Aahana Swrup
Netflix’s Swedish crime drama show ‘Genombrottet,’ better known as ‘The Breakthrough,’ presents an engaging narrative about a brutal murder that leaves a lasting stain on a whole nation. In 2004, two murders—of a young kid, Adnan, and an elder woman, Gunilla—leaves the city of Linköping shaken up. John Sundin, the town’s most trusted detective, is put on the case to bring justice to the victims and their families. Yet, despite an eyewitness and years of extensive research, no valid suspect turns up. Sixteen years down the line, John remains obsessed with finding the killer and finds a new lead as his paths cross with the work of genealogist Per Skogkvist. Still, as the duo team up, they find themselves working on a time crutch, with each ticking moment increasing the chances of their investigation turning into a cold case. SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Breakthrough Recap
October 19, 2004, begins as a normal day. Adnan Abbas, a middle schooler, walks down the same path he always takes to get to school. However, he ends up falling victim to a killer’s brutal stabbing on the side of the road. An elderly woman on her way to work—Gunilla— notices the commotion and attempts to stop the killer. As a result, the killer also attacks her. Yet, before he can kill her, her screams attract a passerby cyclist, Karin. As the other woman witnesses the brutality in shock, the killer manages to run past her and make their escape. Soon afterward, the authorities arrive on the scene as news of the attacks goes public.
John Sundin, a detective and former Olympian athlete, finds himself leading the investigation into the murders. Initially, many—including the detective—believe the case will be open and shut, thanks to the eye witness at the scene. Nonetheless, much to Karin’s horror, she realizes that she can’t remember the face of the killer despite her grating efforts. Although the police attempt to track the killer through other identifiers, such as his clothes, this also proves to be a dead end. Even John’s attempts to use the DNA from the crime scene to identify the killer come up empty due to lack of data. The detective attempts to fix this by calling civilians who fit into the profile of the killer in for cheek swabs to expand their database.
Nevertheless, although thousands of men between the ages of 15 and 30 turn up for the swabbing, no DNA matches are found. Through it all, John stays in contact with the families of the victims, the Abbases, and Gunilla’s husband, Kjell. Still, his consistently empty results become another burden on the traumatized families who continue to have their hopes crushed with every dropped lead. On his part, John tirelessly works on the case to the point for the months that follow. During this time, his relationship with his wife, Anna—who recently gave birth to their son, Henry—worsens.
Eventually, one sliver of hope emerges when the detective comes up with the idea of using hypnosis to trigger Karin’s memory of the killer. However, even though the idea works and helps the witness produce a police sketch for the suspect, the vague likeness of the man becomes another unfollowed thread. While this unfolds, a high school football player, Ante, grows agitated under the mounting pressure of the investigation. His fidgety behavior and denial to participate in the swabbing draws the attention of one of his teammates. Even though he confronts Ante about it, he never reports him to the authorities, keeping the high schooler off John’s radar.
As such, sixteen years pass without any real headway in the case. John never gives up on the investigation, letting it consume his life. Even so, despite the thoroughness of his investigation, he remains no closer to catching his killer. Inevitably, his new boss, Marin, informs him that the department is planning on shutting down his investigation to reallocate the resources. Therefore, with only two weeks left, the detective grows desperate. Fortunately, he stumbles upon news of an American serial killer’s arrest, orchestrated through revolutionary DNA technology. Thus, he decides to put his faith in the same technology and tracks down a leading Swedish genealogist, Per Skogkvist.
Per has been working on his genealogy work for years, only for people to overlook its real value and simply use it to unearth familial secrets. As such, when John finds him, he’s fairly unmoored by his work. The same compels him to quickly get on board with the idea of helping the detective with the case. Initially, the duo ran into some trouble with privacy laws while getting permission to use Per’s research for the investigation. Still, they make their case efficiently enough. As a result, in the brief window, before the department closes down the case, John finds his biggest lead yet.
The Breakthrough Ending: How Does John Catch the Killer?
John Sundin exhibits absolute devotion to the case of Adnan and Gunilla’s murder throughout its 16-year-long course. He goes through every protocol in the system, from DNA testing to running background checks for potential similar attacks, in hopes of discovering a pattern. He even manages to extract a photographic reference for the killer from a woman who had given up on the idea of recalling the dreadful memory. Nonetheless, all of it rings him to a dead end. It isn’t until his paths cross with Per that a real breakthrough dangles on the horizon.
Per is a genealogist who excels at using public records and data to create a family tree for any individual. He can track people through their distant and close relatives by comparing DNA samples within his fairly large pool. Although his fascination for the work emerges from its groundbreaking potential, most people only view it as a means to usually uninspiring ends. However, once John reaches out to him, it offers the opportunity to showcase his work’s more productive uses. Per is confident he will be able to find the killer—with the condition that he can access a better DNA profile for the suspect.
