*If you’re a fan of crime drama imports, most especially
British crime dramas and you’re looking for something a little different, it’s time to turn to Sweden.
The international co-production “100 Code” follows a Swedish detective, Mikael Eklund (the late Michael Nyqvist) who is paired with an NYPD cop named Tommy Conley (Dominic Monaghan) to investigate a serial killer in Stockholm, and there seems to be a connection between this killer and one who recently terrorized New York.
The 12-episodes limited series from Academy Award winner Bobby Moresco (“Crash,” “Million Dollar Baby”) takes place across an international stage as the scope of the crimes widens.
Check out our exclusive conversation with Dominic Monaghan
about fear and why we love serial killers.
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Why do serial killers make for good TV fodder?
DM: People are fascinated with that side of the human condition. How people can get out of bed in the morning, eat breakfast and do everything that other people do and then also have the mindset to commit these violent crimes? What is it in the person that allows them to do that? And we’re fascinated with trying to find out what that is so that we can look for it in the future and hopefully protect ourselves from it. For TV, it’s also quite a dynamic story for human beings to be so close to something so dangerous. We’re always aware of our own mortality. It’s like someone swimming with sharks. The serial killer kinda represents the shark in some way. Over the years, there’s been great success with the whodunit and different ways of exploring the serial killer story. And with a New York cop, it’s kind of a fresh take on classic crime stories.
Speaking of which, talk about your process for occupying the headspace of a New York Cop.
DM: Bobby Moresco is from Hell’s Kitchen in New York, so I spent some time with two retired detectives from Hell’s Kitchen to find out what it meant to be a police officer both at work an outside of work and some of the more outrageous cases they had to be involved with and study. And then, over the years, I read quite a lot of books about serial killers. So I just kinda refreshed my memory about Jeffery Dahmer and Ted Bundy — these well-known serial killers. And I purposely spent a lot of time on my own in Stockholm. I isolated myself, didn’t go out with the rest of the cast and crew. Spent my weekends on my own because that’s what Tommy Conley does when he’s in Stockholm. He doesn’t have any friends. He doesn’t spend any time socializing. So I did the same to try to be as close to him as I can be.
After watching the first few episodes, I’m left wondering if Tommy has a dark side that will affect his motives?
DM: Yeah — we’re pretty close to starting to unravel a little bit of the backstory of Tommy Conley. He’s certainly been involved in the deaths of people that he loves and partners that he’s worked with that ended up being killed and he has his own demons with substance abuse. So he’s not by any means a happy person, and he’s obviously moving in a field of work that is quite dark — there’s a lot of death and a lot of unfortunate material that he has to pick through. He’s quite a complex character and in the not too distant future, maybe this week, you’ll start to see a little bit about the younger Tommy and the guy he was back in New York.
Talk about Conley/Eklund’s dynamic. While there is tension between these two men, I feel like there’s a mutual respect for what they do.
DM: I think they get off on the wrong foot. Tommy comes in, kind of this brash New York cop thinking he can do whatever he wants and not have to live by anyone else’s rules. Eklund is from Stockholm and he says ‘we do everything clean in this country’ and that rubs Conley the wrong way because he just wants to get on with his job and solve the case. I think they bond quite quickly in terms of respect for each other. With the way that they work, they’re both willing to put their lives on the line. They’re both willing to risk their own safety to solve the case. But they are two different people. Eklund’s coming to end of his career and he wants to retire and live life out in peace and Conley’s a little bit more ambitious about where’s he’s at in his career. So there’s some friction but ultimately I think they begrudgingly become respectful of each other’s work ethic. And as police officers will want to do, they will risk their own lives to save their partners.
This show certainly plays on some of the societal fears we have…
DM: Yeah… I have pretty strong opinions about fear. I was lucky enough to work on this show with people who work with dangerous animals that a lot of people are scared of; snakes, spiders, and bats and bees and wasps and lions and tigers and stuff like that, and I kind of reject fear. I don’t think fear serves us in any way. Fear makes us more clumsy, makes us make rash decisions and maybe make the wrong decisions. I personally have had my own impassioned journey where I try my best in life to kind of reject anything that most people think is scary and move towards the things that a lot of people think is scary because I think there’s great lessons to be had there and great growth.
I have my own moments where scary things have happened in my life, we’re all human, but in terms of the show itself bringing up any particular insecurities or fears, there’s nothing. I’m not scared of the dark. I’m not scared of being on my own ’cause I don’t think that helps you. If you walk around in life thinking, “I could get murdered,”… anyone could get murdered, it doesn’t help you to walk around thinking “I could get murdered.” It’s not doing you any favors.
Does Tommy’s have any fear or insecurities that will manifest as he’s solving this case?
DM: Yeah, you’re dealing with a very dastardly, very sophisticated serial killer and he’s more than a match for Eklund and Conley so there are great moments of failure for Conley where he feels like he’s close to solving the case, he’s close to catching the guy and then the guy slips through his fingers. So great moments of frustration and moments where he’s obviously in a lot of danger but he continues to plow ahead because he’s not going to stop until he catches the guy.
This is a show that shows the human side of what it means to be a police officer and a lot of that human story is in failing 19 times before catching the guy on the 20th time. There are ample times in this season where it looks like all is lost for the police officers. That’s how you build the drama.
In the special, two-hour episode event, a turn of events has Detectives Conley and Eklund following a trail of bodies to their first female suspect, leading them one step closer to the mysterious ringleader, L.H.
Catch the new back-to-back episodes of “100 Code” Tuesday, June 26 at 10/9 PM CT.
Watch:
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