TRAPPED. Netflix
Megan Furniss
Sometimes I feel like I am part of an informal series club. When friends with Netflix or Showmax or even Amazon Prime get together we swop series recommendations. There is a lot out there.
This past weekend was a naughty one for me. A friend recommended something that we got sucked in to; a crime drama that we couldn’t stop watching. We stole hours of the day to get through it, and it’s one of those ones I can’t stop thinking about. It’s a Netflix production called Trapped.
Set in a remote town in Iceland, a murder is investigated by the three local cops while the town is shut off by a powerful storm.
More twists than a slinky
The plot has more twists than a slinky, with the past coming back into the story, and a bunch of character-driven plot developments. The main cop and his complicated family are also woven into the story, we find out the ins and outs of the odd locals, as well as the strangers the ferry brings in.
The setting, a real tiny town in Iceland, is magical and foreign and odd and mesmerising. The snow and cold can be felt through the screen, and the performances are original and unsettling, partly because Icelandic is so foreign. The gloomy soundtrack and bleak landscape created a backdrop for the escalating feeling of being trapped as the town’s secrets unravelled.
Ólafur Darri Ólafsson is gorgeous as Andri, the brooding but dedicated lead cop in the tiny town, but all the other characters are absorbing and interesting as well, if not completely “small town weird”.
I loved it. I loved the styling, the setting, the weather, the language and the complicated plot. I couldn’t stop, and was bleak when it was over.
WS
