This is a surprisingly good Swedish horror/drama. The basic plot settings are well established in the first episodes. It concerns people who overnight recieves one supernatural power. What makes it interesting is that these people are not your everyday heroes, instead they are people with problems and difficulties to deal with in their ordinary, everyday life. The power they are given corresponds to their needs: A woman who can't get pregnant suddenly can restore life to dead animals and humans, a wife who is beaten by her husband on a regulary basis makes all violence aimed at her reversed, a refugee with a big identity problem can appear as anyone he wants, a webhooker that peforms sexual acts on command is given the power that everyone has to do exactly what she's telling them, a homeless misfit becomes invisible and so on. The world as we know it is about to come to its end, and the forces of good and evil awakens and are born as the two twins Light and Darkness. By making their first choice of how to use their new power, the `unfortunates' also unknowingly decides on which side they will serve as the world is coming to an end. But everything is not as it seems. The series has a very good script that makes full use of its long format. After the first episodes where the basics are set, the story expands with a lot of surprises along the way. One episode - about the training of some members of Darkness forces - reminds me of a modern stage drama and is totally absorbing as such. Other episodes - especially when the action temporary shifts to Scotland in an attempt to find old prophecies in a book written by a woman several hundered years ago - is told in an almost frantic pace and with plenty of chases and shootings. The acting is very good all over, but Eva Röse's riveting performance of Jasmin (the webhooker) and the unknown Omid Khansari (the refugee) must be mentioned. Both characters that they play undergo major changes when the story unfolds, and they manage to portray these as they go along. Add some interesting, modern cinematography and cutting technique and - as mentioned - a very well developed storyline all along and we find something that is both rare, and I my belief, unparallelled in Swedish Television. The series owes a lot to Rod Serling and Stephen King, but manages to revitalize the well-known formula and to give it a very Swedish identity. Sadly it did not get the audience it deserved when it first was shown (fall 03) on television. But it's probably going to get the fame it deserves in the future. (Remember the Prisoner series with Patrick McGoohan for instance). Meanwhile let us all pray for a DVD release with English subtitles, so we can show the rest of the world something interesting in this genre for a change!
Per Lundblad
Per Lundblad
