Stockholm syndrome threatens to move to another Scandinavian country in this hostage-taking thriller. A Finnish banking crisis in the 1990s caused thousands to lose their homes and businesses with no consequences for the bankers who recklessly lent them more than their assets could justify, knowing the government would protect the lenders, no matter how devasted the naïvely trusting borrowers were when inevitable massive defaults occurred. This is set in the present post-Covid era, with many still suffering from those losses and remaining debts. Hundreds of lawsuits all failed to get compensation because what the banks did was technically legal, according to the courts.
One frustrated victim, Elias (Peter Franzen) decides to finally get to the truth, holding several journalists hostage to force them to ferret out the perceived conspiracy for the benefit of all who suffered such unfair outcomes. That included his father, who'd committed suicide from the shame of losing the family business and saddling his son with the remaining debt. We gradually learn that Elias trained and planned rigorously for the siege for many months. The "curriculum" included explosives to keep the cops out of the office, firearms and hand-to-hand fighting in case things go awry, and conditioning himself for many days without much sleep. He brought in boxes of food and water, plus many boxes of documents for his captives to wade through, hoping they'd find a "smoking gun" that would reverse the tide.
The eight 50-minute episodes cover about the same number of days, switching among the central office, to the police trying to negotiate a surrender or send in SWAT, to a bunch of others who are questioned or otherwise connected to the players and the transactions. The scripts from the four credited writers keep multiple suspense balls in the air throughout, with some surprises along the way. Many characters have arcs that change them from the way they started.
Production values are first-rate, including some large, crowded exterior scenes. Performances are solid all around. As hostage productions go, it's nowhere near as sexy or action-packed as the wildly successful Spanish series Money Heist. Nor is it as light and fast-paced as the 2018 movie, Stockholm, which fictionalized the 1973 bank-hostage situation from which the term Stockholm Syndrome was coined. Even so, it's still intriguing as a more cerebral and less visceral package. Bingeing is advisable, since there are so many participants, locations, financial complexities, political machinations and flashbacks to keep in order. It's written as a miniseries, so no need to worry about having to wait for closure.
