Clear your diary; cancel your plans. There’s a new six-part Nordic crime drama for you to binge-watch on Netflix – and you won’t want to miss it. Far from being a formulaic police procedural, The Glass Dome (Glaskupan) is a twisting, tense thriller that will have you questioning everything right up until the very last seconds. The series has been created by Swedish bestselling crime author Camilla Läckberg and it shows.
The Glass Dome Review
Set in Granås, a small town in Sweden, the series opens with Lejla (Léonie Vincent) returning to her childhood home following the death of her adoptive mother. What is already a difficult journey is made even more traumatic by a series of tragic and seemingly unpredictable events. As a child, she was kidnapped and held captive in the titular glass dome and, now, another young girl has gone missing. As Lejla investigates the disappearance alongside her retired police commissioner father, Valter (Johan Hedenberg), she is forced to confront the twisted nature of her past. Is history repeating itself … and why?
Granås looks like it could be straight out of a fairytale. The morning sunlight floods through the trees. The river flows gently through the town. The snow-capped houses are pastel coloured and cosy. But this fairy tale was surely written by The Brothers Grimm. Directors Henrik Björn (Director of Jana:Marked for Life) and Lisa Farzaneh wash the colour palette right out, leaving everything feeling flat and uncanny. There’s brutal imagery of burgundy blood against black silk and stark white tiling; there’s childhood artwork that isn’t as innocent as it first seems. It’s the perfect backdrop for anyone on the verge of losing their mind.
And that’s certainly the way Lejla seems to be heading. Léonie Vincent presents us with an externally confident young woman, on the brink of a promising career in the States. But she can barely go to sleep at night without seeing shadows and the memories of her childhood kidnapping flood back in acidic ambers and neon reds. It’s a very emotional performance, and Vincent oscillates perfectly between determined stoicism and child-like fragility.
Performances
The performances, all round, are excellent. And, in a series like this, that’s very important because no one gives anything away. That’s not to say the characterisation is flat or uninteresting – that’s definitely not the case. But it works because you’re never quite sure which character is telling the truth and who is suspect. Simple conversations seem laden with subtext and there are red herrings aplenty. Johan Hedenberg is absolutely fascinating as Valter. His dynamic with his brother Tomas (Johan Rheborg), who is now heading up the police, belies a lifetime of competition and personality clashes. Farzaneh Arastoo is also excellent as Said, the father of missing Isla. We get a real sense of his “outsider” status as he battles racism, the loss of his child and the closure of his mining business.
And that’s another thing that works really well throughout The Glass Dome. It’s not just about the kidnapping. There are so many threads to the story. There is a gang of local racists whose violence escalates; there are protests about the expansion of the town and the mining activity; there are characters whose presence is both unexplained but highly dangerous. Läckberg expertly weaves these narratives together across the six episodes in order to keep the tension high. These, coupled with Lejla’s increasingly frenzied flashbacks, really do leave you wondering who you can trust.
It would be remiss not to mention how utterly thrilling episode six is. No spoilers in this review, of course, but it truly is a brilliant forty-five minutes of television. The ending is genuinely sinister, unpredictable and unnerving. The disturbing and violent conclusion will leave you shocked (and perhaps slightly miffed that you haven’t cracked the case because there is no way you’ll see it coming). It’s a testament to both the writing and the performances that the series wraps on such a strong note whilst fully answering all of your questions and not giving in to cliches.
If you’re looking for a thoroughly enjoyable binge-watch, The Glass Dome is a highly entertaining, well-crafted thriller. You’ll be so glad you hit the “next episode” button again and again.
The Glass Dome (Glaskupan) is available on Netflix Globally from April 15.