Norway's Mobster Returns to Netflix

If you missed the first two seasons of Nexflix's Lilyhammer, you have missed out on a creative series where a New York mobster hides out in Norway only to return to his old ways.  The show is a joint Norwegian-Netflix product that is shown in both the United States and Norway with subtitles, as appropriate.  You do not get a chance to see these cross-Atlantic collaborations very often.  We cannot even seem to deal with British shows without remaking them for a US audience.  

Steven Van Zandt, guitar player in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, is terrific in the role of Frank Tagliano.  His facial expressions alone exceed the acting talents of many on television today.  The show is mostly comedy with enough drama to keep you on the edge of your seat.  And it does not avoid dark scenes when they are required. For instance, in one episode some visiting gangsters were left to freeze to death after falling through the ice.  I don't know how many comedies can get away with that dark edge, but Van Zandt brought it from his time with the Sopranos and still found a way to keep the series fresh and funny. 

In discussing his show during an interview with IGN, Van Zandt discussed how the US audience took to Lilyhammer:

It is quite different from Sopranos, actually, and they're enjoying the show. I think the premise that we use, the character understands Norwegian but doesn't speak it. It turned out to be a godsend in the sense that he's speaking english, so the American audience is finding and experiencing Norway in the same way he is. It has that feel to it where they understand him and soon, people tell me, the subtitles just go away. You're kind of experiencing the whole thing the way the character does. I think that was an interesting, real idea that maybe could be used again in the future in other circumstances. But what it does is it opens up the entire world content to being seen by the American audience, which is a radical, radical new idea that Netflix is now introducing.

Season three returns to Netflix on November 21st with eight new episodes.  You may even see Bruce Springsteen pop up over the course of the season.  Bundle up and get ready for a great show.