Anxious People, a Swedish limited-tv series about a hostage crisis, is tagged as "heartfelt," "sentimental," and "feel-good." How could a hostage crisis possibly be "feel-good"? Who cares if there are gay characters? I have to see how this plays out.
Scene 1: An older person, gender indeterminate, jogging through Södertälje, Sweden (a stand in for an unnamed small town). Suddenly they turn into a teenage boy named Jack (Hugo Gummeson). He tries to talk a well-dressed man out of jumping off a bridge, but fails. Back to the older person -- a middle-aged Jack -- remembering the tragedy.
Scene 2: At home. Jack (Alfred Svensson) asks his Dad (Dan Ekborg) why he doesn't run anymore. Breakfast. Plot exposition: They're a father and son police team. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. Dad has invited his daughter Jill to visit, but Jack complains that she won't show up, as usual.
Scene 3: Three people walk into an Open House (an apartment for sale that prospective buyers can tour without an appointment). An older man, watching from a car, complains to his female companion that one of the women is pregnant, therefore irratlional, and will "ruin everything." Are they planning to rob an open house?
Scene 4: Jack getting his hair styled. Very androgynous; maybe he's gay. The stylist knows a secret: Dad sent Jill money for a train ticket from Stockholm. Jack, irate, confronts Dad: How could you send her money? She'll just use it to buy drugs and blow us off, like she did the last million times!
Scene 5: A robber bursts into a bank and demands money, not realizing that it's a "cashless bank," Jack and Dad walk past, arguing, not noticing that there's a robbery going on. Finally the robber runs out. The cops and the Hairdresser chase him down the street, and into the building with the open house! Since he has a gun, the cops don't follow; they wait outside until their weapons arrive (I guess cops have to requisition guns in Sweden).
Scene 6: The robber sneaks into the open house apartment, and accosts the guests.: an older heterosexual couple, a young heterosexual couple, a person in a S&M bunny costume, an elderly woman, and a young woman. No gay representation is immediately evident.
Scene 7: Backup arrives. The cops discuss the situation. A reporter appears, and interviews the Hairdresser. The cops, now armed, try to reach the apartment through the back stairs, but they find a bomb on the stairwell, and retreat. Jack wants to call for a SWAT team from Stockholm, but Dad forbids it: they can handle the situation themselves. Not very heartwarming so far.
While waiting for the robber to make his demands, they discuss sister Jill again. "She's not coming. You have to accept it."
Scene 8: Nighttime. A reporter tells us that more than an hour has passed. Wait -- didn't Jack go to the hair stylist right after breakfast? And the hostage crisis started soon after? Finally someone comes out onto the balcony and says that the robber has a demand: pizza.
While Dad commandeers pizzas, Jack tries to gain access to a nearby apartment. Why wasn't everyone in the building evacuated? The "bomb" turns out to be a box of Christmas lights.
They deliver the pizzas, and the robber makes another demand: fireworks.
They set off the fireworks, and the robber releases the hostages. Just then, the Stockholm SWAT team arrives, and tear-gasses the apartment, but the robber is gone.
Scene 9: They interview the hostages. No one remembers what the robber looked like. They all look at each other uncomfortably, as if they are hiding a secret. The end.
Beefcake: None. The top photo is of Klas Eriksson, Alfred Swensson's costar in the comedy series Leif & Billy
LGBTQ Characters: I made a mistake; one of the "male" hostages is actually a butch lesbian (played by Petrina Solange); her romance with the pregnant woman is one of the main plot threads. Jack doesn't display any heterosexual interest, but no same-sex interest, either.
Plot Twists: The hostages all have secrets that come out in future episodes. Most have some connection to the man Jack saw commit suicide years before, and the mysterious letter he sent.
Heartwarming: Not really. This is more of a whodunit.
My Grade: B.
Perhaps some people deem it heartwarming that the hostage is without violence - a big difference with the usual Hollywood approach. Or: "Police officers who usually can do their job without a gun? How wonderful! This must be almost paradise!" Or are in the end all the secrets revealed, problems solved, etc. and everybody becomes friends with everybody else?
ReplyDeleteClose to the Arctic Circle there is very little daylight in winter. But in that case breakfast will take place in the dark as well. So your surprise is valid. Perhaps Jack goes to the hair salon during his lunchbreak or at the end of his shift? And the hours of nothing happening at all before that are completely ignored? That would be a mistake by the director or the editor. We need a better indication of that. But it would be a logical reason why the bank robbery is not noticed by the officers: If a parking offence or a drunk in the street is the climax of your day/week/month you tend to overlook some things...
The hostages quickly discovered that the robber was actually harmless, just trapped in a bad situation, and over the course of several heart-to-hearts, devised a way to get them out of the predicament. Of course, audiences don't know that until later in the season, as secrets come out.
DeleteSwedish police on duty always carry a fire arm. The waiting is for backup from Stockholm in a dangerous situation that these small town cops are not used to. There is a scene early when the local officers have their weapons drawn.
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