Taelgia

As the title suggests this Swedish TV show bear similarities with the Godfather. Although it can never be meassured against an epic film like the Godfather, this is what a Swedish Godfather story would look like, and considering that, the director has suceeded. It's a story that revolves around the Christian Syrian diaspora in the city of Södertälje, a medium sized town just southwest of Stockholm. What makes the series great is that it is very close to reality. There is a large Christian Syrian diaspora in this town, there are clan-based crime syndicates and some of the events, such as the machine gun attack on the police office, have happened in reality. The plot also feels very real as well as the characters. It is suspenseful without being overdramatic. I really enjoyed watching this series, meaning I didn't look at my phone a single second. In the end of the day, that's what matters.

It touches upon some very hot issues about gang criminality in Sweden, hence the hype. But the plot is so-so and the series fails to steer clear of both stereotypical plot motives (frustrated police station chief who complains about political directives from above, check, and check again) and characters. After the first series, not one character is very well developed. We get a teenager drawn into crime who says very little (makes it easier, I guess, both for him and the director) and a policewoman who says more but not always quite convincingly; most of the other characters are most aptly described as cartoonish. It's seldom outright bad, but falls far short of the best in the genre such as Top Boy.

This programme presented several modern-day problems, the worst being the alienation of youth living on council estates. The hopeless spiral of skipping school, becoming unemployable, running with gangs then committing heinous crimes was aptly shown.

Another strand was the attempts by minority ethnic citizens to serve in traditionally closed institutions like the police force but being regarded with suspicion by their colleagues and hatred and derision by members of their ethnicity.

This was a world where drugs, guns and illegal gambling were easily available and life is cheap. I left social work in the UK over twenty years ago but things were moving towards the realities of today even then. It's an international problem that exists in virtually every West European country and it's an issue that none seems able to address.

This well made series showed us the why and how. Political leaders need to work on solutions. I'm glad I saw this series and hope it contributes to a discussion on remedies.

The complexity of the characters, the actors, the story. Everything in Taelgia is well-crafted with care and dedication to details. Sara Shirpey, Jonay Pineda Skallak and Tanki Mosa stands out in their acting, although the casting have been done with perfection.

Many compare the serie to the successful Snabba Cash, that in comparison to Taelgia is more full of cliches and Hollywood-inspired scenes. With a slower tempo, Taelgia allows you to understand the dilemmas and that nothing is black and white.

Taelgia could be one of the most well-made Swedish series that have been made in the last years. Hopefully there will be more seasons, and a great future career for many of the new actors in the series.