This was a short...and I want to emphasize maybe too short, series built around two Norwegian youths, who meet one another after a long period apart. The two first met at a summer camp in their youth and reconnect randomly on the train. Sara has lost her college living situation and Jonas helps her move her stuff back to her uncle's. After they reconnect, the two start dating. Unbeknownst to Sara, Jonas has some pretty radical ideas about Norwegian nationalism...even going so far as to believe that immigrants are taking away jobs and eroding their local culture. Sara eventually finds a new living situation with a college student of color named Hina. Snooping on Jonas' phone, Sara discovers his radical conversations with others, leading to her breaking it off with him. Jonas, who initially seems very solid in his convictions, has a series of interactions that isolate him and leave him alone with his thoughts. One is meeting a long time internet friend and fellow radical from Germany, who ends up not living up to his expectations and eventually returns to Germany only to perform a horrible act of violence that leads not only to his death but to the identification of Jonas in his home country.
Hina ends up being my favorite character in this short series. She has some great writing for her character, but what I really appreciated was the incredibly thoughtful consideration she gives others. She wisely welcomes and builds up her new roommate, and sensing Sara and Jonas' relationship was on the rocks she becomes the peacemaker between the two, ultimately when she could have turned on Sara she doesn't...she forgives and goes beyond to encourage Sara to reach out to Jonas who may be struggling.
The end of this short series seems very unfinished to me. I don't know if that was the intent...if it was meant to provoke conversation? The reality is I imagine this lead to a suicide of someone who I think could have been saved with the care and kindness of characters like Hina.
There were beautiful bits to this series, but I am not sure that there is enough to redeem it as a whole and make it onto my recommendation list. So there it sits.
This review is based on watching the series in it's original Norwegian language with English subtitles.
