As this first episode opens one could be thinking it was another US crime drama as Mafioso Frank Tagliano attends the funeral of his former boss. He had expected to be made the new boss but was past over for a man who cares about nothing but money; he says he accepts the decision but the new boss clearly sees him as a threat and tries to have Frank killed. Frank is unharmed but his dog is killed; that is enough to persuade him to go to the FBI and offer to testifyÂ… on one condition; he is relocated to Lillehammer in Norway.
He picked Lillehammer because he liked the look of it when he saw it in television during the Winter Olympics several years before. Of course it isn't quite as he expected and the certainly do things differently there. On his first morning there he finds a sheep's head lying in the road outside his houseÂ… is it some sort of threat? No it is his neighbour, the chief of police's dinner! More difficulties arise when he goes to the employment office saying he wants to open a bar; the man behind the desk says that is 'complicated' which Frank takes to be an indication that he'll have to pay a bribe; the Norwegian official is horrified when one is offered though! Not everything goes badly though; he makes friends with a local family when he returns their pet sheep. When the same sheep is attacked by a wolf he suggests they go out and shoot it but is informed that to kill a wolf would be a more serious offence than killing a person! That won't stop him though and along with two new drinking buddies he sets off after the wolf. They get stuck out over night and find the cabin belonging to the employment official; while looking for food they find some rather incriminating picturesÂ… if bribery won't work perhaps he will have better luck with blackmail!
I'd seen crime dramas from Denmark and Sweden before but nothing from Norway so was interested to see what this would be like. It is of course different in two major ways; firstly the main character is an American so much of the dialogue is in English and secondly this is very much a comedy. The fact that it is a comedy doesn't mean it is full of jokes though; the actors play their roles straight; it is the situations that are funny. Steven Van Zandt does a fine job as Frank; a man who has his own way of doing things. The Norwegian actors also do a good job although their role is not huge in this opening episode; most of what happens serves to introduce us to Frank and his new situation; we are shown the locals but so far don't really get to know them. The situations were pretty funny without spoiling the underlying drama. It might be argued that Frank has learnt to understand Norwegian rather quickly but hardly speaks a work of it; this might be a problem in a drama but it is fairly easy to suspend disbelief if a more comic work like this. I really enjoyed this opening episode so will almost certainly watch the rest of the short series.
He picked Lillehammer because he liked the look of it when he saw it in television during the Winter Olympics several years before. Of course it isn't quite as he expected and the certainly do things differently there. On his first morning there he finds a sheep's head lying in the road outside his houseÂ… is it some sort of threat? No it is his neighbour, the chief of police's dinner! More difficulties arise when he goes to the employment office saying he wants to open a bar; the man behind the desk says that is 'complicated' which Frank takes to be an indication that he'll have to pay a bribe; the Norwegian official is horrified when one is offered though! Not everything goes badly though; he makes friends with a local family when he returns their pet sheep. When the same sheep is attacked by a wolf he suggests they go out and shoot it but is informed that to kill a wolf would be a more serious offence than killing a person! That won't stop him though and along with two new drinking buddies he sets off after the wolf. They get stuck out over night and find the cabin belonging to the employment official; while looking for food they find some rather incriminating picturesÂ… if bribery won't work perhaps he will have better luck with blackmail!
I'd seen crime dramas from Denmark and Sweden before but nothing from Norway so was interested to see what this would be like. It is of course different in two major ways; firstly the main character is an American so much of the dialogue is in English and secondly this is very much a comedy. The fact that it is a comedy doesn't mean it is full of jokes though; the actors play their roles straight; it is the situations that are funny. Steven Van Zandt does a fine job as Frank; a man who has his own way of doing things. The Norwegian actors also do a good job although their role is not huge in this opening episode; most of what happens serves to introduce us to Frank and his new situation; we are shown the locals but so far don't really get to know them. The situations were pretty funny without spoiling the underlying drama. It might be argued that Frank has learnt to understand Norwegian rather quickly but hardly speaks a work of it; this might be a problem in a drama but it is fairly easy to suspend disbelief if a more comic work like this. I really enjoyed this opening episode so will almost certainly watch the rest of the short series.
