Rating 3.5/5
‘Anxious People’ is a Swedish web series on Netflix which revolves around two awkward cops who are trying to catch a robber who vanished into thin air after holding people hostage at an open house.
Story
Jack Johansson (Alfred Svensson) and his father Jim Johansson(Dan Ekborg) both are policemen. Though they they are tied with love and familial bonds, they don’t seem to see eye to eye about certain things. On one such occasion, when father and son are fighting over Jim wiring money to his daughter Jill, a robber is pointing a gun on the head of a bank teller.
When the two policemen spot the crime taking place, the robber runs into a house where an open house is taking place and holds everyone inside hostage. People held hostage include; an old couple Anna-Lena (Marika Lagercrantz) and Roger (Leif Andree) who have a love for housing and construction, an anxious banker Zarah (Anna Grannath), an eccentric and unpredictable Estelle (Lottie Ejebrant), Lennart (Per Andersson) who’s job is to take a dump at open houses, a pregnant Julia (Carla Sehn) and her wife Ro (Petrina Solange) and a real estate agent Maria Oredsson.
The robber vanishes after releasing the hostages. People attending the open house are called for questioning. This only adds to the confusion and Jack starts suspecting everyone. Jack and Jim try to find who the robber is and how they escaped.
Performances
Alfred Svensson and Dan Ekborg seem like an actual family. The differences and the similarities of the two characters are brought out by the actors very well.
Marika Lagercrantz is very lovable as a caring Anna-Lena.
Carla Sehn is flawless as a girl crush, a comedy bomb and a very pregnant wife who suspects that her wife is unfaithful.
Anna Grannath and Per Anderson really compliment each other. Grannath portrays an anxious woman who is also strong and independent at the same time. Anderson on the other hand, couldn’t be more bizarre and funny.
Positives
The story very carefully discloses the lives of all the people involved. Every character is given a backstory that justifies what they are doing and why they are doing it.
The characters look and feel like real people and not just a part of a story; they make the story.
The series finds good in all the bad parts of the world. Everyone and everything is given a key point that makes it grey instead of black and white. No one is good or bad. It is also about self improvement and growth as we can see it in some form or the other in all the characters by the end of the series.
‘Anxious People’ has it’s laugh-out-loud moments. In moments of heaviness, the series adds a dash of comedy to make the audience realise how absurd the situation actually is. Be it in the form of a comment on Jack’s hairstyle just when the robber vanishes or Roger not wanting to go to IKEA together with his wife after a fight; it makes light of grim situations.
Negatives
The first two episodes get a little dull but the series picks up from the third episode.
Some of the conclusions to a few characters’ stories seem out of place. After a 10 seconds pep talk from Roger, Ro suddenly feels confident to have the baby.
Jack, who is all set to arrest the robber, suddenly changes his mind when he spots the children. Instances like these, though very few, make the character’s ending feel rushed.
The last thing the man who jumped into the water does is, leave behind a letter for Zara. But the letter reads that she is not the cause of the outcome. Had she not gotten the letter in the first place, there is no way she would have connect the suicide to herself.
This man, who is about to end his life, leaves a letter for a banker just before dying. This one incident is a little hard to digest.
All the while we feel that the robber must be someone we know. But in the last moment of the second last episode, a new character is introduced who turns out to be the robber. The audience does not get the required time to hate or defend the character.
Worth it?
‘Anxious People’ is worth a watch if you are looking for a quick and fun heartwarming binge.
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