Borgen is a remarkable, unique Danish television show that may have established it’s own genre. Every other TV show to focus on politics that I have ever seen has added elements of fantasy; normally these shows and movies are “political thrillers” where someone always dies; occasionally they’re comedies. Either way, there is a balance between realism (in some cases) and concessions to entertainment. Borgen is not one of those shows. Borgen is very much like the most realistic fictional TV show ever made about national government politics.

There are no murders/deaths and the scandals are real political scandals – this politician overspent, that one had an affair, that one has minor secrets in his past. It’s both a blessing and a curse, because Borgen is not exactly entertaining in the traditional sense.

And, for me, this is where its biggest flaw comes in. In order to add entertainment, we get soapy personal relationships. The balance is pretty reasonable in the first two seasons, but in season 3 things go off the rails a bit and, frankly, I had a really hard time caring about Torben’s marital woes.

But I think most of us can overlook this flaw for most if not all of the show, a show that is otherwise extremely remarkable and daring in its commitment to telling a story entirely based in a recognizable reality that matches our own.