30 Grad im Februar

I never write reviews but the reviews from some UK viewers (mainly) were very "off" in my opinion.

I usually don't watch Swedish TV, the acting tends to be very stiff and construed most of the time. So, I was hesitant to watch this show at first, but if I get a recommendation I usually give it a try. After having lived in South East Asia for half a year I was also looking forward to get some nostalgia. Now, to the actual review.

When I afterwards talked to the person who recommended it to me I told her: "Fantastic show! I didn't like one single character!"

And this is not entirely true, some characters really grew on me (Glenn especially), while some were strong for the entire series (e.g. Oh). But in general, the main characters were not very sympathetic, not even Majlis who let her insecurities rule her into continuous irresponsible decisions. This is not a problem for me, in fact, I find it to be a nice change from all the American TV-shows where you like even the most annoying characters (very often even more so). "30 degrees in February" showed genuine characters, people that we have all met and that we can maybe even identify ourselves with. People are idiots, but people are also wonderful; there are no absolutes, and this series captured that beyond anything I have ever seen.

TV-shows that focus so much on character development often loses its tempo and direction, but in this series the character development was the show and it kept its own momentum. Living in Cambodia and traveling in Thailand I saw all these characters in different places, all of them looking for something; from the young girl escaping responsibilities to the woman redefining her life without her husband. I recognized all the struggles of the characters, and I think that the script writers and producers portrayed how the characters dealt with them very realistically, although fictionally of course.

In answer to some earlier reviewers: Maybe you should watch both seasons of the show?

I am not fond of the idea that something should be made less realistic in order to catch the attention of the viewers. In fact, that is the opposite of what I would want, and there is already plenty of shows like that (and of course, theater).

All in all, the show was beautiful and gave a realistic depiction of Swedes in Thailand, especially those going to these areas cramped with other Swedes. If you are Swedish you can definitely relate in some way, and if you are not, then this could be a crash course to how different Swedes can be. Because we are not all the same, and maybe you didn't meet these Swedes yet (normally you wouldn't because they only hang out with other Swedes), but I can promise you that they exist.

I live in Thailand and this is the best representation of typical day to day life in Thailand that I have seen in movies or TV. This is probably true because it is obviously filmed in Thailand, and shows glimpses outside the urban tourist areas. I have not encountered very many Thais with such good English skills as those depicted, but overall it is very accurate. I like that it shows the Thais in both good and bad lights. There are many women in Thailand like Narn that are out to fleece the foreigner for all they can, particularly in Phuket. But there are a lot more like Oh and Dit's family that are poor, hardworking and moral people. They even managed to capture some of the elitist arrogance of the police and government workers that is common in Thailand.

What impresses me the most and to a minor degree detracts from the show for me is the depiction of the main character Swedes. To me it paints the Swedes in a very poor light. They are rude and arrogant towards the Thais, but most significant is that all of the main Swedish characters seem to be either completely clueless or batshit crazy. I repeatedly find myself chastising the characters for their stupidity and shaking my head in disbelief that anyone could be such idiots. I certainly hope that they are not representative of the typical Swede.

I enjoyed the first season of 30 degrees but had low expectations for season 2 as it was filmed 3 years after the first. But the creators really kicked it up a notch in terms of intensity, real emotions and characters you care about. Season 1 turned out to be more of a prelude and the characters, while interesting, never really seemed more than caricatures. In Season 2 their stories come alive and there is real drama and plenty of tears and laughter. I have to say that after watching each episode I said to myself (and my friends) "Wow". I don't know why it got so much better, if the writers changed or that they took the 3 years to really think through where they wanted the show to go. Either way, this is an example of why European television is so good. They find a way to integrate character development with social and moral issues and beautiful scenery in a truly unique way. All I can say is stick with it, I don't think you will regret it.

I really enjoyed this show and am baffled by the comments of some previous reviewers. Yes, the characters are flawed. That's the point. We all are.

The show features 3 different story lines of Swedish people who travel to Thailand for a new life: a lonely man looking for a wife; a career-driven mother of two who has neglected her family; and a meek older woman looking for escape from her emotionally abusive marriage.

The Thai setting is quite beautiful and the journey each character goes through ranges from uplifting to tragic; it's a pretty sad story all in all but I loved the scenery, and I loved the music. Recommended.

I have hardly seen a better drama made in Sweden's history of movie making. The story is day to day life of Swedes and Thais but made strongly with strong script and play.

Whoever have lived in Scandinavia would easily associate him/herself with the life and people pictured in the movie.

Great stress that a working single women with kids have, cold and long winters and desire to escape, a normal happy fine young guy so isolated so that he has lost his skills and hope to meet his future partner in his own country as society is making relations more complicated than ever, ever growing aged population of the country and the challenge to take care of them specially if they are complaining ones (I have that experience as my fist job in Sweden), the simple, clean and honest spirit of Swedish people (Majlis was not a criminal and could easily call Medicare same moment when the unintentional accident happened), ...

There is no exaggerated story line going on throughout the whole film. All sharp edges rounded to bring a pleasant feeling to the viewer. For example script never lets Wilda get hurt in spite of so much of dangers she was exposed to. The down to earth realistic picture attracts many. The film finely promotes the values such as prioritizing and loving kids, family relations, caring and loving animals, understanding and accepting people with other sexual orientations, loving one another in any circumstance. A touch of environment saving values was maybe missing to make it complete.

I give my Award to Kaisa for a powerful play. Majlis was nothing shorter than her in quality of play and of course the great job done by Glenn is close to a master piece. Least quality of play was in my opinion by Joy she was basically only there, no special quality of acting, no face impressions, no body language, very poor act but she is pretty and have an attractive pictographic face of a lovely young girl which may bring her success in the future if mixed with more skills.

An awesome job of shooting is to appreciate greatly. When there is abundance of light in your shooting environment doing a good job is easier but the quality presented in this shooting was of world class. I congratulate the shooting team.

I am a Iranian born Swedish involved in movie industry in Iran.