Borderliner
Season 1 (2017) – 8 Episodes of approx. 50 minutes each
Season 2 - TBA
3 out of 5 paws
Borderliner starts with the investigation of the murder of an informer by a police detective. The whistleblower, the detective’s partner Nikolai Andreessen, is told to take leave and head out of town while the trial is ongoing. He decides to go home and visit his brother Lars and his father Hans. The day after Nikolai arrives, Lars - a local cop, is called on to investigate an apparent suicide – Tommy, the town troublemaker. As Lars is hungover from partying the night before, Nikolai drives the two of them to the scene but soon determines that the cause of death is not suicide, but possibly murder. Anniken, the head detective assigned to the case, deputizes Nikolai and they begin to investigate together. Nikolai soon determines that his brother is involved in Tommy’s death and plants false evidence to take away suspicion from Lars. However, Nikolai finds out that Lars has lied to him about the circumstances surrounding Tommy’s death. Borderliner deals with plots and subplots – suicide or murder, drug trafficking and coverups, Nikolai’s orientation – gay or bisexual, and family – do you support them or turn them in? The plot is reminiscent of ‘A Perfect Plan’ – where trying to cover up a simple crime gets the hero (Nikolai) more and more ensnared through lies and deception. Beautifully filmed and well-acted Borderliner is an engaging series, but it does have a few plot holes. Season 2 was renewed on Norwegian TV but Netflix has yet to decide whether it will air it or not.
Lilyhammer
Norwegian and English with English Subtitles
Season 1 (2012) – 8 Episodes approx. 50 minutes each
Season 2 (2013) – 8 Episodes approx. 50 minutes each
Season 3 (2014) - 8 Episodes approx. 50 minutes each
5 out of 5 paws
Lilyhammer was the first original show created by Netflix back in 2012. It lasted 3 seasons (8 episodes a season) and I found it hilarious from the very first episode. Frank ‘The Fixer’ Tagliano, a member of the New York mob, is having a drink in a saloon when his new boss attempts to have him taken out by a shooter. Frank gets the shooter, but not before his little dog Lily gets hit and killed. Within 20 minutes of the show starting, Frank gives up his boss to the FBI and gets entered into the witness protection program. On being asked where he would like to go, he says Lillehammer, Norway as he watched it on the Olympics in ’94 and figures it would be a good place to start a quiet life. Well, not quite. Adapting to Norwegian society proves to be a bit of a challenge for Frank (now known as Giovanni Hendriksen) and he soon begins to adapt to his old ways in order to get things done – blackmail, gambling, booze smuggling, kidnapping, and murder all start to work their way into Lillehammer’s daily life. Soon, Frank has his own mob and business running the small, sleepy, town to get what he wants but you find yourself getting attached to his character. The townspeople, who each have their unique story to tell are played by Norwegian actors and the dialogue can get tricky to follow – half in English, half in Norwegian with English subtitles. The show starts off mainly in Lillehammer but expands out to Brazil and the US in seasons 2 and 3. There was hope for a season 4 but unfortunately it was decided not to continue the series. I have seen the entire series at least 3 times and I still can’t get enough of it.
Home For Christmas
Season 1 (2019) – 6 Episodes of approx. 30 minutes each
Season 2 (2020) - TBA possibly in December
4 out of 5 Paws
Home for Christmas opens on December 1st – a typical family dinner, all the adults paired happily together, with the exception of Johanne – a 30-year old single nurse – who has been seated at the end of the table between her brother’s twin babies. Her boyfriend dumped her three years ago and her family keep telling her that her biological clock is ticking and she had better find a new boyfriend fast. Tired of being reminded of her single status, Johanne tells the family a little white-lie – she has a boyfriend and he will be coming to the family Christmas dinner. Her family are overjoyed (and a little disbelieving) and now Johanne has 24 days to find a boyfriend. Her friend and room mate gets her involved in speed-dating – where she meets some extremely weird characters; a momma’s boy; a possible hit man; a virgin who claims he has sex daily with dragons; you get the idea. After that she tries dating pretty much anybody who asks - which leads to a few spectacularly disastrous dates. Johanne’s quest for a Christmas date is hilarious, heart-breaking, and quite possibly the best get-a-date-for-Christmas movie / series ever made (and there have been about 12 of them). It’s refreshing, original, beautifully filmed and extremely well acted. There is even a possibility that there might be a Season 2 – next December, of course – as the last show ends on a cliff hanger.
