Summary
Wallander finally realizes that just maybe the enigmatic billionaire can’t be trusted as he continues to investigate a case that everyone seems determined to insist is closed.
This recap of Young Wallander season 1, episode 4 contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
Check out our spoiler-free season review.
We pick up in Young Wallander episode 4 right where we left off, with Zemar having just taken a sniper’s bullet outside the police station, which is a ballsy place to stage an assassination. Wallander and Hemberg give chase, trying to deduce the marksman’s position. They eventually make it to a nearby rooftop and corner the shooter, who seems to be Rickard Lundgren, Hugo’s father. “An eye for an eye,” he explains as his justification for the shooting. He wanted justice for Hugo that he didn’t believe he’d get using traditional means.
The question now is how Rickard knew — there’s a leak that must have originated in that building. Then there’s also the matter of who was blackmailing Zemar. Yara is brought in for questioning. They fled from Afghanistan due to the inappropriate nature of their relationship. “Do you know what it means to truly have nothing?” she asks. Zemar went out every day looking for ways to provide for their baby. One day, he came home with a job. A man had hired him as a driver. Very soon, he realized the job wasn’t exactly what he was told. He was told to pick a man up and take him to a warehouse; when he got there, though, he was given new instructions. So, it was him who took Hugo from The Cube. Yara believes the case will be closed now since Hugo’s death will be pinned on the “illegal, Sweden-hating immigrant”. Wallander starts promising that they’ll keep looking, but Hemberg shushes him. Yara’s right.
Wallander’s fuming about all this, so Hemberg gives him a couple of days off to “regain some perspective”. When he gets back to the estate, he finds Ibra right back on the corner working for Bash, so there’s perspective for you. At home, he drinks and watches the news reports of Zemar’s death and Rickard’s assassination; the media refer to Zemar exactly how Yara said they would, as a Sweden-hating immigrant.
At a loss, Wallander goes to see Mona. He breaks down a little, but it turns out she was just calling him to see if he was okay. He isn’t, obviously, but he says he is. He and Mona have sex, though, so he’s probably feeling a bit better after that.
With a spring in his step, Wallander goes to see Reza, who’s on the mend, if a little sick of Jasmine. But he has no ill-will towards Wallander — in fact, he wants to go over the case files with him. The boys are back in town. Time for a montage! This is basically a recap of everything we’ve seen so far, to make sure we’re keeping track of the clues. The big question is why someone would want to target the Munck Foundation, a charitable organization. On the television, while Reza snoozes, Wallander sees how Munck’s shares are falling after his TV statement insinuating the Swedish public are idiots.
Attention turns once again to Isak, Hugo’s best friend, and his dead giveaway Cube stamp. Wallander goes to visit the boy but is greeted by his father, who says that Isak basically does what he pleases. He hasn’t seen him for a couple of days, a week, maybe more, which is quite an incredible thing for a father to say, really. Wallander sniffs around Isak’s room, where, in a shoebox, he finds a little portable scale and some other assorted paraphernalia. He hides this from the boys’ father, though, and just asks to be contacted when Isak returns home.
Ibra, meanwhile, is on a downward spiral. His club contract has been cancelled despite him being proven innocent on the grounds that “there’s no smoke without fire.” Plus, a rival gang is trying to recruit him. He has to prove his loyalty to the group as part of his initiation, which is going to entail something violent and horrible which Wallander naturally feels he should prevent. So, too, does Bash, who agrees to see what he can find out.
Wallander shows Rask the picture of Gustav Munck and Isak and tells her that Isak is missing. She’s reluctant, explaining how he can’t do the job properly if he obsesses over one case, but she agrees to help him regardless. They go to see Gustav. Munck has Wallander’s father’s artwork hanging in the office. It’s Karl-Axel they’re greeted by, who informs them of a death threat against Gustav left on his car. He wants a second opinion on the threat that Gustav would rather their security team handled in-house. Rask shows Gustav the picture of Isak, who he clearly recognises, but he’s quickly spirited away. Karl-Axel says his assistant will reschedule, which seems unlikely.
In the meantime, Isak has been found. Wallander goes to see him at what looks very much like a crack den. Some musicians downstairs play a drumbeat that works as the backing track for a foot chase that ensues after Isak brays Wallander with a shovel and flees. But he has mistaken him for someone else. Isak confesses that he’s hiding because he owes money to drug-related people who apparently also killed Hugo. He explains how he got into dealing, starting low-level and working his way up until he was given a big opportunity to supply a swanky party. But he and Hugo blew half the drugs themselves and gave the rest away to hot girls. Isak thinks Hugo was killed as a warning since his dog was also killed by a grenade. You’ll never guess who was hosting the parties — Gustav Munck. “You ever heard of him?” asks Isak. “It rings a bell.” Oh, Kurt.
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