Netflix’s ‘Anxious People’ is a Swedish web series streaming on Netflix. Based on the novel by Fredrik Backman, the story revolves around a clumsy father-son police duo, trying to unveil the robber who held 8 people hostage.
Summary
Back when Jack Johansson (Alfred Svensson) was a teenager, he witnessed a man giving up on life. Though he tried to help him, the man handed him a letter to deliver to a bank personnel and then goes on to jump into the river.
Now, an older Jack lives with his father, Jim Johansson(Dan Ekborg). Both of them are policemen but they can’t be more different. While Jim is more sympathetic and soft hearted, Jack is more reasonable and logical. The third member of their family is Jill, an addict. Jack gets to know that Jim has wired some money to Jill again, and they break into a fight.
Simultaneously on the other hand, a person is trying to rob a bank with the gun pointed at the bank teller. The cops, who were in the midst of an argument, spot the incident while the robber runs into a house where an open house is being held.
Everyone in the house is held hostage by the robber. An old couple Anna-Lena (Marika Lagercrantz) and Roger (Leif Andree) who are IKEA enthusiasts, an anxious banker Zarah (Anna Grannath), an eccentric Estelle (Lottie Ejebrant), Lennart (Per Andersson) who is in a BDSM rabbit costume, a pregnant Julia (Carla Sehn) and her wife Ro (Petrina Solange) and a failed real estate agent Maria Oredsson; all locked in with the robber holding a gun.
The cops of the small town are clearly unequipped and are unable to handle the matter at hand properly and adding to that are the differences between the father and the son. The robber soon starts making demands of pizza and fireworks in the middle of all the chaos. The squad from Stockholm is dispatched and the hostages are released but the robber is nowhere in sight.
Upon questioning, we get to know the stories of these people slowly.
Anna Lena and Roger have been partners for long; not only for life but for work as well.Together they try to bring the prices of houses down so that they can buy it. Also, Roger is an IKEA addict. Their relationship is stressed when Roger discovers that Anna Lena has been paying Lennart to fulfill their mission without his knowledge.
Zarah is haunted by the letter which she had received from a dead man fears that she is to blame for his suicide. Lennart and Zarah meet under the horrifying situation of being held hostage and to Zarah’s dismay, Lennart is not exactly a shrinking violet. He is quite the opposite. He is wearing a BDSM bunny costume and was called to the open house by Anna Lena to take a dump there so that the price of the house could go down.
Julia and Ro have a baby on the way. After being questioned about the robber, Ro goes missing. Julia thinks that Ro might have been unfaithful to her while Jack wonders if Ro might actually have ties with the robber.
When questioned, Estelle and Maria stress that they know nothing about the robber but they seem to have a reason to try and rob a bank.
While Jim secretly deletes the CCTV footage where the robber can be seen asking for money with a gun at the bank, Jack is suspicious of everyone who was held hostage.
Can Jack solve the puzzle and uncover the truth?
Anxious People ending explained in detail:
Cat out of the bag
When Jack is adamant that Estelle and Maria are the perpetrators, Jim finally tells him that it was him who deleted the CCTV footage.
Upon asking, Jim admits that he actually does know the robber and yet is hiding their identity.
Mama
Jack is obviously furious. His father tells him that the robber is Liv, a mama. Live wants custody of daughters but needs a house to go through with it. She is barely left with any money after separating with her ex-husband and with no solution in sight, she decided to commit the crime.
The flashback reveals that when Jim had went to deliver pizza to the robber, she started crying in his arms, guilt ridden with what she had just done. Jim being a person who has a soft heart, decides to cover for her and help her out.
The hostages and Jim draw a plan to save Liv.
The escape
Learning the truth, Jack heads out to get a hold of Liv who is living with her daughters and Estelle.
At her doorsteps, he sees her two daughters, innocently playing with toys. This melts his heart and he decides to let her go. Before leaving he asks how her escape was executed. She simply answers that she was hiding in the house next door.
Jim asks Jill to come back home. Jill raises concern over whether Jack would want her there, to which her father tells her that he does.
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