Viaplay has a decidedly gritty new offering coming to the platform. Mafia, a six-part drama thriller, centres around a community of smugglers and dealers from the former Yugoslavia, all of whom are using their new home in Stockholm to fund arms back home. Set against the backdrop of the Yugoslavian war, ethnic tensions permeate the Swedish capital, whilst personal rivalries have devastating consequences. This is a gripping, slow burn that will leave you wanting more. 

Mafia – The Trailer

Mafia – The Directors

The series is co-directed by Tomas Jonsgården and Mani Maserrat-Agah, neatly divided into three episodes per director. 

Tomas Jonsgården has directed the likes of Kasper & Sophie (a short film) and Games of Thrones: Aftermath. Mani Maserrat-Agah has directed episodes of Young Wallander and Modus, as well as the feature films Us (starring Gustaf Skarsgård and Rebecca Ferguson) and Ciao Bella. 

Mafia – The Cast

Here are the key players in the six-part series:

• Jakov – Peshang Rad (Jana – Marked for Life and Gåsmamman) 
• Gunn – Katia Winter (The Boys and Dexter) 
• Pontus – Christian Hillborg (The Last Kingdom and Young Royals) 
• Goran – Nemanja Stojanovic (Alex) 
• Helene – Helena Af Sandeberg  (Deg) 
• Stefan – Dennis Boric (The Brothers Nobel) 
• Drago – Cedomir Djordjevic (Taelgia) 
• Valter Sokol – Max Lapitskij (Before We Die) 
• Clara – Dilan Gwyn  (The Turkish Detective) 
• Boris – Dragomir Mrsic (Snabba Cash) 
• Håkan – Tom Ljungman (Let the Right One In) 

Mafia – The Plot

The series dramatically underlines the stark transformation of 1990s Sweden from peaceful to perilous as it follows the ascent of Radovan “Jakov” Jakovic from rags to criminal riches and Gunn Thörngren, the lone detective who sees the looming mafia menace within the smuggled cigarette smoke.

Mafia draws inspiration from actual events, touching on a critical time in Swedish history, the consequences of which still echo today. Set against the backdrop of civil war within the former Yugoslavia, the series takes viewers back to a time when acts of violence such as shootings were unheard of, but where cigarette smuggling, in particular, became the prelude to a new type of organised crime.

Mafia – Our Review

Across the six episodes, we move from 1991 to 1999. During this time, we see power struggles, ethnic tensions, violence and death. This isn’t a series that revels in the quiet, happy moments of life whilst the underworld rumbles on in the background. Instead, Mafia gives us a quiet, methodical villain and takes us on his path of destruction and greed. 

From the offset, Peshang Rad’s performance as Radovan “Jakov” Jakovic will draw you in to his seedy little world. He seems to take on one humiliation after the other – he is just a small cog in a very organised criminal underworld. His wire-rimmed glasses and ill-fitting 90s tracksuit make him look like a sombre accountant trying to be trendy. He is an unlikely criminal mastermind. And yet, Rad imbues him with a fiery ambition that burns through his brooding stare. We get the sense that his character, who is an orphan, has been broken many times before but has always found a way back. As the series progresses, his tracksuit is swapped for an actual suit and we see the true extent of his desire for power. It’s a fascinating performance that will have viewers constantly second-guessing. 

And, of course, it wouldn’t be a crime thriller without a proper sense of tension and threat, which positively ripples through all six episodes. Episode three, in particular, will leave you gasping for air. Since loyalties are constantly being tested – and police leaks threaten to foil Gunn’s case against the cigarette smugglers – there is a sense that no character is safe, no matter how central they are to the plot. 

As the power struggle mushrooms, so does the violence. We see drive-by shootings, unplanned dental extractions and cold-blooded car bombs. The ethnic tensions of the former Yugoslavia spread across Stockholm, leaving a trail of blood in their wake. The less control Jakov has, the more messy and dangerous this series becomes. At the heart of this is Drago, Jakov’s contemporary, who believes he could do a better job of the smuggling operations. Whilst he is a loud, brutish “manager” of people, Jakov is a quiet observer; someone who can sniff out your weaknesses. Their rivalry fuels the latter half of the series; palpable in its toxicity. 

This is a series that will keep you gripped until the very last episode. It’s a simmering, slow burn that luxuriates in its well-written characters; it’s in no rush to show you its cards. More than that, Jakov is such a conflicting, interesting “bad guy” that you may not necessarily want Gunn and her team to catch up with him straight away. 

Mafia is extremely well-written, with well-fleshed-out lead performances. It’s not glossy or slick – it’s here to show you a grimy, violent side to Stockholm that isn’t postcard perfect. And you’ll love it. 

Will There Be A Season Two of Mafia?

Mafia does have a relatively ambiguous – and shocking – series finale. The open-endedness suggests that the power struggle in Stockholm is set to continue, and the fate of several characters is left unresolved. We’d love to see what happens next, so perhaps we’ll see another series, this time set in the early 2000s? 

Mafia comes to Viaplay USA on the 19th June and Viaplay UK from the 23rd June

Written by: Mary Munoz, Content Creator at Nordic Watchlist