An ashen-faced man tentatively approaches the counter of a dingy police station. “I’d like to report a crime,” he tells the sullen officer behind the desk. “A murder.” “And who’s the victim?” asks the officer, notebook at the ready. “I am.”
Though it is a fictitious conversation, it feels both ridiculous and inevitable in the mind of mushroom entrepreneur, Jaakko Kaunismaa (Jussi Vatanen), who, after enduring unexplained ill health for months, has had his life turned upside down in the space of a single medical appointment. A blood test has detected evidence of a slow and irreversible poisoning, which would explain Jaakko’s recent symptoms, and his descent into serious and life-ending organ failure. It’s also the reason he now finds himself contemplating a bizarre range of hypothetical next moves on the steps of a police station.
The news is delivered less than gently by the world-weary Dr Janiveran (Kari Väänänen) who tells his patient with almost laughable flippancy that there is nothing that can be done; Jaakko’s time is nearly up. Faced with a terminal diagnosis, Jaakko is forced to confront the imminence of his death, but also the question of who is responsible for it. Everything that Dr Janiveran has said reiterates for Jaakko that this poisoning is no accident, but rather a carefully calculated process that will undoubtably kill him in the most brutal and drawn out of ways.
The shocking news jolts the reserved Jaakko into a hunt for the person responsible for the poisoning. Credit: Reel Media / Jukka Koskinen
Unfortunately, the mushroom entrepreneur’s tendency to sleep-walk through both his personal and professional lives up to this point means that, when he begins to compile a mental line up of potential perpetrators, there are plenty of frustrated, dissatisfied and self-interested individuals around him who could be behind such a plan. Not exactly an ideal scenario when you have finite time to figure out who wants you dead the most.
Jaakko's marriage with Taina (Saara Kotkaniemi) is the source of another blow. Credit: Reel Media Ltd
If it turns out that Taina doesn’t have the callousness of a criminal mastermind, then those at the helm of the newly founded Hamina Mushroom company certainly do. Asko Makitupa (Kari Hietalahti) and his associates are unapologetic in their attempts to muscle in on the mushroom business in the small Finnish town, and Jaakko is all too aware his competitors will do whatever it takes to seize control of the industry. The combination of former felon and astute businessman makes for a particularly threatening style of negotiation, and they’ve got their eyes on Jaakko’s staff. And his mushrooms. It’s worth pointing out that mushrooms are not just a lucrative business venture for the individuals at the heart of this series: they are a commodity of influence in Hamina, one that Jaakko and his colleagues now risk losing at the hands of their competitors.
Asko (Kari Hietalahti, centre) and his henchman Tomi (Jari Virman, left) and Sami (Pekka Strang, right) come to deliver a warning.
Based on the bestselling book by Finnish author Antti Tuomainen, The Man Who Died is Nordic noir but not as you know it. Each of the episodes in the six-part series benefits from a subtle humour that accompanies the challenges of Jaakko’s situation, not least in part due to the clever adaptation of Tuomanien’s characters for screen by Irish writer Brendan Foley (Cold Courage). Though his future in love and business is uncertain, the certainty of his death provides Jaakko with an opportunity rarely afforded to victims of murder: the chance to find his killer and bring them to justice.
The fact that Jaakko’s fast approaching death remains a secret from those around him is perhaps his greatest advantage. With quite literally nothing left to lose, Jaakko is prepared to put everything on the line to secure his life and legacy, and in spite of his diagnosis, feels he is far from the end of the journey. In fact, he’s just getting started.
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The Man Who Died - season 1 episode 1
