The Restaurant

The main takeaway of this show is that not all Swedes are blonde!

I am enjoying this, although I admit that being from The Netherlands, I partly watch to compare Swedish to Dutch. Interesting. The other day I heard them sing a Dutch happy birthday tune in Swedish, I had no idea that had the same song.

Yes, it's predictable and slightly soap-like at times, and some characters have become caricatures (although, interestingly enough, there's two people who have switched, one being the good guy changing into the bad guy, and vice versa). It follows the success recipe of romantic storylines, ongoing family trouble and always one lighter, funny storyline per episode.

What I really like is the big jumps in time, where in other shows certain storyline would have ben spelled out till the very end, here it suddenly stops and we are 5 years down the line, and what happened before is explained in a brief conversation or a shot of something. I like that, because often it would have been obvious.

But what is up with that filter? It's as if they're in a permanent dust cloud!

I have been glued for 4 days so far. My husband and I have owned 4 restaurants, so, a lot of this hits very close to home. However, I would have been hooked even if we didn't.

Great characters, costumes, scripts, history and human drama. . Thanks to all involved to bring this to our screens.

Very good atmosphere top notch acting and great utterly believable yet dramatic story lines. Characters are complex and not one dimensial, like good and bad guys. For me the best experience since Breaking Bad and Better call Saul.

I have not finished this series, but one thing I do not appreciate about it is that after 25+ years, the characters look EXACTLY the same as they did in the beggining.... they never age..... not even a little.

A very absorbing look at a fancy Swedish family over several decades -- the show is well-written, nicely directed, and very well acted. However, it's dark. Very dark. This family either has the worst luck ever, or this is just life in Sweden, where every moment is fraught with negativity and unhappiness. Still, if you can stand watching something tragic happen every episode, and you don't get overly involved with the characters -- or you'll end up as thoroughly depressed as they are -- the rewards are plentiful. One odd note: this family seems to have found the secret to eternal life. Although the show starts in 1945 and goes on for another two and a half decades, the characters don't age. They all look exactly as they did when the show starts. Some of them get new haircuts, some get new clothes, but the secret to eternal life seems to be to run a restaurant in Sweden and suffer misfortune every week.