling, but he is half-Sami and is seen as an outsider both by the Swedes and by the indigenous people. Investigating the two murders they now have, Kahina notes that a number of logs were moved around the helicopter, as if that specific site was important to the murderer. Is there something ritualistic going on? She persuades Anders to take her to the Esrange Space Center outside town, where he discovers that two French projects were launched from there. The first of these was in 2000 and information is protected by an NDA.

The Sami God Saivo is seen walking straight out of the rock in a mountain, witnessed only by a lone Sami herdsman. Saivo then walks right into a waterfall, soon followed by the herdsman. The story of Saivo is being relayed by Anders to Thor… in bed. The pair are lovers who have been carrying on a relationship which Anders is reluctant to expose to the world. Kahina gets a new toxicology report on Burlin that confirms he died from gradual ingestion of two poisons. The poisons came from two flowers, both non-native to Sweden. Anders asks his mother to connect him with someone to help but she rejects him as ‘not Sami.’ However she comes to her senses and directs them toward a secluded farm in the mountains.

Kimmo is at work in the mine when he gets a video on his phone. It shows a panicked man, Elmen, tied to a train track as a train rushes in and ends grimly. Kimmo and his co-workers are disturbed… somebody knows what they did. They’re all disturbed by Kambo’s absence. Kimmo volunteers to go check his house. Kahina is taken in by Jori, who interrogates her. She calms him and he talks about the plants. He acknowledges that he had an email request for the plants. He was paid but never met the man. Jori has an alibi, having been out of the country and denies being part of the drug scene in Karensuando. Anders confirms it’s a town near the Finnish border. He knows the person to question.

Sparen is remembering the day of his son Johan’s death, 10 years ago. Sparen was held captive by Carnot while the Frenchman carried the boy into the water. Distraught, he confesses to Mabee, who says she is there for him. He must deal with it and it won’t change the way she feels about him. Sparen resolves to gather together ‘the 22’ - the people he shares this secret with - Kimmo and Jenny Ann included. As the cops track down Elmen from the note that Anders found, he can’t reach Kahina on the phone. She is still trapped in the swamp. Anders is told of Nadji’s presence in Kiruna, making it doubly strange that Kahina is missing. He orders a trace on her phone. At the same time, he is warned away from investigating Burlin as a potential criminal, which merely incites him to check on Burlin’s financial records. Kahina frees herself and stumbles down to a Sami reindeer herder before collapsing.

Ten years ago, the 22 gathered around the waterfall and drew lots to see who would take up a terrible responsibility, led by Burlin. Kimmo protects Sparen, whose son was murdered, but Forsberg ends up with the short straw. In the present, in the same place, but with a few of their number missing, Sparen suggests to the remnants of the 22 that they go to the police. Only Jenny Ann agrees with him. There are threats against him and Sparen agrees to keep quiet.

Kahina is overseeing a dive team at a beaver dam downstream from where Evelina was last seen. They find a skeleton wedged into the wood but it’s too dangerous to extract it without collapsing the dam. A diver volunteers and returns with a skull and a necklace. The skull reveals a bullet hole. Anders reviews Sparen’s skinned body - meant to look like a skinned bear. The Sami symbolism is evident. Kahina reports to him in private; they don’t know who the other members of the 22 are...maybe even other cops. She confirms the gun that killed the body in the dam was the same caliber as a gun found in Forsberg’s place. Eddie is leaving the mine when he’s joined by Jenny Ann. It’s her last day before maternity leave. He can’t believe his luck and asks for her help in the parking lot and abducts her. Officer Thorndal interviews Eddie at home about Evelina. Eddie tells Evelina to stay indoors but, when Thorndal hears a phone in Eddie’s truck, Evelina emerges. She insists that Eddie kills Thorndal as the officer approaches. At the last moment, Eddie knocks Thorndal out. He talks to empty air as if it were Evelina - clearly an image in his damaged mind.

In the depths of the mine, Eddie starts a fire so that black smoke begins filling the narrow corridors. Fire alarms start to sound. Kahina calls Alain to confront him about the uranium and he complies. He tells her it wasn’t normal uranium waste; it had been the subject of some dangerous and highly illegal experimentation that produced toxic and unstable side effects. Carnot had managed its illegal disposal. Kahina refuses to give him more information because the killer has their children. Alain confesses that he put a tracker on Nadji and promises to find them. He follows the signal while Anders and Kahina race to the mine.