This was a highly enjoyable and tightly written and constructed little series - only 6 episodes and each one only 30 minutes, so words and events had to count.
The central theme was quite dark, dealing as it did with loss, grief, the (final) coming to terms with this and, as can often happen, something of a revaluation of the relationship with the person lost. All these aspects were dealt with in this series and in a thoughtful and invariably perceptive and understanding way. Another, slightly unusual, aspect was the nature and importance of relationships between very different generations, here shown in a warm and understanding way. Very often, particularly in dramas with any sort of gay theme (which this significantly had, but which was only one aspect of the drama) the age range of the protagonists is invariably small. Here, with some far greater age gaps, the advantages of age and the potency of emotions with the younger made for some fine dramatic and emotionally illuminating scenes. This was particularly true of the lovely scenes between Tore and Heidi.
The dialogue was good – informative without being overly calculated and smart and the awkward, hesitant conversations at emotional moments being very well caught.
The central character, Tore, was not a traditional highly likeable central figure but he did come across as genuine and as someone who could, and would, learn about himself. His relationships with Erik and Viggo (so very different) were very well drawn and the fact that neither came to a definite end was quite right. The sexual scenes were as very well done – real without being cheaply graphic and with a good combinations, where needed, of eroticism and tenderness.
The camera work was effective and creative where it needed to be for the sake of the drama but never just for its own sake. The depiction of drug use was one of the best parts of the film; it was shown as both frightening and beneficial which was a dramatically thoughtful and appropriate mixture – even if it never rose to Darren Aronofsky levels. Occasionally symbolism was a little bit heavy-handed, particularly with the dog but this was a minor fault.
Immediately after the final episode I was not at all sure of the ending worked; it initially seemed too rushed and with far too much left unresolved but after some though I realised that this was in fact very effective and well in keeping with the emotional honesty of the piece. A significant part of Tore’s life had come to; an end, he had learnt much but there was the rest of his life now to come; a tying up of all ends possible for him would not have rung true to the way that the story had been shown until then. It was a section, a slice of his life, but there is still very much more to come.