Ragnarok S1 and 2 (Review
Jun. 4th, 2021 06:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakA Norwegian-language series, consisting of two seasons so far, produced by a Danish company, with Adam Price (creator of Borgen) as executive producer, up at Netflix. I'm tempted to nickname it Norse Mythology: The High School AU.
I liked the first season better than the second; each consists of six episodes, is set in the fictional Norwegian town of Edda, in the current day (minus global pandemic). One of the reasons why I prefer the first season is that a) it found some clever current day equivalents of the Norse myth tropes, and b) it actually went back to the mythology, not the Marvel version (with one big exception, about which more in the moment). The second season, otoh, leaned too much into the family soap opera at the expense of the themes and Marvel-ized one of the characters, at least imo, but it was stll entertainingly done.
Basic premise: teenage Magne, his brother Laurits and their mother Turid move back to the town of Edda, which they left when the kids were still very young. Magne has a chance encounter with a mysterious one-eyed man and a magical old lady right at the start and before you can say "Thor" starts to display increased physical strength and an affinity to the weather. He's also dyslexic and socially awkward, which isn't cured by said new powers, and this particular update on Thor is one of the clever things the series does - Magne isn't stupid, but he has a genuine problem (which he's learned to work with, not least due to modern technology, but it won't go away), and sometimes it puts him at a severe disadvantage.
The town is inofficially ruled by the Jutuls, the fifth richest family in Norway, whose factories and corruption directly contribute to the climate change and industrial pollution (not just) Edda is suffering from, but against which no one is willing to do anything, since most of the local jobs are depending on the the Jutuls, who are, of course, in reality four Jötner (giants) posing as a family. Again, this update on the Thor vs Giants conflict and on the Giants in general was something I found really smart - this way, their willingness to bring about the end of the world - the Ragnarök of the title - not only is deeply relevant but doesn't need big artificial MacGuffins. (It also hails from no deeper motives that greed and selfishness enhanced by immortality, i.e. very human traits, except for the immortality, hardly unique to Giants. There isn't a big plot to destroy the world. They just don't care that they'll do it, considering they themselves will survive.)
On the downside, even in s1: The pilot has that tried and true plot device, killing off the most likeable character, female, to motivate our main male character on his quest. Sigh. Also, Isolde, the character in question, is the original green activist, she's also lesbian, and her friendship with Magne was a well done "Two outsiders together" in said pilot. I mean, I can see the emotional effectiveness of the ploy, but still. Did you have to, show? Especially since Gry, the girl Magne has a crush on and later befriends, is both less interesting than Isolde, and the show clearly had no idea what to do with her past s1, since she gets unceremoniously written out mid s2.
Back again to the good points: providing Magne with a brother whose name starts with L, who likes to play pranks on him, who very quickly befriends the Jutuls and whose loyalties keep being uncertain is both the one big concession to Marvel viewing habits the show makes in s1 - because in the myths, Thor and Loki really really are not brothers - and one of the better modern incarnations of Loki. Thankfully, the town's gay scene isn't limited to the soon murdered Isolde: not only is Laurits presented as sexually ambigous (hey, he even gets Loki's mpreg and the Midgard Serpent!) and queer, but there are other gay characters around, and no one makes a big deal out of it. My one Laurits related complaint is that while in s1 he's very confident - and far better at befriending people than Magne -, in s2 he's suddenly acquired emo and "who am I, really?" issues. Still, the show has done well with him so far, with each heel turn making sense from his pov. Which is more than you can say of some other characters, but hey.
Another plus point is that since the Gods on this show really did die in the last Ragnarök, and Magne (and Laurits, and assorted other deities showing up in s2) are reincarnations rather than having lived through all these years, the series doesn't forget Magne by and large is a teenager. After he has killed for the first time, he can't just put it away, even if the person in question was a multiple murderer. And the question as to whether there aren't other ways is one that keeps coming up. (On both sides; in s1, the Jutuls quickly realize that you don't have to figiht a high school kid mano a mano, when it's so much easier to have him get certified as disturbed and locked away.)
I have mixed emotions about: : s2 seems to go for a Shadow/Vorlon thing by letting the other reincarnated gods be not better than the Jutul, except in the finale, while letting the Jutul develop (some) emotional ties with non-Jutul; but otoh the enironmental themes fade more and more in the background in favor of Laurits dealing with his newly discovered bio dad and the power struggle within the Jutuls playing out like it wants to be Dynasty. Oh, and poor Turid, Magne's and Laurits' mother, is written as if she's early BTVS Joyce Summers with a heavy dose of additional Lois Lane re: Clark/Superman blindness. I mean, sure, this is a High School AU, meaning none of the adults, even when not in the pockets of Team Evil, can be very useful, but seriously, I think I've lost my patience for stories which extend that kind of blindness beyond the early stage.
Lastly: this series being actually filmed in Norway, the landscape is gorgeous and at the same time shows the increasing damage.
All in all: willl probably watch further if there's a third season, but also won't be heartbroken if there is not.
