Anyone who saw Silvio in The Sopranos will immediately recognise the main man of this brilliant Norwegian show. *Potential spoilers* Very quickly you will realise that Giovanni 'Jonny' Hendriksen is a far cry from Silvio. *Spoiler* Firstly, he is a snitch. His Cosa Nostra career is summed up in the first 5 minutes.
Underboss for ages in a powerful family, passed over by the Commission for promotion, he decides to start afresh and break Omerta, with the final straw being the death of his dog Lily.
So off he pops to Lillehammer, Norway. Having obviously spent a long time in hiding preparing for his trial and subsequent pre-planned trip to Norway, he is reasonably proficient in understanding the locals but insists on speaking in his own exaggerated mobster language. All of this is quickly and clumsily explained in the first ten minutes.
As soon as he lands in Norway, the comedy starts. Fish out of water, clash of cultures, both phrases which could be lazily applied to this show. It is more than that, it is a swipe at both the materialistic, brutal, bullying American society and the controlled, timid, politically correct (but happy and prosperous) Norwegian society.
It is laugh out loud funny in parts and if you take life too seriously, you probably won't like it. The broader dramatic elements are just thrown in for some story and can be quite unrealistic but this is a comedy that doesn't take itself too seriously, so I don't mind suspending my disbelief at some of the far fetched concepts.
9/10 , loses a point for a slight lack of depth.
Underboss for ages in a powerful family, passed over by the Commission for promotion, he decides to start afresh and break Omerta, with the final straw being the death of his dog Lily.
So off he pops to Lillehammer, Norway. Having obviously spent a long time in hiding preparing for his trial and subsequent pre-planned trip to Norway, he is reasonably proficient in understanding the locals but insists on speaking in his own exaggerated mobster language. All of this is quickly and clumsily explained in the first ten minutes.
As soon as he lands in Norway, the comedy starts. Fish out of water, clash of cultures, both phrases which could be lazily applied to this show. It is more than that, it is a swipe at both the materialistic, brutal, bullying American society and the controlled, timid, politically correct (but happy and prosperous) Norwegian society.
It is laugh out loud funny in parts and if you take life too seriously, you probably won't like it. The broader dramatic elements are just thrown in for some story and can be quite unrealistic but this is a comedy that doesn't take itself too seriously, so I don't mind suspending my disbelief at some of the far fetched concepts.
9/10 , loses a point for a slight lack of depth.
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