In the opening episode a mother invites her children Lasse and Jonna to return to her guest house, which she runs with her son Oskar, on the Aland Islands. She then has a private word with each of her children before taking a boat out into the Baltic and shooting herself! If this wasn't enough of a shock her family learn that if they are to inherit the guest house they will have to run it together over the summer season. None of them are pleased with this; Lasse has a restaurant to run in Stockholm, Jonna is an actress who is up for a good role and Oskar feels that he has earned the right to the property thanks to the work he has done there over the years.
Not surprisingly they ultimately decide to stay and over the course of the summer tensions rise and secrets are revealed. These aren't minor secrets; they are the sort that could shatter the family permanently or even lead to some of them going to jail.
This Swedish melodrama was a lot of fun; the characters were somewhat exaggerated and most of them were fairly flawed to say the least that wasn't a problem though as the story was interesting. The pace wasn't rushed but equally it didn't drag. Some plot threads stretch through the ten episodes of the series while others are resolved within the episode; this works effectively as guests come and go. By the end of the first season several plot threads have been wrapped up but others remain leaving viewers waiting for a second season. The cast does a good job although not speaking Swedish I can comment on whether local accents were accurate. Overall I'd recommend this to fans of Nordic television who are looking for something a little different.
These comments are based on watching the series in Swedish with English subtitles.
Not surprisingly they ultimately decide to stay and over the course of the summer tensions rise and secrets are revealed. These aren't minor secrets; they are the sort that could shatter the family permanently or even lead to some of them going to jail.
This Swedish melodrama was a lot of fun; the characters were somewhat exaggerated and most of them were fairly flawed to say the least that wasn't a problem though as the story was interesting. The pace wasn't rushed but equally it didn't drag. Some plot threads stretch through the ten episodes of the series while others are resolved within the episode; this works effectively as guests come and go. By the end of the first season several plot threads have been wrapped up but others remain leaving viewers waiting for a second season. The cast does a good job although not speaking Swedish I can comment on whether local accents were accurate. Overall I'd recommend this to fans of Nordic television who are looking for something a little different.
These comments are based on watching the series in Swedish with English subtitles.