8.060 minSeason 1 • Episode 13
LatestWhen a Native American is found dead under a bridge on the Wabacooche Indian reservation, Amy’s new boyfriend and Indian Reserve Police Captain, Jesse Rocha, wants in on the case. Backstrom then learns that Indian meth-king Norwest, of Cooch County, is a suspect in the case, and he is convinced his father, Cooch County Sheriff Blue Backstrom, knows about Norwest’s drug dealings, leaving Backstrom to make a difficult decision. Meanwhile, in order to keep his job with the S.C.U., Backstrom must impress Dr. Deb.
Detective Lieutenant Everett Backstrom is a man with no filter. After a five-year exile to the traffic division for offensive behavior, he has returned from disgrace to lead Portland's newly minted S.C.U. Tasked with navigating the city's most sensitive and serious cases, he must solve each crime as he tries, and fails, to change his own self-destructive behavior. Based on renowned Swedish criminologist and novelist Leif G.W. Persson’s hit series of books of the same name.
Acting
Rainn Wilson weaponizes Dwight's desperation into something genuinely broken.
Writing
Hart Hanson's dialogue lets Backstrom be awful without losing your sympathy.
Production
Portland's gloom becomes the 14th character, all moss and regret.
Creator
Hart Hanson
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Rainn Wilson fought to keep Backstrom physically unfit—he gained 20 pounds and insisted on visible sweat stains to sell the character's decay.
The original Swedish novels feature Evert Bäckström as an even more repulsive protagonist; Hart Hanson softened him for American audiences, then got cancelled anyway. The irony!
US
