This is an entertainment! Right ?
And fiction. Right?
And ironic. Right?
Just enjoy it. 😁
23 Reviews
Do not take everthing serious.
auroraolgaorlov31 May 2020
Style over substance, but gets steadily better and deals with 'topical' issue
ok_english_bt27 August 2018
Didn't know what to make of this one at first, has a stylish look about it (think last year's 'Atomic Blonde' with its neon lights and bright colours?) and contains the wonderful Heida Reed (Elizabeth in Poldark!) in the lead. 3 sub-plots within one, 'Stella Blomkvist' doesn't really click for me until late on when there's a whole web of Scandi-crime-noir intrigue. It felt like the makers were new to the medium, so trying out lots of things, not everything working. Fair play to them though, by the end I was a lot more involved, in some measure thanks to the quality of the acting. Reed is fun as the renegade cop (though she could use a a few more rough edges), Kristín Þóra Haraldsdótti good as her long-suffering geeky sidekick Gunna and Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir great as the sexy scheming government minister Dagbjört, ably assisted by lots of others (an ensemble of Chinese actors caught up in the plot, too). 'Stella Blómkvist' takes chances just like its chief protagonist, and the plot hinges on China's use of both soft and hard power in its foreign relations, so very 'topical' these days. It's worth continuing ...
Flashy, glamorous but lacking on both originality and script.
DimitrisPassas-TapTheLine22 February 2019
This is a 6-part television series (the duration of each episode is around 45 minutes), directed by a young, talented Icelandic director, Óskar Thór Axelsson (''I Remember You'', ''Trapped'', ''Black's Game'') and having Heida Reed, in the role of the protagonist, Stella Blomkvist. Stella is a big-shot lawyer in today's Reykjavik which seems to have the same problems as every major European capital does. Each story is completed in two episodes, so -in total- there are three separate stories linked by a common plot thread which involves corrupt politicians, tabloid scandals and the forbidden videos hidden in the ''blue bag'' which everybody wants to possess, but only Stella knows its whereabouts.
Stella's character is a tough as nails, dynamic counselor who is always chasing the big cases, both for the prestige and the money. She doesn't mind bending the rules when that is what's demanded but she is far from immoral, as she seems to have a rather strict set a principles and a clear as well as unambiguous sense of right and wrong. As a result, Stella is a sympathetic character who manages to win the audience from the first episode, but this show is lacking strong secondary characters who would help the stories to seem more plausible and be more engaging. The ''bad'' characters are nearly caricatures, or at best, they are one-dimensional and exist for the sole purpose of moving the plot forward. The pacing of the show is fast and effective and the editing is worthy of a special mention. The stories themselves, though being entertaining, are a far cry from the high standards of the best Nordic Noir television productions.
Overall, I cannot say that it is a show that I wouldn't recommend, but there are a lot of flaws in this Icelandic production. If you expect the quality and brilliance of other Icelandic series such as ''Trapped'' you will definitely be disappointed. If you are looking for a crime show that is easy to watch and equally easy to forget, then you should take a chance and watch this.
Stella's character is a tough as nails, dynamic counselor who is always chasing the big cases, both for the prestige and the money. She doesn't mind bending the rules when that is what's demanded but she is far from immoral, as she seems to have a rather strict set a principles and a clear as well as unambiguous sense of right and wrong. As a result, Stella is a sympathetic character who manages to win the audience from the first episode, but this show is lacking strong secondary characters who would help the stories to seem more plausible and be more engaging. The ''bad'' characters are nearly caricatures, or at best, they are one-dimensional and exist for the sole purpose of moving the plot forward. The pacing of the show is fast and effective and the editing is worthy of a special mention. The stories themselves, though being entertaining, are a far cry from the high standards of the best Nordic Noir television productions.
Overall, I cannot say that it is a show that I wouldn't recommend, but there are a lot of flaws in this Icelandic production. If you expect the quality and brilliance of other Icelandic series such as ''Trapped'' you will definitely be disappointed. If you are looking for a crime show that is easy to watch and equally easy to forget, then you should take a chance and watch this.
Entertaining. Not more than that.
i-spookie27 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
To rate a series that is this basic. That ticks most boxes of entertainment, but at the same time is totally unbelievable to be true. This was hard. Island is a country of 350000 people. Right.
But that they are this corrupt is hard to believe, considering the bank crises of 2008. You would have thought they would have learned something.
