Ängelby

Everything is stupid with "Ängelby". The story is stupid. The lines are stupid. The acting is exasperatingly bad with the exceptions of "Göran Ragnerstam", who is great, and Amanda Ooms, who puts in a somewhat acceptable performance.

Mia Skäringer is pretty much going for a tone deaf interpretation of a stone in every scene. Maybe as some kind of a relation to another stone being a part in the fable? If not, the reality is that she's no real actor at all. I like her much better in comedies. She bores the audience and doesn't convince you in any way. Why did the director do this to her? Can she really be this bad? How is that even possible? Any woman you find on any bus would do a better job. Stick to comedies, Mia!

The plot is worse than an old fifties UFO film. With a rich Scandinavian heritage with true nature magic what Ängelby suggests is a falsification of what all that can stand for. That culturally appropriative story-line concerning Egypt is both far-fetched, tasteless and pretty racist. Disgusting!

Most of all, the series is a total waste of time and an insult to people with working brains. I watched every episode for some reason. It only gets worse. If I could give it a "0" I would. Watch it at your own peril.

Looks better from a distance?

Of the three previous reviews – the two Scandinavian reviewers were not at all keen but the one from the USA found a lot of good in it.

Is it a national culture thing?

I am from the UK but have visited Sweden a few times.

The show could well be derivative drivel / hogwash / nonsense but there are few things in life that are truly new.

It is however beautifully filmed with interesting characters and lifestyles.

Am I intrigued because I want to immerse myself in what I imagine Swedish country life is like?

Unusual topic, interesting location, imperfect characters, doesn't follow the usual, predictable Hollywood playbook. Worth a look.

After completing the 12 episode series, I found the show completely captivating to the point that I looked forward to each episode. The locations are all quite rich with detail and age which lends an air of reality to the show and characters that most shows just don't have. You won't find any sterile set locations here. The people are all quite exquisitely eccentric but in a way that makes sense by the end of the run. Then there is the main story. Everyone has their own unpredictable motivations. To me, unpredictability in story telling makes for a much more enjoyable experience and this is one of the few shows I couldn't guess the end, and I loved it for that. Still, unpredictability can come from bad places sometimes, but this isn't one of those. No, rather this is the type of show where it may be hard to guess... but it all makes some level of sense due to clues weaved into the show.

So my recommendation is to give this a chance. Just don't go into it expecting some kind of horror story or something with monsters or other unrealistic things. It's firmly a drama rooted in reality with the threat of mysticism. I say "threat" because for the majority of the show you are left to decide what if anything to believe. You can be like me and stay completely grounded in reality and believe there is an explanation for everything... or buy into it all. Either way, I think the show wraps itself up quite nicely in an oddly satisfying manner.

As an added bonus for people from other countries, there is interesting architecture, beautiful nature, and other visual treats to enjoy. When watching foreign shows myself, I tend to really get a kick out of seeing different ways of life. Like the oddity of doors that open outward. On American shows typically if a door opens outward its because of bad set design... here, it's the reality of the environment. Enjoy!

Like Haven it's a new girl in a country town apparently by chance but occultly predestined to be there and supernatural forces are thought to be at work. There's less of the concretely reified majic than Haven shows and less episodic storylines but it would seem to be derivative, not helped by the fact that Mia Skaringer looks like an older Emily Rose. But it's watchable and entertaining if you can binge-watch it. It's probably more for "Nordic Noir" fans than those of standard mystery series.