Snow Angels

As this six-part Swedish series opens Nicole, a young deaf girl, returns home on Christmas Eve and wakes her mother. It soon becomes apparent that her five year old baby brother is missing. She calls the police. At first it is assumed he is with her taxi driving husband but when he returns it is clear that isn't the case. When the police return to the apartment husband Salle flees. The following two episodes show the events running up to the disappearences, focusing on this family, Alice and Maria, a postnatal nurse who had been concerned about the boy. Once back to the present various truths emerge.

This is not a cheerful series but it is well worth watching. The central mystery is gripping but it is much a character study as a whodunit... or more precisely a what-was-dun. The series really captures the feeling of cold with subdued tones and dark, sometimes a little too dark, scenes. The cast does a fine job making the varied characters believable and interesting. Without giving details I will say that the explanation does not seem obvious. Overall I'd recommend this to fans of grittier Euro-drama.

These comments are based on watching the series in Swedish with English subtitles.

One of the best tv shows I've seen in years, Snow Angels (on UK's All-4 streaming service) is the 6-art account of the disappearance of an infant child and the sympathetic scrutiny of his shocking family life. A drug-addicted mother and a reformed addict father, who is heroically loyal to her, struggle to cope with the arrival of a second child into their hand-to-mouth existence. Meanwhile we follow the trials of a maternity care nurse whose job it is to make evaluations of the ability of new parents to cope. How will these two harrowing narratives intersect?

Snow Angels is a difficult but compelling watch, tender and sad, shocking and utterly involving. A series that goes where most others, for all their shock and gore and posturing, would fear to tread.

Highly recommended.

It's quite realistic in the sense that so many families are struggling like this. Poor, drug abuse, mental health issues, etc. The one I feel most sorry for is Nicole!

None of the characters are very likeable but I think that's on purpose. Good acting and interesting story, even if a little predictable.

Stunning drama and so much originality.... Just loved the acting, the storyline.... Would recommend this drama to anyone. It makes you think beyond the issues you think you are dwelling on. Just brilliant writing and acting.

I am surprised that this excellent series hasn't received better reviews.

At the heart of it is a troubled family: Jenni, a borderline addict not recovering well from a difficult pregnancy and having to deal with an unsettled baby (Lucas) and mothering a young, deaf daughter, Nicole. Nicole, herself, is shattered by her parents' distraction with the baby and Jenni's inability to take adequate care of her. And then there's Salle, a recovered addict, struggling in the grey economy of low-paid part-time jobs in an effort to provide adequately for his family while having to care for Nicole when Jenni can't. Jenni's mother is somewhat sympathetic but critical of Jenni and reluctant to help with care.

Beyond the family is Alice, an experienced police officer caring for a husband who's recovering slowly from a stroke, and managing some tense relationships at work. Maria is a middle-aged paediatric nurse, unable to have children of her own and constantly frustrated by the failures of the medical and social work systems to provide adequate care and nurturance for vulnerable children. Finally, there's Emma, a pregnant teenage runaway who seeks sanctuary with Maria.

At the heart of the story is the question of parenthood, primarily motherhood--those who cannot have children (Maria), those who decide not to have them (Alice), those having them by accident (Emma), those who choose or feel obliged to have them (Jenni) and those whose children have grown up, leaving the question of one's ongoing obligation, and those dealing with inadequate parents.

When Lucas disappears in a horrific snowstorm on Christmas Eve, his disappearance is initially put down to Salle's and Jenni's irresponsibility by an indifferent police force and it's only when Alice hears of it that the tension begins to build.

Over the course of 6 episodes, the question of who took Lucas remains a tense question, but I found myself increasingly drawn into the question of what would happen to all of these people. Without any trace of sentimentality or excuse making, the awfulness of personal lives, the consequences of mistakes made at key moments and the flaws of everyone involved mean a doubled mystery and tension.

From early on, the one who dunnit is reasonably obvious, with only one or two possibilities. But that doesn't matter. We are not asure till episode 5 (episode 6 adds its own tense uncertainties) who it was and by then the momentum carries you to the last frame.

The series starts slowly and is never rushed--one obvious reason for the limited reviews. But the pace of this slow-cooked mystery enriches it, allowing depth and comprehension that would be lacking without the time. It's worth patient viewing, paying attention to characters as well as crime.

The cast are great. Nicole, played by Nikole Bartnas, as the confused kid, loved but neglected; and Maria, played by Maria Rossing, who progressively reveals her sadness and need to love others, are stand-outs. But it's Ardalan Esmaili, as Salle, floundering, doing his best to juggle unmanagable responsibilities, and driven to desperation by his grindingly unfixable situation, stricken by tragedy and others' behaviour, who really makes this series .

It's possible there could be a second series about which I feel ambivalent--hard to imagine that they could top this.