# Beartown (2020)

> A Swedish small town's junior hockey dreams collapse when a violent act on the day of a national semifinal splits the community.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/91948

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 5
- Episode runtime: 54 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, thriller
- Created by: Anders Weidemann, Linn Gottfridsson, Antonia Pyk, Peter Grönlund
- Network: HBO Nordic
- Cast: Miriam Ingrid, Oliver Dufåker, Otto Fahlgren, Ulf Stenberg, Aliette Opheim, Tobias Zilliacus, Tyler Shamy
- TMDB rating: 7.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9677638/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: bleak, tense, claustrophobic, harrowing, brooding

## Synopsis

Beartown (2020) is a Swedish national-television nordic noir miniseries created by Anders Weidemann, Linn Gottfridsson, Antonia Pyk and Peter Grönlund for HBO Nordic. Adapted from a novel, this five-episode limited series is set in the remote Swedish small town of Björnstad, where a junior ice hockey team is the last source of civic pride. Teenage stars such as Kevin Erdahl (Oliver Dufåker) and Benji Ovich (Otto Fahlgren) carry the weight of the whole town's dreams as the squad heads toward a national semifinal. The engine of the drama is the community's refusal to face what happened after a violent act on the day of that game, as adults with stakes in the team, including Peter Andersson (Ulf Stenberg) and Mats Erdahl (Tobias Zilliacus), close ranks. Maya Andersson (Miriam Ingrid) sits at the emotional center of the fallout. Each episode tightens the pressure, peeling back loyalties, rivalries and buried secrets within a claustrophobic community. The mood is bleak, tense and morally weighted, with a psychological drama register and a steady, deliberate pace. Fans of Friday Night Lights and The Killing will find resonance in its small town sports setting and its nordic noir atmosphere.

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