Among family trees, fragments of DNA, and weighted silences, The Breakthrough shows how science — and good crime series — can still astonish us. It’s about crime, yes, but also about memory, inheritance, and what connects us to one another, even in the dark.
If he has a conscience he will suffer for his mistake. That will be his punishment – as well as the prison. — Fiódor Dostoiévski, em Crime e Castigo
Keywords: The Breakthrough Netflix, Scandinavian Crime Series, Best Nordic Noir Series, Forensic Genetics Real Cases, Artificial Intelligence Criminology, True Crime-Based Series, Shows Like The Breakthrough, The Breakthrough Netflix Analysis, Use of DNA in Criminal Investigations, Ethics of Genetic Data in Investigations, Netflix Crime Series Recommendations, Series with Scandinavian Detectives, AI Cold Case Resolution
Maurício Pinheiro
I’ve always been passionate about crime films and series. Maybe it’s because my father, a longtime fan of the genre, is constantly recommending one to me. He doesn’t reveal the plot, spoil any twists, or try to convince me — he just suggests. And for me, that’s enough. My trust in his good taste is all I need.
I watch many of these series at my own pace, especially on quiet, cold Saturday nights — alone, with my dog sleeping beside me, a glass of Merlot in hand, and a pack of Camels close by. It’s in this setting that I dive into the dense plots of Nordic Noir, or discover French, German, and Polish crime shows — almost always filled with eloquent silences, oppressive atmospheres, and breathtaking performances.
Every now and then, we try watching something American, just for variety. Of course, there are some lovely exceptions — Monk, for example. His neurosis solves more crimes than all the bullets in the police department. But in general, they’re rushed productions, with too many explosions and too little reflection. They lack that charged silence, that restrained tension, that kind of story that takes a breath before it strikes.
Although many of these series portray heinous crimes — rapists, psychopaths, pedophiles, and serial killers — watching them, oddly enough, helps me better understand human nature. They reveal, often brutally, that violence isn’t always just the product of environment or social circumstances, but can also be etched into our very biology.
This theme reminds me of the ideas of Robert Ardrey, a writer I deeply admire. In books like The Territorial Imperative and African Genesis, Ardrey argues that human behavior — including aggressive impulses — has deep evolutionary roots. Homo sapiens inherited territorial and aggressive instincts from our ancestors, instincts that civilization tries to suppress, with varying degrees of success. Thinking about this while watching a dark crime series turns entertainment into a kind of anthropological reflection.
Why Are Crime Series So Popular?
Perhaps because they offer something rare in a chaotic world: the promise that the mystery will be solved, that there is order within the apparent absurdity. While reality insists on leaving questions unanswered, good crime fiction delivers — in due time — a truth. Partial, painful, but clear.
They cast us as active observers, navigating between clues and silences, mirrors and guilt. Some shows offer action and escape. Others, like The Breakthrough or True Detective, invite us to think — about human nature, about trauma, about what science can uncover when eyes alone are no longer enough.
The success, in the end, may lie in that: not in the violence, but in the search. In the ancestral urge to understand what destroys us — and what, sometimes, still has the power to save us.
It is in this context — between the biological and the cultural — that The Breakthrough stands out, offering a stark contrast to the typical model of American crime productions: loud, rushed, with more explosions than introspection.
The Swedish miniseries, released by Netflix in 2025, is based on a remarkable true case. In 2004, in the city of Linköping, a 56-year-old woman and an eight-year-old boy were stabbed in broad daylight. The killer’s DNA was preserved, but for sixteen years, his identity remained a mystery. Traditional investigation methods had exhausted every lead. The case seemed unsolvable.
The turning point only came in 2020, when a technique previously unused in Europe was finally authorized: forensic genetic genealogy. The idea is simple and brilliant. Even if a criminal’s DNA isn’t in any official database, there might be a partial match with a distant relative — someone who took an ancestry test and allowed their data to be shared in public databases like GEDmatch.
It was precisely through this winding path that the case was solved. And here enters an irony that feels pulled from a fiction script — but is entirely real: the DNA that ultimately led to the killer’s identification came from a reporter. She had been investigating potential privacy violations related to the use of this method and submitted her own DNA as part of the journalistic inquiry. What she — and no one else — expected was that her sample would allow genealogist Peter Sjölund to trace the family tree that led straight to Daniel Nyqvist, the murderer. In other words: although journalism sometimes hinders investigations — through haste, pressure, or the premature release of sensitive details — it was, ironically, thanks to a journalist’s initiative that the final piece of this puzzle emerged.
