Secrets we Keep

Secrets we keep is probably the best Danish series I've ever watched.

Screenplay is excellent Casting is very, very good Music score creates a very haunting atmosphere Filming locations impressive

Storyline of 2 very wealthy families exploiting Filipinos through au pair arrangements where the Filipinos work as nannies and housemaids for very little money.

All comes to a scandal that opens up the entire world of the entitled people Like a house of cards, it falls apart bit by bit through a seemingly simple event.

I thought at first it should be more of a movie than a series but I changed my mind as the pace of developing the storyline is more suited for a series.

I was hooked on Secrets We Keep from the very first episode. The acting was strong, the storytelling layered, and the suspense built steadily with each chapter. It promised a payoff that felt just out of reach, keeping me invested through every twist and reveal.

But the final episode was a major letdown.

After so much careful buildup, the finale felt rushed and unsatisfying. Key plotlines were either ignored or wrapped up too neatly. Some characters acted in ways that made no sense based on everything we'd seen before, and others just vanished without resolution. Most frustrating was the lack of real emotional payoff-no reckoning, no clarity, no true closure.

It's as if the writers didn't trust the audience to handle a more honest, consequential ending. Instead, we got ambiguity and loose ends where there should have been resolution and depth.

Still, I can't deny how compelling the series was for most of its run. If you enjoy well-acted psychological drama and slow-burning mystery, it's worth watching. Just be prepared: the ending may leave you disappointed.

I bingewatched all six episodes and was hooked from the beginning to end.

North of Copenhagen, where the rich people live a Beverly Hills lifestyle, many of them hire cheap foreign labor - usually young filipino women - to clean their expensive houses and look after their kids.

This is not made up. I worked as a teacher in that fairytaleland for almost 20 years. And I heard many stories, too. For many it's all about keeping up their appearances.

It doesn't take long in the first episode for the whole setup and premise to get going. A young filipino turns out missing and the following episodes are all about "what happened?" and "who's to blame for foul play?"

It's part drama, part mystery. As the story progress it becomes more and more clear that something is completely rotten and off, about certain main characters. This is where it gets really exciting and interesting, because in world where everyone learns to have a facade, lying also becomes easier.

The mini-series is beautifully shot and masterfully edited, and the cautionary tale was an added bonus.

If you've seen any crime/mystery series you'll recognize the elements right away and predict what characters will be like. Rich, affluent neighbourhood. Class and race division. People with secrets. People hiding things. People knowing more than they let on. Determined investigator.

But end result is not what it could have been. Secrets and lies are predictable. If you pay attention you can deduce what happened fairly quickly. I'll give writers credit in that characters are actually capable of stepping back and reexamining their actions and beliefs as new things come to light.

I wouldn't call watching this a waste of time, but it's not a memorable series either.

Okay, let's be clear about this: the sixth episode isn't great. The plot slows down so much just minutes in that you know the next half hour is designed to lull you into a false sense of security before the closing twist. And the closing twist, when it comes, is a bit am-dram or amateur dramatic. It's a bit too loaded in its thesis that rich people will do anything to hold on to what they have, even those of them who think of themselves as good and morally driven. But, that aside, and usually one cannot put the last episode of six aside, the thing is that the first five episodes here are so well done, so well acted, well shot and directed that it's hard not to go from one directly into the next, carried along on the sheer expert pacing of this tale of familial intrigue and the privileges of wealth.

There's a sense of forward propulsion and indeed sheer style about this show (despite the fact that it seems to borrow its soundtrack and indeed its casting style and preferences from Bad Sisters, despite never reaching the brilliance of that script and dialogue.

But as shows about class difference, about family obligations and rights, about the wealthy West and the often scramblingly desperate East (personified here by a young generation of Filipina babysitters who find themselves marooned in basement bedrooms of wealthy upscale Denmark), this is a well-made, sharp-edged and sympathetic tale that is also (for all of those first five episodes and at least for parts of the sixth) highly entertaining and highly recommended.