Hem till Midgård

C'mon! This series sucks! If any TV-station from any country, except Sweden, wants to buy a Swedish comedy-series; don't choose this one, for gods sake!!! It's really childish, and stupid. Buy Kvarteret Skatan instead! That one's much funnier.

This one contains people tripping, burping, and farting. childish! Fredde Granberg who created this series should continue making TV for children like he used to. This is just stupid! Oh! And one more thing (just to fill the space, I can't post it otherwise). Hem Till Midgård actually can be fun sometimes, but that's not very often. And I'm very easily amused. ;)

Hem till Midgård is one of the funniest Swedish TV-comedy series ever done. By all means Hem till Midgård has an intellectual level between average an awful, but it is done with great humor and great warmth. Its easy-going slapstick humor and disrespectful vulgarity really works for those who can take it. For those who can't, I don't recommend this.

Hem till Midgård really kills the myth of the vikings being tall, blond, strong muscular guys who is completely unafraid. These guys instead are the straight opposite. Lill-Snorre, the chief, is clumsy, childish and confused. Tyke, his main henchman, is a dribbling berserk who gets mad when anyone calls him "dumb". Runar, the hunk, is a tall bimbo who think he is every girls dream. Halvdan, is a slimy wiseacre, who annoys Lill-Snorre with his ironic comments and sheepish laugh and gets bashed up repeatedly.

Lill-Snorre also has a girlfriend, the oriental beauty Cassandra, the former slave of his father whom he has promised to protect. She is vain, hot-tempered and determined and Lill-Snorre has all kind of trouble keeping her satisfied. Other colorful characters are Gammelman, the village elder, who is an unhygienic wizard and his main occupation is to make living sacrifices to Oden. Also there are Petter-Nicolaus (In Swedish it means the same as Mr Wiggly), a bullied monk who doesn't have any success in Christianize the village of Midgård. Instead he is forced to work as a bartender in the local pub Balders In.

The best actors are Stefan Roos (Halvdan) who also is one of the writers. He is just so funny and convincing as the ugly, greedy and cowardly Halvdan. Also Sara Sommerfeld (Cassandra) makes a great impression as the oriental shrew. She is just as talented as beautiful and has made a lot of good screen performances.

I give Hem till Midgård the rating 6 out of 10. A high rate for the humor which really appeals to me and a low rate for the intellectual standard.

This is the height of Swedish culture, it accurately represents the life of a regular viking. It is an epic drama with ups and downs that will make you ball your eyes out and experience true happiness. An integral part of Swedish society and a Swede who hasn't watched the entire series from start to end ain't no real Swede.

You can't really say that "Hem till Midgård" contains high quality humor. At best, it can serve as pastime if you have nothing better to do.

However the series, despite taking place in the Viking age, actually reflects today's Swedish society in some interesting ways, and what makes Sweden contrast to the rest of Europe. For example:

* The episode Stripporna ("Strippers", season 1, episode 7), where Lill-Snorre hires some decadent Eastern European women as strippers, to make his pub more attractive. But it all ends with Lill-Snorre and his male friends, as poetic justice, being forced to striptease themselves instead.

* The episode Tyskarna ("The Germans", season 2, episode 4) where a wealthy German family visits Lill-Snorres village Midgård. The Germans, however, turn out to be swingers. It all ends with the morally outraged Midgård village people beating up the supposed, dirty German pigs.

These things would be unthinkable in a Danish or other European sitcom. This is far from the 1970's image of Swedes as "liberated" people, and has more in common with American puritan culture.

So despite being bad entertainment, I find "Hem till Midgård" to be a funny contemporary document of Sweden in the 2000's.

...if they got the same money to produce whatever. Even if you have a Name, you shouldn't just be allowed to do anything. But well, children up to the age of 10 or men still on the level of 10-year-olds may appreciate the level of humour. Else, I suggest this show to be avoided.