Category Archives: Dyslexia

2020, Acceptable for teenagers, Action Film, Action Hero, Bloody scenes, Brother-Brother relations, Brother-Sister relations, Dyslexia, Environmental concerns, Fantasy, Father-son relations, Good Production Values, Magic, Mother-son relations, Murder, Netflix Streaming, Norwegian, Norwegian action film, Norwegian myths, Super Hero, Thriller, Various Romances, Violent

Ragnarok (2020)

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From IMDB:

A small Norwegian town experiencing warm winters and violent downpours seems to be headed for another Ragnarok — unless someone intervenes in time.

From Netflix you can stream the 6 episodes of the only season available for this Norwegian fantasy story, namely season 1.  Each episode is about 45 minutes. Spoken in Norwegian with English subtitles.

June 8, 2021 – Update:

Now there are two seasons available. Season 2 also has 6 episodes. Unfortunately season 2 also ends with an implied “to be continued.”

According to Wikipedia, Ragnarok is

a series of events, including a great battle, foretold to lead to the death of a number of great figures (including the gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki), natural disasters and the submersion of the world in water. After these events, the world will resurface anew and fertile, the surviving and returning gods will meet and the world will be repopulated by two human survivors. Ragnarök is an important event in Norse mythology and has been the subject of scholarly discourse and theory in the history of Germanic studies.

Call it kid stuff if you like, but enough was invested in the production values to make this story watchable. Warning: this season 1 is obviously an introduction to more seasons.

Consider the plot: High school student Magne arrives in a sleepy town together with his mother and brother.  Controlling the town is a giant factory run by a “perfect” family of four who seem to be human but in reality are immortal Norwegian gods. Upon arrival in the town, a mysterious elderly couple bestow powers on Magne without his knowing. Little by little Magne discovers his powers. Meanwhile the factory is knowingly polluting the environment, which to the 4 gods is unimportant and to be covered up. Gradually Magne realizes what is happening.  Let the truth come out.

Does it sound like something for the adolescents to watch?  In a completely unsubtle manner, the underlying theme is global warming and world pollution of the environment.  Conversational fragments refer to today’s environmental concerns. Perhaps someday the presentation will seem outdated. But for now (February 2020)  the topic is spot on (as the British would say).

Bear with Magne’s (lack of) acting.  He is basically a stone faced, stoic, initially bewildered, and dyslexic high school kid.

In summary:  Season 1 will have a “happy ending” if the truth comes out. But then we will need more seasons in which the battle of the gods takes place.  Stay tuned.