Equinox

I had high hopes for this tv show because I like moody Scandinavian shows and also quite fond of Celtic culture. It started off rather good - there was the slow burn and that gloomy atmosphere I was hoping to see. However, aside from the atmosphere the show failed to deliver a logical story and badly lacked any explanation of the events. The ending felt like it was done last minute. It left me with soooo many questions - there were no answers to literally anything, so none of the story makes any sense to me. If they ever make season 2 - I'm not going to watch it.

I would akin this more to a Midsommer of sorts. It helps if you look up Ostara and Norse mythology. It's not bad if you know what to expect otherwise you probably will have no clue

When Astrid (Danica Kurcic) receives a disturbing phone call on her radio program, she decides to return to her hometown to investigate the disappearance of her sister Ida (Karoline Hamm), which occurred 21 years ago, along with 17 other colleagues after an accident at the begin their graduate journey, in what constitutes a return to a traumatic past.

Equinox is a kind of languid fairy tale that crosses family drama, psychological thriller and elements of folk horror in a narrative that follows Astrid in her investigation of the present, her sister Ida in the weeks leading up to her trip and Astrid at that time ( Viola Martinsen), a 9-year-old girl who must face the trauma of her sister's disappearance.

This Danish series could have perfectly been developed into an hour and a half movie instead of a miniseries. I admit that I have problems with folk horror, which generally makes me laugh and I can hardly ever take it very seriously. Equinox does not display much information and only shows most of its relevant cards in its last sections, challenging the patience of the spectator determined to have the enigma revealed in several sections and culminating in a final that will divide waters.

Ida and her classmates are seen as half grown for high school students. Perhaps the most interesting characters are the haunting Lene, the sisters' mother, in charge of a remarkable Hanne Edelund and the girl Astrid with the odyssey of her visions and treatment of her.

It is striking the comparison with Dark, a series with which it has nothing to do, since the German is a sci-fi choral drama and not a fantasy and horror drama. Equinox can be related in its premise with the French series Les Revenants, although not in its development.

Yes, Equinox will undoubtedly remind people of a dozen other shows and films - most obviously recent ones like Stranger Things, Midsommar, Dark and Hereditary - because everything borrows from everything else, it's unavoidable. But Equinox has its own soul and its own flavour, and if you approach it from there, you'll get a lot more out of it.

Unlike some other shows, the story doesn't mess around - 6 episodes was all that was needed, and it filled them perfectly. The lead actresses are fantastic, as is the music, and the look-and-feel is spot-on.

I can see some people who enjoyed it calling for a series 2; it doesn't need it, at all. There's no more story to be told. Everything was wrapped up (bar a couple of inconsequential things), it's done, and done beautifully.

I had high expectations for the series as it had been described as "The Danish Dark" in some reviews and I loved Dark. It actually started pretty good with an interesting mystery peppered with meaningful flashbacks. However, it seems like the writers run out of creative steam in episode 3 or 4 and it went fast on a downward slope to the point I seriously considered not watching anymore. However, my curiosity was more powerful and, at the end, it did not disappoint as much as I thought when the conclusion was reached. If you say you stopped watching, I can't blame you, but give it a try.