Arctic Circle

This series started out strong, but then it got tangled up in it's own convoluted and unbelievable plotting. The actors and actresses are great, and especially the child actress Venla does a great job. The sense of family really comes across. The filmography is incredible and the beauty of winter in Lapland comes across wonderfully. These are the reasons I'm giving this a 6 instead of a 5/10.

But if you could give an outstanding award for plot holes and ridiculousness, it would go to this series, I'm sad to say. I lost interest after the halfway-point and barely watched the last two episodes.

What is most irksome is how the lead characters are excused all their flaws--the German man cheats on his wife and the whole storyline is about her being a "psycho crazy woman". To give the depiction of her mental breakdown some balance, perhaps his cheating could've been in some way even mentioned, but it's literally never addressed and he's depicted as the victim to her inexcusable mental breakdown while he is heroically trying to save lives. Nina's character has a similar problem, her actions as a police officer in the last episodes are not believable and for her to be barely reprimanded for them is irksome.

Overall, not a very good watch.

This series has it all: interesting story with multiple plot lines, nice balance between drama and thriller, good acting by everyone involved (Finnish actress Iina Kuustonen is a marvel to watch), and beautiful shots of vast snowy landscapes in Lapland. 8/10.

I watched the first season, and I think the second one has not released as of yet.

I really wanted to like this more than I did. The start of the show was strong and the scenery is beautiful. Everything about it screams production value as well, there are no complaints in that regard (camera work, directing, props etc.) for me.

Well, there's one thing. The "action" sequences and especially the whole of episode 9 is just brutally hard to watch. I don't know what it is, but everything about episode 9 and action stuff in general just seems... off. Can't really say what ruins the experience as I'm not an expert in that, but something is just off.

The premise is okay-ish. I mean the plot is definitely one of the weakest points of this show, but the character developments are generally good enough to distract you from the lackluster main plot. Sometimes the threads in the plot just make no sense and sometimes they are unintentionally hilarious and awkward (like the whole arc of the one-eyed dude, jesus).

What saves the show and gives me confidence to put a 7/10 on the board is the fact that the camera work, directing, acting, sound design and all that good stuff that immerses you in the experience is really great, honestly. The acting especially really surpassed my expectations, though I have to mention again that the lackluster plot just drags that down with it for some part.

All in all it's not a bad season. Good enough for me to wait for season 2, but not good enough to make me rush to get my hands on it. I'll definitely check the next season out if it happens to be on any platform I subscribe to, but I won't go out of my way to watch it.

I just finished both seasons of Arctic Circle ("Ivalo"). I liked it. Yes, there were some strange twists of plot that strained credulity and were quite farfetched. That said, the drama was marked by good acting, sympathetic characters, an engaging storyline, and gorgeous Nordic vistas. I was going to give it a seven, but the surprises that unfolded late in the second season caused me to add a point and bump it up to eight.

Arctic Circle met my criterion for a good drama: I cared about all the major characters. Lina Kuustonen was a strong lead as policewoman Nina; both her sister Marita and her ex (and baby daddy) Esko became sympathetic characters as the story unfolded. And I can't say enough about actress Venla Ronkainen, an actress with Down Syndrome, who played Nina's special needs daughter, also named Venla. Often I find that kids in dramas don't add much to the storyline. But Arctic Circle was the exception. Venla was possibly the most endearing character I've ever seen in a drama. She played an important role in the flow of the action, and lit up every scene she was in. The actress was great. I don't know if she'll ever act in another production, but she did herself proud with her performance in 16 episodes of Arctic Circle.

As I write this, I have no idea whether there will be a third season, but I would watch it.

The English dubbing in this film is so atrocious that it reduces the appeal of the entire story. The dubbing cast sounds like it's reading from a sixth grade English class script. Not paying any attention to the what the words say or mean because they think that a full stop Is at the end of each line on the paper. A few irritatingly read two words at a time, like the SNL spoof of Captain Kirk. Add some annoying speech impediments plus a lack of expression or emotion in the dubbed lines and you're left with most of the tension and atmosphere reduced. I've heard more animation from people reading a menu than those supposedly going through tense and emotional scenes.

The story is intriguing - sex trafficking, a dangerous pathogen and cross border tensions should provide lots of intrigue and drama. The expressions and body language of the actors (some ofvwhom I've been impressed with from watching other Finnish dramas with subtitles) indicates that they are infinitely better than the talentless dubbing cast- in fact, it sounds like there are about six people in the dubbing cast, with each reading several characters. Badly. Part of the problem could be that the dubbing actors are not native English speakers, which would account for both the wooden delivery and the lack of flow.

The atmosphere, settings and scenery provide an air of menace that emphasizes the isolation of a sparsely populated place and the claustrophobia of a small village, despite showing vast tracts of pristine white landscapes.

Ironically, the main character chastises an older cop for using less than flattering terms for sex workers, but the entire casts uses Lappland, which is viewed as derogatory towards the indigenous Sampi or Sami people who live in the very northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland.

I really want to see what happens so I will endure the increasingly irritating dubbing to find out.

Maybe Plex can do what Netflix does, offer the viewer the option of watching non- English shows dubbed or subtitled. For maximum enjoyment l, go for the subtitles.