What this series is is a female figure that poses as a police DI. She does everything but law, still being an attorney. But I found it entertaining enough for 7. But I am Norwegian, I might be biased.
But that they are this corrupt is hard to believe, considering the bank crises of 2008. You would have thought they would have learned something.
What this series is is a female figure that poses as a police DI. She does everything but law, still being an attorney. But I found it entertaining enough for 7. But I am Norwegian, I might be biased.
How a small Country can make entertaining TV
knoopgat9 May 2018
She does everything wrong: as a young lady smoking in public places, drinking (rather expensive in Iceland) whisky, getting herself in every impossible situation you can think of. The openings scene is not for children or for very prudent people. But if you are neither you will love Stella Blomkvist. Watch it, you get your moneys worth. I hope there will be a second season!
Nordic, Not Noir
socrates1719 March 2019
I can't believe that I rated this so highly, but I wound up loving it. Despite being extremely cynical, it's too over-the-top and too post-modern to be noir. Stella, the protagonist, is a piece of work. One has to look very closely and snatch at a few brief moments to find any redeeming qualities in her at all. The police, politicians and financial elite aren't any better. Occasionally, I'll read a review off something complaining that there were no likeable or admirable characters. If you have that issue, this is NOT a show for you! Stella is likeable, but only in a very nasty way, as she wreaks havoc among her friend (singular) and acquaintances. She frequently breaks the fourth wall and talks to the audience, with scenes inserted that display what she's talking about. Sometimes characters in those scenes look straight at the audience and smile. The show has a very dark sense of humor, and if people get what they deserve, it's by accident. It's very stylishly filmed. It's a hoot. imdb seems to think that a 2nd season is in the works, but gives no details. I really hope that's the case. Streams on Sundance Now in the US, which is how I bumbled into it.
Disappointed
subnetworking2 May 2020
I wanted to like this. I've watched many productions from Iceland and loved them. Heida Reed is a favorite actress who is both a great performer and stunningly beautiful. If it wasn't for her I would have given up on this in the 1st episode. The writing in this is terrible, with a few exceptions of descent humor.
Nothing Cold about Icelandic Life
qui_j10 May 2020
If this series is representative of modern day Iceland, it certainly does not portray it in a very "likeable" light! A lawyer who sleeps around with any and everyone, incompetent police, corrupt leaders and a superpower trying to buy the country, are all not pleasant to see but is what seems to be happening in that country. While the series is entertaining at times because of its modernity, it does have the potential to become formulaic and tiresome. Best enjoyed until that happens, but be prepared to watch a series that does not seem to have boundaries on sexuality or sexual situations!
yes!!!
zathan-3284828 December 2018
Very watchable series
doujyr26 September 2021
Heida Reed got a part in the new procedural FBI International which I watched and I'd never seen her before so checked this out. Very watchable series and the obligatory plot twists are never too obvious. The Icelandic scenery was novel, and I half expected Stella to be kidnapped and taken to an active volcano or something for interrogation, but that never happened. Well worth a watch.
So Many Holes
iwalrus4 July 2021
The plot is full of holes.
Stella puts herself in situations that are stupid and dangerous.
The idea behind it should work but it was as if was written by some high school kid.
Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir steals the show, how about a spin-off series with different writers?
Stella puts herself in situations that are stupid and dangerous.
The idea behind it should work but it was as if was written by some high school kid.
Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir steals the show, how about a spin-off series with different writers?
After just one episode, implausibly ridiculous, but......
mallaverack13 May 2021
Always be wary of cinema or tv where the opening is devoted to a steamy, passionate sex scene, especially when it is interrupted by a phone call (from police headquarters) and the one being seduced asks the caller to hold until orgasm is achieved!!!! When Stella the legal officer is asked to take on a case she replies "I'll be there in 5". Laughably our heroine is able to regain her composure, tidy up, get dressed and convince her casual lover to drive her to be briefed on a murder case. Five minutes?!
Hoping that the plausibility factor would improve from this opening scene, things really didn't get better especially because of the voiceover from Stella who immediately painted characters as the 'baddies' leaving no room for character development. Sidekick Gunna, apparently obsessed with cats, has an unbelievable talent for hacking into government files within seconds.
Later when Stella's flat is broken into, two uniformed characters suddenly turn up to take her to the police station to make a statement. That these two were not policemen was so obvious that I'm afraid I have to question the intelligence level of our legal wizard Stella.
