HBO’s Forgotten 12-Episode Sci-Fi Thriller Is One of Television’s Most Unsettling

When a show decides to add time travel to its storytelling, the project becomes all the more ambitious. After all, while there have been many successful time-travel shows over the years, including Doctor Who, Dark and 11.22.63, a series with time travel needs to account for parallel timeframes, time travel mechanisms and rules, historical costume design and production, and much more. Luckily, however, the tall order wasn’t enough to stop HBO Nordic’s first Norwegian original series, Beforeigners, from swinging for the fences.

Premiering on August 21, 2019, the two-season series Beforeigners approaches time travel in a way that feels fresh, interesting, and more relevant than ever. And, after scoring an impressive 100% on Rotten Tomatoes for Season 1, based on five critic reviews, the series proved that the concept was worth exploring, especially with the ever-evolving chemistry with its main characters.

What Is ‘Beforeigners’ About?

Set in the near future in Oslo, Norway, Beforeigners starts off with a new and unprecedented phenomenon in which powerful flashes of light occur in the ocean and people from the past mysteriously reappear. These people, who are nicknamed “beforeigners” and “timeigrants,” come from three distinct time periods: the Stone Age, the Viking era and the late 19th century. As they seek refuge in present-day society, they struggle to adjust and assimilate to their new reality, while Oslo grapples with the social, political, and cultural tensions their arrival creates.

Six years after the first arrivals, burned-out police detective Lars Haaland (Nicolai Cleve Broch) is partnered with Alfhildr (Krista Kosonen), a former Viking warrior who has just become the first beforeigner to join the police force. Together, they’re assigned to investigate the murder of a young woman with Stone Age tattoos, aka a beforeigner herself, whose mysterious death appears anything but ordinary. As the case unfolds, the unlikely partners begin to unravel a larger conspiracy that suggests the mysterious arrivals may be connected to something far bigger than anyone imagined.

‘Beforeigners’ Is an Unsettling and Compelling Thriller

Image via HBO

From the synopsis alone, it’s clear that Beforeigners has a lot of ground to cover. Not only does it build a near future Oslo, and later inject it with members of its past, but the series also follows a murder mystery that’s connected to a much larger picture. “Somehow, this high-concept Norwegian TV series that blends time-travel science-fiction with buddy cop, murder mystery, and police procedural actually works,” wrote one review of the series. And, like the 100% score for Season 1 suggests, the series blends these genres in a way that feels gripping, unexpected and nail-biting. Notably, by using the beforeigners as a metaphor for real-life immigration and xenophobia, the show also delivered hard-hitting social commentary that doesn’t feel forced or jaded.

By Season 2, the series earns a bigger scope and setting, all while keeping the chemistry between main stars Broch and Kosonen, and their personal struggles as the heart of the show. “The show isn’t as intimate in scale now as in its opening season, but Beforeigners does understand the power in a high-premise sci-fi concept,” one review wrote. A brutal murder in Oslo raises the possibility that Jack the Ripper has traveled to the present, all while political tensions continue to rise between modern society and the growing beforeigner population. In addition to Broch and Kosonen, Beforeigners also stars Stig R. Amdam, Ragnhild Gudbrandsen, Ylva Bjørkaas Thedin, Nader Khademi, Lavrans Haga, and Kyrre Haugen Sydness, among others.

With that said, while Beforeigners came to an end after Season 2, the series is a treat for sci-fi and murder mystery lovers alike. By setting the murder in a not-so-distant future that’s been plagued with mysterious time-travel, the series interestingly blends genres while focusing on two endearing yet troubled police officers in their search for truth. Their dynamic alone is enough to make the series worthwhile, and it’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Release Date

2019 – 2022-00-00

Network

HBO Nordic, HBO Max

Directors

Jens Lien

Writers

Anne Bjørnstad

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  Nicolai Cleve Broch

  Lars Haaland

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  Krista Kosonen

  Alfhildr Enginsdottir

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