I liked the first season better than the second; each consists of six episodes, is set in the fictional Norwegian town of Edda, in the current day (minus global pandemic). One of the reasons why I prefer the first season is that a) it found some clever current day equivalents of the Norse myth tropes, and b) it actually went back to the mythology, not the Marvel version (with one big exception, about which more in the moment). The second season, otoh, leaned too much into the family soap opera at the expense of the themes and Marvel-ized one of the characters, at least imo, but it was stll entertainingly done.
Basic premise: teenage Magne, his brother Laurits and their mother Turid move back to the town of Edda, which they left when the kids were still very young. Magne has a chance encounter with a mysterious one-eyed man and a magical old lady right at the start and before you can say "Thor" starts to display increased physical strength and an affinity to the weather. He's also dyslexic and socially awkward, which isn't cured by said new powers, and this particular update on Thor is one of the clever things the series does - Magne isn't stupid, but he has a genuine problem (which he's learned to work with, not least due to modern technology, but it won't go away), and sometimes it puts him at a severe disadvantage.
The town is inofficially ruled by the Jutuls, the fifth richest family in Norway, whose factories and corruption directly contribute to the climate change and industrial pollution (not just) Edda is suffering from, but against which no one is willing to do anything, since most of the local jobs are depending on the the Jutuls, who are, of course, in reality four Jötner (giants) posing as a family. Again, this update on the Thor vs Giants conflict and on the Giants in general was something I found really smart - this way, their willingness to bring about the end of the world - the Ragnarök of the title - not only is deeply relevant but doesn't need big artificial MacGuffins. (It also hails from no deeper motives that greed and selfishness enhanced by immortality, i.e. very human traits, except for the immortality, hardly unique to Giants. There isn't a big plot to destroy the world. They just don't care that they'll do it, considering they themselves will survive.)
On the downside, even in s1: The pilot has that tried and true plot device, killing off the most likeable character, female, to motivate our main male character on his quest. Sigh. Also, Isolde, the character in question, is the original green activist, she's also lesbian, and her friendship with Magne was a well done "Two outsiders together" in said pilot. I mean, I can see the emotional effectiveness of the ploy, but still. Did you have to, show? Especially since Gry, the girl Magne has a crush on and later befriends, is both less interesting than Isolde, and the show clearly had no idea what to do with her past s1, since she gets unceremoniously written out mid s2.
Back again to the good points: providing Magne with a brother whose name starts with L, who likes to play pranks on him, who very quickly befriends the Jutuls and whose loyalties keep being uncertain is both the one big concession to Marvel viewing habits the show makes in s1 - because in the myths, Thor and Loki really really are not brothers - and one of the better modern incarnations of Loki. Thankfully, the town's gay scene isn't limited to the soon murdered Isolde: not only is Laurits presented as sexually ambigous (hey, he even gets Loki's mpreg and the Midgard Serpent!) and queer, but there are other gay characters around, and no one makes a big deal out of it. My one Laurits related complaint is that while in s1 he's very confident - and far better at befriending people than Magne -, in s2 he's suddenly acquired emo and "who am I, really?" issues. Still, the show has done well with him so far, with each heel turn making sense from his pov. Which is more than you can say of some other characters, but hey.
Another plus point is that since the Gods on this show really did die in the last Ragnarök, and Magne (and Laurits, and assorted other deities showing up in s2) are reincarnations rather than having lived through all these years, the series doesn't forget Magne by and large is a teenager. After he has killed for the first time, he can't just put it away, even if the person in question was a multiple murderer. And the question as to whether there aren't other ways is one that keeps coming up. (On both sides; in s1, the Jutuls quickly realize that you don't have to figiht a high school kid mano a mano, when it's so much easier to have him get certified as disturbed and locked away.)
I have mixed emotions about: : s2 seems to go for a Shadow/Vorlon thing by letting the other reincarnated gods be not better than the Jutul, except in the finale, while letting the Jutul develop (some) emotional ties with non-Jutul; but otoh the enironmental themes fade more and more in the background in favor of Laurits dealing with his newly discovered bio dad and the power struggle within the Jutuls playing out like it wants to be Dynasty. Oh, and poor Turid, Magne's and Laurits' mother, is written as if she's early BTVS Joyce Summers with a heavy dose of additional Lois Lane re: Clark/Superman blindness. I mean, sure, this is a High School AU, meaning none of the adults, even when not in the pockets of Team Evil, can be very useful, but seriously, I think I've lost my patience for stories which extend that kind of blindness beyond the early stage.
Lastly: this series being actually filmed in Norway, the landscape is gorgeous and at the same time shows the increasing damage.
All in all: willl probably watch further if there's a third season, but also won't be heartbroken if there is not.
no subject
Date: 2021-06-04 06:00 pm (UTC)HOORAY.
(There are vanishingly few contemporary retellings of Loki I can deal with; even in a flawed show that I might never watch, I'm glad to know this mythological fidelity exists.)
no subject
Date: 2021-06-05 12:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-06-04 09:45 pm (UTC)And then everybody starts panicking when Odin reincarnates in the principle protagonist, because well ... Odin (warlock [oathbreaker], witch, instigator of Ragnarok, etc).
no subject
Date: 2021-06-05 12:10 pm (UTC)