Where can this go to in episode 2? It's so far so bad that I feel inclined to stick with it for that one more episode and after al,l reviews here have been generally intriguingly full of praise.
Hoping that the plausibility factor would improve from this opening scene, things really didn't get better especially because of the voiceover from Stella who immediately painted characters as the 'baddies' leaving no room for character development. Sidekick Gunna, apparently obsessed with cats, has an unbelievable talent for hacking into government files within seconds.
Later when Stella's flat is broken into, two uniformed characters suddenly turn up to take her to the police station to make a statement. That these two were not policemen was so obvious that I'm afraid I have to question the intelligence level of our legal wizard Stella.
Where can this go to in episode 2? It's so far so bad that I feel inclined to stick with it for that one more episode and after al,l reviews here have been generally intriguingly full of praise.
Good, entertaining TV.
vryum12 March 2020
"young, cute, libertine, tough, confident..." CUTE?
zekeblack13 March 2021
"young, cute, libertine, tough, confident," CUTE???
Since when do we call Professional Women "Cute"??
First episode, we watch her make.choices that are cringeworthy....
Going to a deserted Parking Garage.. at night?
Getting in a strange car....not knowing where it is going? Alone?
This is to show "cute"? or "libertine"?
It appears LIBERTINE means Rude and willful. not clever
LATER...
If you can ignore the first episode or 2.. This Series improves greatly.
Overall I would RECOMMEND!!
Technically high quality and emotionally interesting
clever-569256 October 2022
To be honest, I went to watch this series because of the love story of the main character Stella (which YouTube accidentally told me about). Usually in such cases, I skip everything else, because it's not very interesting. But here most of the stories got me hooked. And although the relationship between Stella and Dagbjort was still a priority for me, I watched about 80% of the series with interest. It seems that there are many such series - noir, neon light, crime, but here everything is presented with some kind of freshness and sparkle. I also like the humorous note at times. Great montage! And yes, the main character is great. It is felt that the actress plays on courage and just enjoys her role, and not just does the job. Her love line is interesting in its development (from sexual passion in the first season to human depth in the second season). All this taken together gives me reason to give high marks and hope for a 3rd season.
Disappointing
JerlskovFlunkhede11 January 2019
A dark portrait of our dark times.
CityCalmDown-23 December 2022
Iceland is the only nation that actually held bankers and politicians to account for their criminal neoliberal actions that led to the global financial crisis. Similarly, former Icelandic PM Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson is the only notable example of a public figure that lost office as a result of the Panama Papers. Everywhere else in the world, the deeply corrupt neoliberal oligarchical structures were allowed to conduct their democidal business undisturbed by more than a bit of bad press.
The contemporary political-economic situation of Iceland as briefly sketched above means that in order to make a crime drama with contemporary relevance, the creators of "Stella Blomkvist" have had to invent an alternative-historical Iceland. A nightmarish dystopianof neoliberal colonization by the forces of capitalism - a dark sf Iceland in which the political elite have sold huge chunks of important land to Beijing power elites. An Iceland of moralizing "family values" rightist populism - a less successful, much less believable Iceland in which abortion has been outlawed. The real world Iceland of course is one in which a modern heroine such a Stella Blomkvist is shown on tv and reproductive rights are not a matter of public debate.
Moreover, and even more dismayingly, this dystopian nightmare is such a lived reality for human species today, that it can be noted that none of the reviews of "Stella Blomkvist" (that I have seen) even mention or seem to have even noticed the sf dystopian aspects of the show. The reality for people living in the capitalist *core zones* of e.g. Post-Trump USA, brexit little england is such that their democidal realities are so much worse than darkly imagined dystopias that the fictional invention goes unnoticed and unremarked upon. Unless the oligarchical capitalist dystopia that is depicted is as violent, vulgar and heavy-handed as "Squid Games", viewers remain so entrapped in their real world suffering that they seem unable to distinguish reality from dystopian fiction and, in the real world, truth from the neo-liberal, oligarchical ideological occlusion that they are force-fed daily.
Unlike the sf dystopias of previous generations - e.g. H. G Wells "The Time Machine" - there is no *utopian* redemption or relief. Even the logically implied moral prescription which is inherent in all artistic depictions of criminality carries with it here the message of an inexorable damnation that forecloses all forms of Ernst Bloch-like hope. We who live in the second decade of the 21st century are damned to suffer ecocidal climate change. We are well past the Seneca-cliff in which mitigating action could be taken.