Sjölund’s work involved meticulously building a reverse family tree. He worked his way back through generations, identified shared ancestors, and then traced living descendants. By combining this with civil records — names, ages, places of residence — he eventually reached the suspect. Confronted, Nyqvist confessed to the murders. A case once thought impossible to solve was finally closed.
The impact of this method is nothing short of fascinating. But it does not come without consequences. Most people who share their DNA with ancestry services do so out of personal curiosity — and have no idea they might be helping the police locate a distant relative. This raises delicate ethical questions around consent, privacy, and the secondary use of sensitive data. In fact, in Europe — where legislation like the GDPR strictly protects such information — a legal exception had to be made in Sweden for the technique to be used in this case.
As if that weren’t enough, we now enter the next layer: artificial intelligence. Today, forensic genealogy still relies heavily on human attention and patience. But tomorrow — and already in many places — AI is speeding things up. Algorithms can analyze genetic patterns in seconds, cross-reference data with public databases, and suggest connections between families, suspects, locations, and events.
In the United States, the FBI and various state police departments are already using AI to sift through large volumes of genetic data, drastically narrowing down suspects in cold cases. Software tools like GEDmatch Genesis and Parabon Snapshot combine machine learning with genetic profiles to predict ancestry, physical traits, and even generate approximate facial reconstructions from DNA. In cases like the infamous Golden State Killer, AI helped build genealogical trees and cross-reference records much faster than any human could. Since then, over 650 cases have been solved using this technique — often involving crimes left unsolved for decades — and more than 318 arrests have been confirmed through forensic genealogy.
Beyond that, AI systems are now being trained to identify rare genetic mutations, track genetic migration patterns over time, and suggest hidden kinship links that traditional methods would likely miss. In short, AI is becoming a powerful assistant in the field of genetic criminology.
The promise is clear: to solve more cases, in less time, with greater accuracy.
But the shadow is never far from the light — and if used carelessly, this technology can produce false positives, reinforce biases, or violate fundamental rights. Justice cannot be entrusted to machines alone, no matter how fast, silent, or precise they may be. We need human judgment to interpret what the data suggests — and sensitivity to remember that every genetic profile represents a life, with rights, complexities, and vulnerabilities.
When I finished The Breakthrough, I didn’t rush into another show. I just sat there, still, with the darkened screen reflecting my own face. Silence. It wasn’t just another episode ending — it was a real story, stitched together with pain, science, and persistence. And I kept thinking.
How many crimes still sleep in dusty archives around the world, forgotten in cold drawers, waiting for someone to reopen them with a fresh perspective? How many stories are locked in folders, and just need a genetic thread — an unlikely match, a patiently reconstructed family tree, a line of code trained to detect patterns — to begin unraveling in time and finally reveal the truth?
It’s strange to think that what may solve a murder is no longer a trench-coated detective with tired eyes, but a distant cousin who sent off a saliva sample to learn if he had some Basque ancestry. Or a silent algorithm connecting dots no one else could see. Or, as in the case portrayed in the series, a journalist investigating the ethics of the very tool that — by sheer irony — made the killer’s capture possible.
These shows fascinate us not only because they portray good versus evil, but because they reveal that truth is patient. That science, when used responsibly, can be an antidote to forgetting. And that justice, even when delayed, sometimes still arrives — carried by a genetic trace, a forgotten name, or a hidden data point uncovered by artificial intelligence.
And so we go on: between silences full of meaning, layered plots, and stories worth telling. And while new episodes pile up on our screens, it’s worth remembering that sometimes, the most valuable thing we can do is to stop — think — and listen to what keeps echoing after the credits roll.
Final Note – 20 Series You’ll Love If You Enjoyed The Breakthrough
(All personally watched, deeply appreciated, and strongly recommended)
If you, like me, prefer shows that lean into atmosphere, loaded silences, and layered characters — instead of flashy sound effects or aimless car chases — this list is meant to be savored slowly. Some of these I discovered by chance, during sleepless late-night channel surfing; others came through family tradition, directly recommended by my father — always spot-on, even without spoilers.
And yes, there’s something hypnotic about Nordic and Eastern European productions: the deliberate pacing, the melancholic cinematography, and, of course, those Finnish and Polish actresses who don’t need to raise their voices to interrogate a soul. They look at you as if they already know — and for a moment, you even forget you’re watching a crime series.