Home For Christmas - Season 2
(2020) – 6 episodes of approx.. 30 minutes each
3 out of 5 paws
Season 2 starts off right where they left off last season – the doorbell rings and Johanne goes to open the door. This time round we find out who it is – and it’s not anybody that we would expect. The first episode goes through the next twelve months with Johanne’s new partner and ends up with her being dateless once again at Christmas time. This time however, it will be held at Johannes place as her parents have broken up and moved on with their lives. Well, the mother has – the father is devastated at being alone. New characters are introduced and old ones make brief appearances and the viewer is once again left until the final minutes of the series wondering who Johanne will end up with. I was a little disappointed with the first couple of episodes as the plot seemed a little lame and didn’t have the same charm and spontaneity as Season 1. However, once the rhythm picked up I enjoyed the story and the acting was fairly solid. I can’t see a Season 3 happening as the closing moments of Episode 6 seemed to complete Johanne’s story.
Maniac
Season 1 (2016) – 10 Episodes of approx.. 30 minutes each
The original Maniac is centered around the idea of mental health and takes place almost entirely in a psychiatric hospital. The main character, Espen, appeared to have a normal happy life (he was an economist, so for normal, read boring) about a year ago when he lost his grasp on reality and was placed into psychiatric care. Every episode he experiences in his fantasy world a different adventure – usually triggered off by reading a comic book or watching movies or soap operas on tv. For example, in the first episode he’s a superhero, in the second a war hero, in the third a soap opera character. All the characters in his fantasies, with the exception of his best friend Haakon, exist in the real world. For example, Mina, a new psychologist at the institute, is in every fantasy. Espen doesn’t appear to be able to separate the fantasy from reality. When we meet him, he’s living full-time in a psychiatric ward, intermittently dipping in and out of fantasies. The series plays out as a comedy – Maniac is very Benny Hill like – but I couldn’t help but feel sad for Espen. What happened in his normal life to cause him to lose touch with reality? Will Mina be able to help him or will he be lost forever? I find it interesting enough (and pretty funny too) to continue to watch all 10 episodes The Americans have made their own version of Maniac – also on Netflix – but it is very, very loosely based on the original.
Nobel (Peace at any Cost)
Season 1 (2016) – 8 Episodes of approx. 43 minutes each
Season 2 - TBA
4 out of 5 paws
Nobel is a series that depicts Norway’s involvement in Afghanistan. The first episode opens with a scene in which a Norwegian Special Forces Unit takes out a suicide bomber in a crowded marketplace, the consequences of which reverberate throughout the whole series. The action then shifts to Oslo a few weeks later when the unit returns to Oslo on leave. Erling Riiser, a member of the unit, is to go to a formal function with his wife Johanne, who works in Norway’s State Department. However, Erling receives a cryptic text message that informs him that Zahani, possibly a member of the Taliban, is in town with his wife. The series alternates through flashbacks in Afghanistan to current events in Norway to weave a thriller of political and military intrigue. The cinematography is brilliant, the acting superb (with the exception of the actor who plays Zahani, but that’s my own personal opinion), and the story line intriguing. There are some military and political inaccuracies but what it comes down to is Nobel is a story, although loosely based on actual events. It takes a couple of episodes to understand what is going on (the original series in Norway had the first two episodes shown as one) but then the story line is tightly woven.
Occupied
Norwegian, English and Russian with English Subtitles
Season 1 (2015) – 10 Episodes of approx. 45 minutes each
Season 2 (2017) – 8 Episodes of approx. 45 minutes each
Season 3 (2019) – 6 Episodes of approx. 45 minutes each
4 out of 5 paws
Season 1
Occupied is a Norwegian what-if scenario loosely related to climate change. Turmoil in the Middle East and the U.S. withdrawal from NATO leads to the EU being heavily dependant on Norwegian oil fields. However, the Norwegian Green Party is swept to power based on plans to use thorium-based nuclear power to completely replace fossil fuel. This results in a soft Russian invasion of Norway approved by the EU that starts when the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jesper Berg, is kidnapped by Russian Special Forces. Berg is released when he accedes to the Russians demands that oil production recommences and Russian workers take over the oil facilities. On Constitution Day a Norwegian royal guardsman, Stefan Christenson, attempts to assassinate the Russian ambassador Sidorova but is thwarted by Djupvik, Berg’s driver and bodyguard. The Russians believe that the commander of the royal guard, Vold, was behind the assassination attempt and demand that he surrenders himself to them. Djupvik is assigned to defuse the situation by the police security chief, Wenche Arnesen, and also to work on protecting Russian officials. The situation further deteriorates when a Russian official is run down by a Chechen outside a restaurant near the Russian consulate. The owner of the restaurant, Bente Norum, in order to prevent the restaurant from closing becomes more involved with the Russians across the street. This causes difficulties with her husband, Thomas Eriksen, who is a journalist investigating the Russian takeover. As tensions rise between the Norwegians and the Russians, Wenche, who is dying from a brain tumor, secretly begins to support the resistance movement. Berg, who is losing the approval of his party due to acceding to the Russians demands, narrowly survives an assassination attempt and takes refuge in the U.S. embassy. However, the Americans, not wanting to get involved, poison Berg in order to get him off their property. Berg is then kidnapped by the Norwegian resistance in order to set up his government in exile in Sweden. There are a lot of plots and subplots in this political series – they seem slow moving at first but then rapidly gain momentum. The series is beautifully filmed with lots of coverage of the Norwegian countryside and panoramic views of Oslo. The acting is a little stilted – something I have noticed in other Norwegian tv series and movies – but overall this is a really engaging story and in my opinion, quite believable concerning the clash between climate change activists and those powers that run big oil.