"Stella Blomkvist" may be the most dismaying and damning, and for these reasons, the most darkly truthful crime drama of recent decades.
Highly recommended for those contemplating suicide but who can't quite dispose of the remnants of lingering hope which keeps them from committing the final act!😜🖖🖖 😜
The contemporary political-economic situation of Iceland as briefly sketched above means that in order to make a crime drama with contemporary relevance, the creators of "Stella Blomkvist" have had to invent an alternative-historical Iceland. A nightmarish dystopianof neoliberal colonization by the forces of capitalism - a dark sf Iceland in which the political elite have sold huge chunks of important land to Beijing power elites. An Iceland of moralizing "family values" rightist populism - a less successful, much less believable Iceland in which abortion has been outlawed. The real world Iceland of course is one in which a modern heroine such a Stella Blomkvist is shown on tv and reproductive rights are not a matter of public debate.
Moreover, and even more dismayingly, this dystopian nightmare is such a lived reality for human species today, that it can be noted that none of the reviews of "Stella Blomkvist" (that I have seen) even mention or seem to have even noticed the sf dystopian aspects of the show. The reality for people living in the capitalist *core zones* of e.g. Post-Trump USA, brexit little england is such that their democidal realities are so much worse than darkly imagined dystopias that the fictional invention goes unnoticed and unremarked upon. Unless the oligarchical capitalist dystopia that is depicted is as violent, vulgar and heavy-handed as "Squid Games", viewers remain so entrapped in their real world suffering that they seem unable to distinguish reality from dystopian fiction and, in the real world, truth from the neo-liberal, oligarchical ideological occlusion that they are force-fed daily.
Unlike the sf dystopias of previous generations - e.g. H. G Wells "The Time Machine" - there is no *utopian* redemption or relief. Even the logically implied moral prescription which is inherent in all artistic depictions of criminality carries with it here the message of an inexorable damnation that forecloses all forms of Ernst Bloch-like hope. We who live in the second decade of the 21st century are damned to suffer ecocidal climate change. We are well past the Seneca-cliff in which mitigating action could be taken.
"Stella Blomkvist" may be the most dismaying and damning, and for these reasons, the most darkly truthful crime drama of recent decades.
Highly recommended for those contemplating suicide but who can't quite dispose of the remnants of lingering hope which keeps them from committing the final act!😜🖖🖖 😜
A must, if you like techno musicals and dumb cliche's (season 2)
Robert19512 January 2022
I watched season 1 and season 2 because of the main character (Heida Reed). She probably would be great in a movie or in another series based on a good script. First of all there is this continuous very loud techno background music (80 dB or so). First of all, I really don't know why so many Scandinavian directors think it necessary to bombard their viewers with unnecessary continuous background music. There just is not one moment without loud background music. Dear directors and producers and actors, we are not stupid and we know very well when there is tension or sadness. For instance: Stella takes a book of a shelf and at that moment the director thinks it necessary to play two very loud techno drum beats. Why? This background music is so loud during dialogues, that one hardly can hear the actors talk! Why? Secondly, why is it that in so many Scandinavian series the police or the protagonist are so stupid that they keep turning their back to the enemy. Not just once but many times and they never learn anything from their failure. This series is so full of dumb and predictable cliche's, that I wondered in what stupid universe I was watching Stella Blomkvist.
First 2 minutes of Stella Blómkvist
myijpcq2 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
First off. I am addicted to Nordic, Scandi, whatever, western European crime series. Quality, quality, quality flooding out of there.
S.B.S. where I picked this up, with high hopes, hooked me in.
Now, serious spoiler alert.
So DO NOT READ FUTHER IF INTENDING TO WATCH>
So we have an over-achieving fixer of all things criminal. Top of the game. Sounds good.
Opening scene.
Cunnilingus happening and calls from someone dropping a job in her lap, via the mobile. The caller hears her climax. She pats the recipient male on the head and says 'good boy'.
Lost me at; 'hang on caller I just want to get off'.
What are the writers trying to convey here? Fashionable progressiveness?
I don't particularly give a toss( unintended pun)
As an S.B.S .category of content says..."get a a room".
Whether it's male or female getting their jollies...get a room guys.
Lost me within two minutes.
Not a prude. Like participating in the above. Just time and place. Time and place guys.
Terrible
cvangrinsven21 August 2020
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