1. Bordertown (Finland) — Detective Kari Sorjonen, with traits on the autism spectrum, solves crimes with uncommon logic and a generous dose of obsession. The female cast is a show in itself — elegant, intense, and magnetic.
2. Entrapped (Iceland) — A snowstorm isolates a small town, and a body turns up at the port. Buried secrets slowly surface, unfolding at just the right pace. It’s not in a rush — it’s about depth.
3. La Forêt (France) — A teenage girl disappears in a village surrounded by dense forest. The investigation uncovers buried secrets and suffocating relationships. Tense, emotional, and marked by powerful female performances.
4. Dogs of Berlin (Germany) — Underground crime, neo-Nazism, football, and political corruption collide in a restless Berlin. Here, the noise is present — but it comes with substance, a rarity in shows where gunfire usually arrives before the story.
5. The Mire (Poland) — Crimes buried behind the curtains of communist Poland. Everything is dense, grimy, and meticulously crafted. And the Polish actresses… well, let’s just say I sometimes had to rewind scenes — I got too distracted watching them and lost the thread of the story.
6. Deadwind (Finland) — A detective returns to work shortly after her husband’s death and finds herself entangled in a case involving corruption, energy companies, and personal trauma. An atmospheric thriller with steady pacing and a powerful female lead.
7. The Åre Murders (Sweden) — Based on real events, the series follows the investigation of a young tourist’s murder in the Swedish ski resort of Åre. It’s tense and visually striking, with a chilling atmosphere that matches the snow-covered scenes and buried secrets.
8. Untamed (USA) — Despite a few of the typical shootouts found in American productions, this series makes up for it with breathtaking landscapes from Yosemite National Park and a dense, gripping plot. Eric Bana’s restrained and precise performance sustains the tension from beginning to end. A welcome exception to the noise without meaning.
9. True Detective (USA) — The first season, a self-contained story, is a rare example of philosophical depth translated into crime drama. Set against landscapes heavy with dark symbolism and moral decay, the series explores human fragility through broken, complex characters. The chemistry between Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, combined with a narrative that flirts with existentialist literature, makes this one of the most sophisticated pieces of crime storytelling American television has ever produced.
10. Capitani (Luxembourg) — An introspective detective arrives in a remote village to investigate the death of a teenage girl. As he faces the locals’ hostility and his own past ghosts, the plot gradually uncovers layers of corruption and buried family secrets. A rural noir — tense, atmospheric, and surprisingly effective for a production from a country rarely linked to the genre.
11. Copycat Killer (Taiwan) — Based on a Japanese novel, the series follows a serial killer who manipulates the media to turn his crimes into spectacle. Set in a rainy, oppressive Taipei, the story explores the toxic relationship between sensationalist journalism and justice. A surprising production that proves Asian thrillers can be just as dark and psychological as any European noir.
12. Dept Q (United Kingdom) — A British reimagining of the Danish crime novels by Jussi Adler-Olsen, set in shadowy Edinburgh and adapted by The Queen’s Gambit creator Scott Frank. The series follows brilliant yet arrogant detective Carl Morck (Matthew Goode), demoted to the cold case division after a traumatic shootout, as he builds a dysfunctional but unexpectedly effective team. More than a procedural, Dept Q dives deep into the emotional scars of both investigators and victims, blending crime and introspection with gothic aesthetics and a suffocating atmosphere. It’s a dense, elegant drama — for those who prefer silences and stares over car chases.
13. Young Wallander (Sweden/UK) — This series introduces a young version of the iconic detective Kurt Wallander, created by Swedish author Henning Mankell. Instead of setting the story in the 1970s, as one might expect, the show opts for a contemporary backdrop where the newly graduated officer faces an explosive case early in his career. The choice to place a young Wallander in a modern world sparked mixed reactions, but the dark atmosphere, relevant social themes, and Scandinavian aesthetic preserve the spirit of Nordic Noir. Whether you’re already familiar with the character or looking for a stylish entry point into Swedish crime fiction, it’s worth a visit.
14. Omniscient (Brazil) — Set in a futuristic Brazilian city, the series follows a massive surveillance system powered by drones that monitor citizens 24/7. By analyzing behavioral patterns with pre-trained neural networks, the drones detect infractions or signs of crime and automatically alert the authorities. The protagonist, a tech company employee, must outsmart the system to investigate a murder — and AI becomes both a tool and an obstacle in her pursuit of justice.