Occupied Season 2
4 out of 5 paws
Season 2
The season starts off eight months later with Jesper Berg in Sweden, trying to form a government in exile. However the Norwegian Parliament, for reasons of their own, appoint Berg’s former chief of staff and lover - Anita Rygh – to be the new prime minister instead. Free Norway, the resistance group led by Harold Vold, has grown quickly – and although opposed by the Security Police, led by Hans Martin, have many followers in both the government and the army. Berg, with the collaboration of the coast guard, stages a raid on a Russian operated oil terminal that goes horribly wrong. The Russians, taking this as an act of war and threaten to invade Norway. Anita Rygh, aided by the Finnish prime minister, stands up to the Russians during a missile crisis. She loses the backing of the European Union (EU) and Berg takes advantage of this to try and return to Norway with EU representatives on board a hired ship. The ship is intercepted by Rygh and Martin, and confronted by incriminating evidence, Berg is forced to support Rygh as prime minister. However, an assassination occurs during the announcement to the people at a rally – and once again Norway is thrown into confusion and disarray
Occupied Season 3
3 out of 5 paws
Season 3
The occupation by Russia is now over. However, there are still over a hundred thousand Russians in Norway and the people are not happy. There is another explosion at a gas terminal, but this time it’s Norwegians that are killed. The Russians are held to blame and the Norwegian government tries to forcibly evict the Russians. The Russian government is understandably upset by this and refuses to take the ousted Russians back. Anti-Russian activists start attacking both Russian and Russian sympathizers alike. A nasty election campaign is being held in Norway – tension heats up between supporters of Berg and Harold Vold – the Unionist party (secretly supported by the Russians) take advantage of this and surge ahead in the polls. Who will win? Hans Martin’s wife, Hilde – who aids the Russian settlers – is attacked. HM is attacked. Vold is attacked. It seems like everyone is being attacked. All 3 seasons of ‘Occupied’ are extremely well-done – and timely, with all the current issues of climate change – but I found Season 3 to be a little weak, with some new story lines that didn’t make sense (Sidorova, the ex-Russian ambassador who now turns out to have a same sex partner – starts defending LGBTQ rights ) and Berg’s character changes every season. And I really, really, really don’t like him. There is great acting in the roles of Anita Rygh and Hans Martin – the cinematography is excellent, highlighting the Norwegian countryside and Oslo, but the story line - though very strong in the first two seasons – kind of drifts along to a disappointing ending.
Post Mortem
Season 1 (2021) – 6 Episodes of approx. 43 minutes each
4 out of 5 paws
The first episode opens with two police officers – Judith and Reinhart – standing in an open field over the body of a young woman. Judith – the lead detective – won’t call an ambulance because of budget cuts (“Ambulances are for life and death, this is just death”) and calls the local funeral home instead to pick up the body. Business in Skarnes has been slow lately for funeral directors Arvid and his son, Odd – so at first they are excited to get the call. Unfortunately the young woman happens to be Arvid’s daughter and Odd’s sister, Live. They deliver Live to the local coroner where it turns out that Live is very much alive. The doctor chalks up her near death symptoms to hypothermia. Live carries on, only to find that normal food disgusts her and she has an overwhelming desire for blood. As it turns out, her mother Madeline died many years ago under similar circumstances and left a tape for Arvid saying that if Live ever displayed the same symptoms he should take care of it. He tries – and fails – and Live ends up accidently killing people. Which would normally be good for the funeral business, no?? Not quite. The body count in Skarnes goes up – like it did many years ago when Judith suspected Madeline of the murders; the funeral home is going bankrupt; and everyone seems to have secrets – Arvid, Judith, Reinhart, and the local doctor.
Post Mortem is excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed it – it mixes comedy, horror, and mystery seamlessly. The acting is first-rate, the script original and a little oddball, and it ends on a note that sets itself up for a second season.