MovieChat Forums > Borgen (2011) Discussion > Season 3: Too much Torben, not enough Ka...

Season 3: Too much Torben, not enough Kasper

posted 9 years ago by roulin
4 replies | jump to latest

I enjoyed season 3 (despite the somewhat justified criticism from some that it was too "soap operay"). But I think they went overboard with Torben. I think he got more screen time than anyone else. I don't think that the character is that interesting (and certainly not his marital difficulties). Maybe one actor had more time availability than the other one and the writers wrote the season accordingly. But I thought that Kasper's character was definitely the more interesting of the two.

[–] ph75006 8 years ago

TOTALLY AGREE.

I really didn't understand why Torben got so much screen time. His character was reserved, awkward and uninteresting. Having an affair with one of his underlings just b/c she stroked his ego was so cliché and boring. I don't really know if it was the fault of the actor or the way his character was written but he had no presence, no "screen charisma.". I actually found his wife to be far more intriguing, even though she only appeared briefly here and there.

I loved the extra Katrine time but missed Kasper a lot. I don't particularly like the character but he's still very captivating to watch.

Heck, any other character in S3 was more interesting than Torben!!

[–] jock_tamsons_wee_brother 8 years ago

I've just started watching the Killing and the actor who plays Torben is in that as well. He is a totally different character and has presence in that series. At the end of Borgen was only about 5 years after that series was made and comparing the two parts, you would honestly think that actor was at least 10 years older. It does show how good an actor he is to be able to put that forward in his acting.

[–] dean-griffiths 8 years ago

I've also seen him in 1864 (which is a bit of a who's who of Danish tv actors). His part in that is completely different to that of 'The Killing or Borgen'.

[–] dean-griffiths 8 years ago

It was the actor who plays Kasper (Pilou Asbaek) choice not to return in a leading role for season 3.

Apparently Asbaek felt at the time that Kasper's story had been told and there was nowhere for him to go despite the writer thinking otherwise. Therefore they eventually came to an agreement that Asbaek would just appear in a few scenes for the purpose of continuity.

However Asbaek has since stated that he made a mistake in not returning for season 3 as a lead character and is very sad that he won't get the chance to play Kasper again.

I think the fact that his career in English speaking projects was just starting to take off around that time might have been another reason for him to only be partially involved in the final season.