Furia

Not surprisingly on a conservative dominated site like IMDB, this brilliantly executed, intelligently written series has got a very low rating and plenty of negative reviews. Do not be fooled. This is a thought provoking and smart thriller with political undertones. Unless you are a Nazi or neo-Nazi, I don't see how you cannot like this. Yep, I know this is provocative. It is intentional. Why should I always be the one getting annoyed by the comments here?

As a cooperation between Norwegian and German production companies, I guess there was an agreement to carve up the action between the two countries and use actors of both nationalities. I have to say that I am impressed with the standard of English of all the players - the Norwegians and Germans had to converse in English amongst themselves but then both nations are reputed for the high level of their language instruction.

Unlike other reviewers, I found the second part of the series, set in Germany, more exciting despite the often gaping plot holes. I had found Asgeir's move to the remote village not credible and didn't believe that his face couldn't be kept out of the newspapers or even local TV. Someone in a witness protection programme doesn't blithely carry on in their former job but just with a lower profile and a new name. Some of his actions, as a former Special Ops member, were also hard to fathom.

Ragna's role was problematical as well. There is a debate all around the world in these times of terrorism from whatever quarter as to whether undercover agents should be allowed to break the law during an infiltration of a subversive group. She was doing so in spades to enable herself to ingratiate herself into the bunch of right wing loons who had a plan to destabilise Europe.

The show was hers, really; after the action switched to Germany, Asgeir's role and participation became minimal and I assume the actor playing his part was written in to those scenes simply because he had demanded to be in the eight episodes. Things got rather far-fetched at times, especially when tracking the mobile phone. What top level agent would believe that such a careful terrorist group would have kept it on? And if they did, why?

As I said, there were several plot holes, the most glaring of which was that no one thought of speaking in Arabic to the school terrorists. My Arabic language skills are not the best, but I would have placed what country they were from within a minute.

Well, it was all done at a fast pace with plenty of action and I enjoyed it.

I watched with subtitles as conversational Norwegian is beyond me but the German was pretty clear and the English-language parts were perfectly enunciated. I'm going a bit deaf so I usually watch even English programmes with subs, but these foreign actors were easier to understand than many English ones! This was a worthwhile watch.

Beautiful norwegian scenery from the west coast of Norway, and the actors even spoke the local dialect for that area. The story takes the viewer from Norway to Germany and the original language of all locations is kept. Good actors, good story, good tension, quite a few twists and surprises, and just a few minor annoying logical questions I thought the director ought to do something about.

But all in all a great binge story that'll keep you glued to your chair.

I just got done binging this in a 2-day period. This was a very good opening season that I'm hoping gives way to a great S2.

*** There's so much to love here. Let me count the ways:

--- Stunning Visuals from E1-E8: The series begins in the Norwegian countryside, where the breathtaking landscape cinematography invites you into the story, and helps get you hooked fast.

As the series progresses to Berlin, the visuals remain engrossing as you encounter everything from charming coffee shops to towering government buildings to sprawling outskirt warehouses. You feel like you're there the whole time.

---Fascinating Subject Matter: Propoganda has a long track record as "one hell of a drug", and Furia does not back down exploring its awesome, awful power.

Our minds are easier to influence than many of us would like to believe, and Furia offers a thought-provoking reminder of that.

---Interesting Characters All Around: There are zero weak links in the four top characters billed in the credits above. I found myself invested in the progression arcs for each one.

The slow burn approach did a bang-up job of gradually peeling away the layers of each of those four highly complicated onions and the even more complicated situations they find themselves in.

---Haunting/Believable Villains: The writing here is imperfect as others have said, but the alt-right characters you meet are about as believable as I've seen on any show that explores such a topic.

They feel like real people who were one-time functioning members of society prior to radicalization. They still feel like real human beings even after radicalization, which is refreshingly uncomfortable. These are not Saturday Morning Cartoon villains.

What makes these characters truly haunting is they feel like they could be someone you used to know before they went down the wrong path. It made me think we've probably all at least met someone who secretly espouses(ed) beliefs like this.

---Visceral Action The action scenes are about as far from 'safe CGI explosions' as it gets. These characters get their hands dirty here.

Because of the slow-burn character development, it feels like there's something meaningful at stake whenever action does occur. So many shows/movies fail to achieve this, Furia does not.

*** Furia S1 felt like it could have been one of the best shows I'd ever seen, but there was a noticeable amount of potential left off the table:

---Arcs Abrupt at Times My primary reason this is "only" an 8/10 is that I found myself not completely satisfied with where a few character arcs left off by season's end.

I can't say what they are without adding a spoilers tag, but my hope is they address this in S2 by winnowing down a little bit of horizontal scope. I felt like I was asking myself 'wait are they just going to leave that?!? I want to know (x)...'

I thought the ending itself was fine, but a few underlying character arcs felt almost, but not quite, right by season's end.

---Protagonists' Vulnerability One of the hallmarks of Furia is that it's a show where its protagonists have to grapple with, or even sacrifice, their own humanity in order to confront trials ahead.

The leads do grapple with themselves quite often, but still I found myself noticing they handle all of this perhaps a little too well at times.

Can I get a nervous breakdown in a bathroom with a side-order of important relationships deteriorating due to prolonged trauma? We've all been there. (Right?!?)

---Wait, Theres a Season Two?

I have a vague idea of what could be in store for Season Two, but I left not sure if there was one or if this was a completed package.

It was only after Googling that I found it had been announced, and then I could ponder what could segue from this debut, to the sophomore offering.

*** Overall, the good far outweighs the bad. This is worth your viewing if you enjoy thrillers, and I hope the showrunners learn from what did and did not work going into S2. I'll be all over it when it comes out.

Recommended must see serie with the end a bit rushed, but looking forward to season 2. Good acting, nice settings, story and action evenly divided over Norway and Germany. Especially with the strong main character Aesgir, it has all the potential to outperform season 1.