Riget II (The Kingdom II)

The first episode of ‘The Kingdom’ introduced the broadly drawn, melodramatic characters, their surreal situations and provided a mystery that was only partially solved. The ending of the first also left viewers with many unresolved questions: Will the arrogant, vitriolic Swedish neurosurgeon Helmer obtain the voodoo potion he needs to destroy the earnest young doctor Krogen before Krogen exposes him as a quack? Will the vengeful, crazed anesthetist Rigmor successfully force Helmer to marry her? What of Bondo, the surgeon who became a research guinea pig by having his Masonic brothers transplant a diseased liver into his body? What about Ruth who was tricked into pregnancy by a malevolent doctor's ghost? Will her baby be normal? Finally, will the intrepid hypochondriac Mrs. Drusse be able to help the hoards of ghosts accidentally released at the end of the last episode? In answering these and other questions, this series of episodes goes even further beyond reality's fringes than the first. (Sandra Brennan)