15. Jack Taylor (Ireland) — Based on the novels by Ken Bruen, this series introduces us to a hard-drinking, rule-breaking former cop turned private investigator in the grey, windswept streets of Galway, in western Ireland. Jack Taylor is a broken, ironic, and brutally honest character — more concerned with justice than with playing by the book. The show has an uneven, slightly rough-around-the-edges pace that, somehow, works: the crimes are always dark, often tied to deep social issues, and the rainy, melancholic atmosphere underscores the moral and institutional decay. If you’re into detectives who smoke too much, talk too little, and get beaten up often — but never give up — Jack Taylor is a solid pick. And Iain Glen (yes, Ser Jorah from Game of Thrones) delivers a performance that turns human failure into a quiet kind of power.
16. Bodkin (Ireland/USA) — Bodkin is a rare gem — a crime series as sharply funny as it is darkly mysterious. Set in a quirky Irish town brimming with secrets, it follows a podcaster and two journalists unraveling a decades-old disappearance, only to uncover something far more twisted beneath the surface. But the true standout is Dove: sharp, sexy, and effortlessly magnetic. With glacial stares, cutting wit, and a voice that commands without a whisper wasted, she’s the kind of woman who could seduce or dismantle you — sometimes both in the same moment. More than just a whodunit, Bodkin blends satire, suspense, and Irish soul into something refreshingly original — like a pint of Guinness with a wicked little twist. Based on a true story.
17. Zone Blanche (France/Belgium) — is a series that, while presenting itself as a supernatural crime thriller, dives deep into Celtic myths and local folklore. Set in the isolated and enigmatic town of Villefranche — surrounded by a dense forest where the murder rate is six times the national average — the show builds a haunting atmosphere where the inexplicable seems to lurk between the trees. In its second season, the connections to Celtic mythology become even more explicit, especially through the horned god Cernunnos and rituals tied to the ancient festival of Samonios, suggesting that forces beyond human understanding may lie behind the region’s brutal crimes. While it doesn’t feature a killer who literally embodies a mythological entity, Zone Blanche masterfully balances crime mystery and Celtic mysticism with rare sophistication, making it one of the most unique productions of its kind in French television.
18. Il Processo (Italy) — This 8-episode Italian Netflix miniseries follows public prosecutor Elena Guerra, portrayed with intensity and elegance by Vittoria Puccini, one of the most beautiful and expressive actresses in contemporary Italian cinema. While investigating the murder of a teenage girl in Mantua — a case involving one of the region’s most powerful families — Elena finds herself torn between the pursuit of truth and the ethical dilemmas that arise during the trial. The story unfolds almost entirely within the courtroom, featuring sharp confrontations between prosecution and defense that expose deep secrets and compromising relationships. Beyond its gripping script, Il Processo is a visual delight — not only for its meticulous cinematography, but also for Puccini’s commanding presence, whose serene beauty and piercing gaze quietly dominate every scene.
19. Anthracite (France) — Set in the fictional alpine village of Léví-onna, this miniseries follows the disappearance of journalist Solal Heilman and the reopening of a case linked to a dark cult dating back to 1994 — a time when several sects were under investigation across Europe. The story dives into dense mysteries, unsettling rituals, and visual symbolism that evokes almost supernatural presences. The atmosphere is steeped in ancestral weight, loaded silences, and a ritualistic tension that spreads through the mountains like a lingering fog. Despite an unfortunate touch of woke culture in some narrative choices, the series holds strong thanks to its compelling plot and the eerie setting that blends crime, memory, and mysticism.
20. The Baztán Trilogy (Spain) — Composed of three films based on Dolores Redondo’s best-selling novels, this Spanish series is a crime thriller that blends criminal investigation with the mystical legends of the Basque people, set in the dark and rainy Baztán Valley in northern Spain. The story follows Inspector Amaia Salazar, portrayed with captivating charisma by actress Marta Etura, who returns to her hometown to unravel a series of brutal murders of teenage girls. As the crimes unfold, Basque legends like the Basajaun — the “invisible guardian” of the forests — and other mythical figures emerge, blurring the lines between the rational and the supernatural. With a dense atmosphere rich in ancestral symbolism, the trilogy takes viewers on a hypnotic dive into a world where evil may be as deeply rooted as the ancient trees surrounding the village.
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