L-FILMS, TV-SERIES reviews
Occupied & The Wilds – The best TV Shows With Lesbian Characters in 2020 Series that most surprised me with lesbian storylines this year are Norwegian Occupied (Lund, Nesbø, Skjoldbjærg, 2015– ) and The Wilds (Streicher, USA, 2020– ). Occupied is the most high-budget show Norway has ever produced – a near-future climate-crisis and geopolitical thriller. The world is gripped by a fuel crisis; war in the Middle East has halted oil production; the U.S. has become energy independent; and the fossil fuel–rich country of Norway has become the critical supplier of energy to the Europe. And yet, the ruling Green party, led by Norway’s charismatic prime minister, Jesper Berg (Henrik Mestad), has decided to halt all oil and gas production. Berg aims to avert a global climate catastrophe. By shutting down its oil pipelines Norway will supply energy to its European neighbours solely through cutting-edge thorium nuclear plants. Russia, Norway’s neighbour, immediately stages an intervention, kidnapping Berg and forcing him to accept a »partnership« which will keep the oil and gas flowing. This amounts to a soft occupation of Norway by Russian forces. Prime Minister Berg rails against Russian presence and yet he has little choice but to submit to his powerful neighbour, and to the EU, which supports Russia’s move. First, the country becomes gripped by nationalists, with »Free Norway« activists turning on ordinary Russians living within their borders. Then there are escalating acts of domestic terrorism and violence. And by season three, in which climate warriors turn to guerrilla cyber tactics and »Free Norway« activists commit grotesque acid attacks on accused Russian collaborators, Berg has been transformed from an idealist into a power-mad ruler who wants to deport all Russians living in Norway and punish their collaborators. However, the series is not only about the independent Norway as energy supplier with close ties to EU which has been always intricately connected to Russia but also about lack of diversity and inclusitivity of the Russian conservative politics through introduction of a power lesbian couple, Irina Sidorova (Ingeborga Dapkunaite), a Russian ambassador representing Russian government in Oslo in love with a pianist Lyubov Sorokina (Darya Ekamasova). However, Sidorova has been removed as ambassador to Norway by the Russian government, who claim it is due to her unpopularity with the Norwegian population. Sidorova disagrees with the official explanation and believes it is due to her lesbian relationship. On a whim, Lyubov tells the press she believes the Melkøya explosion was a Russian attack which angers Russian authority. Fearing for their safety, Sidorova fakes a Russian assassination attempt against herself to prevent deportation to Russia but Berg personally orders the deportation of Lyubov, hoping to force Sidorova to leave the country to be with her. A high Norwegian official and attorney, Hilde Djupvik (Selome Emnetu) helps overturn the mass deportation of Russians, allowing them to return to Norway, but Lyubov is detained at the airport in Moscow. Sidorova arranges for Lyubov to be smuggled out of Russia through Georgia; they cross the border without incident, but Lyubov undergoes an operation in Tbilisi where a small ampule of poison is implanted in her body. Sidorova is contacted by a Russian official, who tells her that the ampule is remote-controlled and that Lyubov will be killed if Sidorova is disloyal to Russia again. Sidorova and Lyubov are reunited and co-found an LGBT rights organization named Love Without Limits to campaign against homophobia. However, Sidorova secretly uses it as a front to spread Russian influence in Europe. Lyubov has an ultrasound, revealing the poison ampule; Sidorova tells her what it is, but refuses to explain why it was inserted. She is contacted by Russian authorities, who tell her the ampule will only be removed if she ensures Berg loses the election and install a candidate with affinity to Russia. Russian authorities tell Sidorova she must locate Hilde before the ampule will be removed from Lyubov. Sidorova tracks and contacts Hilde. Later, Lyubov gives birth, causing the ampule to burst. The baby is healthy, but Lyubov is sent to intensive care and dies due to the poison. I could complain how another lesbian character gets killed but in this case the plot symbolically tells the story of the oppression by the Russian government which doesn't allow LGBT couple to exist, less to get married, have families or to adopt. In The Wilds we got to know the empowerment retreat called »The Dawn of Eve« which is like a private version of The Big Brother competition