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Norwegian TV has Already Factored in American Decline
I suppose I’ll watch House of Thrones or Game of Cards eventually, although it’s hate-watching at this point. It’s amusing to see how DC is portrayed, how we’re supposed to care a whit about an unctuous falsehood and his frosty wife. The best part of the show was Frank’s wry, cynical asides to the camera; they drew you into his confidence, almost made you complicit. But they don’t do that much anymore.
A better Netflix suggestion: Occupied. It’s a new Norwegian show about a soft Russian occupation in post-NATO near-future. The pretext is a bit shaky, but it doesn’t matter. It’s an intelligent show with two compelling lead characters — a policeman who has to negotiate between the occupied and the occupiers, and a decent, airy-minded Green PM who has to grow a spine when reality intrudes on his climate-change agenda. A host of sharp minor characters show you how occupation corrupts, co-opts, and radicalizes.
What’s most horrifying is how the United States is eventually depicted: not just withdrawn and indifferent, but peevishly annoyed by the Norwegian insistence on its own sovereignty. It’s just agonizing. Perhaps this is how they see us now, or at least how they expect us to become.
Streaming on Netflix in your “Recently Added” pane.
Published in Culture, Entertainment, General
I will have to check it out. A ton of good shows are coming out of Norway these days. Check out Fortitude.
Thanks for the suggestion. My wife and I watched the first episode last night and are thinking it might be excellent. I will wait and see how it goes but it’s well worth watching so far. Pretty good cast, too. Stanley Tucci, Michael Gambon, Christopher Eccleston, etc. — wow!
First episode is slow. Picks up quickly after that. Enjoy.
My goodness that was a good series.