Main cast: Ine Marie Wilmann (Molly), Bjørnar Teigen (Leon), Emma Spetalen Magnusson (Katja), Bjørn Birch (Herr Kloppen), and Hilde Olausson (Fru Kloppen)
Director: Geir Henning Hopland
Bloodride is a horror anthology series from Norway, and Norwegians do love their potboilers to be as dark and gritty as possible, hence I perk up when I come across this one. Only six episodes so far, and each episode is about half an hour—just the right length after having sat through the painfully long and padded episodes of Into the Dark, shudder. Not that I have anything against episodes with long run time, it’s just that so many episodes of that show have not enough substance to be stretched out to almost one and a half hour.
Anyway, the premise of this show is that there is this creepy bus that carries passengers that are only visible on the driver’s rear view mirror. Ooh. Each episode, therefore, is basically the story of one of the passengers of the bus.
Molly is the only member of her family that is not pleased when her family move to a gorgeous rustic neighborhood called Horgen. Sure, there is more open space, fresh air, et cetera, but she is still unable to accept their downgrade in finances. She used to teach yoga, what she’s going to do here? Then there are the friends she has to leave behind in Vinderen, ugh. Okay, so maybe she’s the one that took out all those loans that landed the family into pauper-ville, just to keep up appearances and to live beyond their means, but surely a city gal like her shouldn’t have to settle for less.
The neighbors seem nice. The Kloppens, upon hearing Leon’s plan of fixing up the house himself (no one has lived there in 15 years, although if you ask me, the house looks impeccably clean and well-maintained for what it is said to be), offer to gather other neighbors to come fix the place up alongside Leon. The whole thing is just too good to be true, right? Well, the neighbors do seem a little too attached to their pets, but that doesn’t mean anything. Right?
Ultimate Sacrifice is a cute little thing with… oh yes, I should point out that there is some pretty nasty stuff that happen to animals in this one.
Where was I? Oh yes, Molly is such a one-dimensional turd of a human being, that the curve ball towards the end of episode could have been satisfying if her fate hadn’t been spoiled already early on the opening segment with the bus.
Also, I feel that this episode would have been better if it had an additional 10 minutes or so added to its run time. In its current form, I feel that they spent a little too long building things up and then escalating the situation way too quickly to give an abrupt and ultimately unsatisfying ending.
It’s not even that surprising of a twist ending, mind you, thanks to the way the episode completely spoils itself for no good reason. I hope the people behind this episode can live with themselves for committing this faux pas for no good reason, because I sure can’t live down this supposition that this one would have been a fabulous season opener if they hadn’t done that.