with eight teenage girls stranded on the deserted island after the alleged plane crash. Namely, the empowerment retreat is a private research programme lead by psychology scientist Gretchen (Rachel Griffiths) who study young troubled women as her test subjects measuring their perseverance, stamina, mental (dis)stability and social emotional intelligence in a chaotic environment where they have to ensure their own survival through group work and cooperation. Through being stranded on the island we learn more and more about the teens and how their personalities distinguish one from another. Leah (Sarah Pidgeon), an art student got romantically involved with much older author of the book who breaks up with her when he finds out she was laying about being underage. Since then Leah couldn't move beyond the romance and kept living buried in the book with her former lover's footnotes and memories attached to it. Her parents concluded she had unhealthy obsession and couldn't make new social contacts. On the island Leah with her paranoid tendencies quickly becomes suspicious that things aren’t what they seem and that something isn't right. Quiet, artistic and caring Nora (Helena Howard), psychology freshman developed a romantic friendship with her fellow freshman who got killed on his initiation night into Kappa brotherhood. Nora has a twin sister Rachel (Reign Edwards), a sport diving athlete who put all her time, work and energy to become a part of the national Olympic team but gets dismissed because she is too tall and thus can't perform the top results due to her height. Since she was dismissed she also lost the chance to get enrolled into prestigious Standford university and became depressed. On the island we get to know the twin dynamic relationship with Nora's unhealthy obsession to care for Rachel who most of the time opposes her. Fatin (Sophia) is a top violoncello artist whose life revolves around practises, school and being a normal teenager wanting to have trendy clothes, good make up, attending parties and having sex, On island she is the most impractical of all caring mostly about her looks (make up) and clothes although she is willing to share what she got with the others. Basketball player Toni (Erana James) is an orphan, angry, unpredictable and lesbian whose best friend is Martha (Jenna Claus). On an insland her anger issues are challenging for the group work. Peaceful, vegetarian and an animal lover Martha who had an injury in the youth mostly looks out for Tony and considers her as a best friend too, On an island she breaks her vegetarian rule and kills a goat to provide the group with the meat. An evangelical pageant princess from Texas Shelby (Mia Haley), a good Christan girl who always strives to be positive although there is nothing to be positive about but with prejudices towards Toni being a lesbian. Later we find out it is because she is lesbian herself and lives in environment where homosexuality is considered sin, however she overcomes interenlizaed homophobia and eventually gets romantically involved with Toni. Self-aware and responsible Dot (Shannon Berry) doesn't have any illusion on how real life looks like if you are poor – for her life is »give« and »take« transaction. She knows how to handle of everything alone, especially if you only have an ill dad to take care for. On the island Dot is as confrontational as helpful for the group dynamic. There was also Jeannete (Chi Nguyen), Gretchen's infiltrate to spy on the girls, who was badly injured and died while coming on the island. For us the most interesting is a love story between Tony and Shelby. They are the opposites who attract each other like magnet – Tony with her feisty opinion and honesty breaks Shelby's Christian (shameful and guilty) armor and lets Shelby be finally herself by acting on her attraction towards women she always felt without any fear what their future relationship might bring, while Shelby calms down Toni's anger and leads a path towards positivity to trust her like she never trusted anyone before. The Wilds is an inclusive and diverse show having African American, native American, Caucasian, Muslim, catholic, agnostic and lesbian girls, however at its heart, The Wilds is really about the many different ways that young women are underestimated, abused, manipulated, commodified, and lied to in their youth. The Occupied and The Wilds play with imagination of the new possible realities and niether of the two dissapoint with its excellent stories, top notch acting, scenography, music and chemistry among the lead characters.
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November 2021
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