FIFTY-two chauffeured Porsches, a viewpoint over the Oresund Bridge and hit Danish band the Choir of Young Believers playing in the background – you'd be hard pushed to think of a better way to bid farewell to The Bridge.
An elaborate curtain call, maybe. But as its stars Sofia Helin and Thure Lindhardt will admit, the Scandi-noir crime series – synonymous with Heilin's character's famous sports car – was never going to go quietly.
Even more so now the international hit – BBC Four's highest rated drama – has been upgraded to BBC Two for its fourth and final series.
Moving the action on two years, the concluding chapter sees Helin and Lindhardt reprise their roles as Malmo homicide detective Saga and her innately talented Danish partner, Henrik Sabroe, in another cross-border case that promises to test them both professionally and personally.
Add to that Saga's prison stint, having been accused of her mother's murder, and Henrik's struggle with the unexplained disappearance of his own children, and it's not set to be an easy ride for the duo.
"But you do come closer to us; it's a lot about their relationship this season," offers Helin (46) of Swedish screenwriter Hans Rosenfeldt's creation.
"The characters are so well written and complex, and they fit so well together that people are interested in seeing how they solve their lives," she reasons.
The overarching theme, however, is identity. With the trigger point the refugee crisis – and the timely murder of the head of immigration.
"She gets stoned to death," reveals Lindhardt (43) of the grisly attack. "And right before, they find out that she has been celebrating throwing someone out of the country – with Champagne.
"We actually have a case in Denmark where our minister for integration did that," he adds. "She celebrated with cake and put it on Facebook.
"But that happened after this was written," he points out. "Our show has always been very good at predicting things – tendencies and trends in society."
As for the anticipated twists and turns: "There's some" he teases. "But it's very much about, 'What are we if we are not what we think we are?' Often, as human beings, we identify ourselves with what we do.
"At least in my country, if you meet a person you don't know at a dinner party, the first thing you'll ask is 'So what do you do for a living?'," says the Danish actor, who replaced Kim Bodnia as the male lead last season.
"That is how we identify ourselves and others," he adds. "'I'm an actor'. Which is not true. I'm a human being. Acting is just a tiny part. The show has a lot to do with identity in that way."
"[Saga] wonders, 'Why do I live?', 'What do I do here?', 'Who am I?'," says Sweden-born Helin in agreement. "And I had the sense that taking away the police identity from her [whilst in prison] would see Saga on shaky ground, and that was a really interesting path to take."
And having played Saga, known for her leather trousers, abruptness and unintentional rudeness, since the show's inception in 2011, no-one knows the Swedish detective better. Though it's certainly not a role to take lightly.
"During the years, it's got easier and easier, but it takes a lot of effort. It demands a lot of concentration and focus," Helin says. "I was very irritated at her to begin with; I didn't understand how she functioned and then I realised the loneliness of being stuck in a disability," she adds of her character, who it has been suggested, but never stated, has Asperger syndrome.
"Then I started getting interested and I started to care for her."
What does she make of Saga being hailed a role model among fans?
"I've heard 'feministic role model'," she responds with a smile. "I take it as a compliment. I get very happy as I think that's something to aim for, for women and all humans to be able to say what they need and want.
"It has affected me to think like her for so many hours," she confesses. "But it's very useful, actually, to use her rationality. To just see things as they are and not to go into it with too many emotions."
However, Helin has been wary not to become too heavily invested.
"I actually investigated it with a brain surgeon and she told me that if you go to behavioural therapy you can change the brain by doing things in new ways, so I figured Saga [has] changed me to some extent," she notes.
"Of course I'm still me, but I can feel that I have ways of thinking in certain situations 'that's not the way I used to react to things before'.
"It's fascinating and scary because if that's the case, you can really choose actively who you are," she adds. "What if we were to put Trump into this kind of therapy?"
That aside, was it the right time to call time on the cult hit?
"The perfect time," she responds, labelling the final scenes some of the most beautiful, but the most difficult. "It was emotional, but I am happy with the ending and I am kind of relieved and content.
"I'm not sad because I can talk to her any minute," she says. "I am proud."
:: Season four of The Bridge premieres on BBC Two on Friday May 11. All previous series are available on BBC iPlayer now.
