In the Before Times, I used to enjoy traveling abroad. Seeing new places and finding new ways that folks do everyday things is extremely satisfying to me.
Now, of course, foreign travel is out of the question. So I try to make do with foreign television shows instead. I can pretend I’m sitting in my Airbnb in Barcelona or Nice or Stockholm, watching what the locals watch. (I’d honestly love it if I could see the commercials that originally ran with each show, but I suspect most viewers would disagree with me.)
Lately, I’ve been on a Scandinavia kick, and there are some excellent shows to be found. Everything I’ll mention here can be found on Netflix.
The biggest genre right now is the Nordic noir crime drama. What does it say about the Finns that 1) they excel at this genre — “Bordertown” and “Deadwind” are international favorites — and 2) no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find a Finnish comedy anywhere. Do they exist?
Anyway, I wanted to look beyond the obvious choices and quickly found a gem. “Rita” is billed as a comedy, but it’s more than that … although it has some very funny moments — the sleeve scene in episode 1, for example. Rita is a Danish schoolteacher with three adultish children. She speaks her mind, she ignores the rules, and all those other clichés that the series rises above effortlessly.
Rita is not a role model. None of the characters on this show is. They do bad things, self-destructive things sometimes. And they suffer the consequences. But the wonderful cast makes them relatable, fascinating, and — most of them, anyway — endearing.
The most endearing and least erring is new teacher Hjørdis. Netflix just put up her own spinoff series. It’s only four episodes, but I can’t wait to watch.
For international political intrigue and occasional gunfire, you’d find it hard to beat Norway’s “Occupied.” The premise: Norway elects a new super-green prime minister, who announces he will stop oil drilling in the North Sea. Russia takes over the oil platforms and occupies Oslo in order to keep the oil flowing. The EU and the US want oil and don’t want war with Russia, so Norway is on its own. Some capitulate, others revolt. And sadly, it’s all too believable.
If that sounds too heavy, there’s always “Norsemen,” set in a Viking village around the year 800. The warriors go out and loot, pillage and bring back slaves — and yes, it’s a comedy. A silly, self-aware, broad, crass, laugh-out-loud comedy. And it’s in English, so you don’t have to read subtitles! The production company filmed every scene twice, once in Norwegian for the home audience, and once in English for the rest of the world.
One note: If you plan to watch both “Occupied” and “Norsemen,” you might want to start with “Occupied.” The actor who plays the prime minister also plays the Viking chieftain, and you might have trouble taking his negotiations with the Russian ambassador seriously if you keep picturing him in furs and leather armor.
