THE SHOW: Alex is a six-part Swedish police crime drama starring Dragomir Mrsic as the titular character, Alex Leko, a cop – not to be confused with “a policeman,” a distinction this show is at pains to make – who has, well, made a bad choice or twelve, and must now deal with the consequences and protect the lives of those he loves. Reading the press materials for this show was wild: Mrsic, a very fine actor, had insider info on the mind of an imprisoned criminal because he used to be one! Yes, he spent three years in jail for robbing a bank. Perhaps it is his checkered past and his hope never to return to it that makes him commit so fully to the role, but whatever his motivation, the guy is incredible and so is this show.

THE FORMULA: Well, we all know and love the formula for Scandinavian noir: hardened but painfully ethical detective staring balefully out a window, butting heads with his chief, ignoring his wife’s phone calls for the sake of justice. That’s not Alex. This guy has messed up royally, getting himself mobbed up with the most vicious gang around for fun and profit – except it’s not fun at all, and no profit is worth the destruction left in the wake of Alex’s bad decisions. Naturally, he comes to this realization far too late to extricate himself, his partner or his family from the reckoning. Hmm, who would have thought a brutal gangster who kills his own friends with would turn on you? For all his faults – and they are legion – you can’t help but love Alex. He’s a good man who turned into a bad cop, but… he’s extremely bad at being a bad cop! He is SO bad at it, and yet simultaneously so tough. Every insane attempt he makes at fixing things gets him deeper into hell, and he seems unable to stop himself from confessing the worst of his crimes to anyone who will listen, so desperate is he to find a way out.

[LOCATION] WAS LIKE ANOTHER CHARACTER: This was filmed in Gothenburg, which is cool, but it’s hardly noticeable – you’ll be much too busy gripping your armrest until your knuckles are white to even register any scenery. It might as well be Grand Rapids, and who cares? Mrsic’s voice is so gravelly and gruff, it’s sometimes hard to tell he’s speaking Swedish.

BLANKET STATEMENT: Oh, I spent all six episodes of Alex under the blanket – there’s a good bit of violence. But, get this, it’s yet another thing Mrsic comes by quite honestly: he’s a blackbelt and a former Nordic Champion in Taekwondo! He puts that training to good use. Really, it’s the moments between the confrontations that are the most intense. The mounting desperation that causes Alex to make ever more impulsive, dangerous moves was enough to give me lockjaw from clenching.

HEY, THERE: What else can I say about Mrsic? His name is Dragomir, for crying out loud. He committed the biggest theft of Swedish bonds in history! And is now playing a cop in a crime drama! He exudes virility and is literally amazing. Everyone else is pretty great, too. If you’re a connoisseur of Swedish police procedurals, you’ll recognize Stefan Gödicke from The Sandhamn Murders. As Alex’s nemesis, BG, he is chilling.

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Alex spends most of the series snorting cocaine off a car key, which I don’t recommend. And this thing is really too nerve-wracking to lay out a big smorgasbord. Still, at a mere 45 minutes an episode and a breakneck race to a the conclusion, you might want to have a fortifying beverage handy.