The authorities first retrieved the DNA sample for the case in the mid-2000s, intending to use it to find a clear match. Therefore, they didn’t pay attention to the varied nature of the sample, or lack thereof. Consequently, he is only able to parse out preliminary information about the killer’s German ancestry. John tries to jump the gun and vie for a premature international arrest warrant. In response, Per attempts to explain that tracing anyone’s ancestry through Germany is impossible due to sealed family records of the 20th century. When the detective continues ignoring his input, the genealogist comes close to quitting in frustration.
Consequently, John sees the error of his ways and agrees to let Per take the lead in areas of his expertise. It’s difficult for him to hang over the reins to anyone, even momentarily, since he’s been working on this case for more than a decade. Nonetheless, he learns to share his burdens once he realizes he can’t solve the case without Per. As such, he convinces the other man to return to the investigation with the promise of a better DNA sample—something the police are able to mine from the beanie collected as evidence years ago.
Thus, the duo gets back on track and is devoted to the research-centric nature of the investigation. Naturally, a new complication brews on the horizon. Stina, a journalist who has been trying to get exclusives on the case for years, hears about John’s partnership with Per. As such, she concludes that usage of such technology must be a breach of privacy laws since it mixes police work with the public record. Therefore, she threatens to go public with the connection. This could be lethal for the investigation since John is already working on borrowed time, equipping Per’s help under the guise of plausible deniability.
John wants to wrap up the investigation before an official dismissal prevents him from employing Per’s help on the record. For the same reason, he convinces Stina not to run her story in exchange for an exclusive interview with him and Per. Yet, the latter holds another condition: he asks for the journalist’s swab. The way his research works, he needs as big of a data pool as possible to single out a few interconnected people and then hone into their relatives to find a match to the existing DNA. In the end, it’s this swab—belonging to Stina—that brings John and Per to their killer.
Who is the Killer? What was His Motive?
From the get-go, the narrative presents a clear suspect for the audience: Ante. He is a twitchy teenager who remains on alert as John’s investigation unfolds around him in the initial few months. His behavior drastically changes, becoming more and more paranoid. He refuses to provide a cheek swab at the station, and he isolates himself from his regular routines. Although this invites some clear suspicions, it isn’t enough to become actual evidence. Even his refusal to consent to the swabbing is otherwise explained through his previous assault charges, adding him to the group of criminals who are paranoid about the DNA test regardless of their connection to the murder.
Therefore, it isn’t until someone comes forward about him and reports him to John that he comes up on the detective’s radar. Despite remaining initially quiet about the entire thing, Ante’s former friend from football reaches out to the authorities to report his previous suspicions after the case enters his consciousness again with its revival. Nonetheless, Ante’s character ends up nothing more than a red herring. Ultimately, Ante’s DNA isn’t a match to the one found in the murder’s effects. However, even as his name is cleared up, Per’s research introduces another prime suspect.
Per had already managed to secure two relatives, and Stina’s DNA was the final piece of the puzzle. With these three points of connections, the genealogist zeroes down the suspect’s exact DNA match between two brothers, David and Stefan Nilsson. Of these two, David, the anti-social hermit, presents the obvious suspect. Once Per finalizes his research, he shares the findings with John, allowing him to gather a task force for David’s arrest. Soon enough, they have the man in custody. From there, the process becomes surprisingly easy.
After his arrest, David doesn’t fight the charges and confesses to the crime. He claims that he carried out the murders because the voices in his head told him to kill two people to find peace of mind. It remains evident that he has some psychological problems. Nevertheless, they remain unidentified as his confession, and the DNA match confirms his identity as the killer. Even though court trials remain pending, the case closes for all intents and purposes. John is finally able to carry out the promises he made to Adnan and Gunilla’s families by bringing the killer to justice. Likewise, Per’s work is recognized as a groundbreaking tool.
Why Couldn’t John Give Up on the Case?
In terms of characterization, John Sundin remains an intriguing protagonist as he devotes himself to one singular case for sixteen years of his career. While it’s true that the killings were brutal and left a dark impression on the whole town, it affects the detective in unique ways. The friends and families of the victims mourn the loss of their loved ones, grappling with the idea of moving on. On the other hand, the larger public becomes eager to witness the arrest of the killer to feel safer in their hometown. Through it all, the attention remains on John, the official face of the investigation.
John makes big promises of catching the killer and avenging the departed. He opens himself up to the pain of the others and, in doing so, makes the case more personal to him than others. His dogged dedication to the investigation ends up having a toll on his life as it affects his personal relationships. He ends up losing his marriage and continues to rip a cleave between himself and his son due to his patent unavailability. By devoting himself to the case, he robs himself of his life outside of it. Worse yet, even after 16 years, he has nothing to show for it.
For the same reason, John is unable to accept any alternative other than the definitive arrest of the killer. He can’t drop the case because doing so would be flushing years of his life and career down the drain. Furthermore, it would break the promises he has made to the victims’ families, condemning them to a life without any closure. Ultimately, once he finally solves the case—thanks to Per—the gravity of his actions becomes evident. By refusing to give up on the case, John brings closure to Kjell and the Abbas family. Similarly, he is also able to move past this chapter of his life and start a new one, beginning with the process of mending his relationship with his son.
Read More: Best Crime Movies on HBO Max
