21/03/2024 - The Swedish thriller created by Jens Jonsson, Henrik Thörnebäck and Jörgen Bergmark will please Borgen fans

A journalist engaged in a constant battle with her editorial board, a cabinet reshuffle full of mystery, an invitation to work behind the scenes of the government… Does this sound familiar? If you’re thinking of Borgen, good. Presented in the International Panorama section of Series Mania, the 6-part series 8 Months — created by Jens Jonsson, Henrik Thörnebäck and Jörgen Bergmark and directed by Jens Jonsson and Johan Lundin — has some beautiful peculiarities, but it seem clearly moulded in such a way as to resemble the now cult Danish series and, hopefully, recreate its international success.

Sometimes, one needs to know how to let go. After revealing a scandal that led to the downfall of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, journalist Nina Wedén (Josefin Neldén) receives much praise from her superiors, but still no promotion. Luckily, she is offered the position of press secretary for the new minister Jacob Weiss (August Wittgenstein). This young and charismatic eurocrat, identified as the ideal replacement thanks to his “George Clooney vibe,” is attractive thanks to a rhetoric that is neither left nor right wing, and he soon becomes the Swedes’ favourite politician. However, something in his story does not fit. More specifically, there is an unexplained 8-month gap on his CV, revealed by political consultant Maxie Boije (Anna Sise). Following the death of an informant, Maxie panics. And when a CIA report indicates that a network of Russian spies may be trying to put an end to democracy in Sweden, Nina finds herself torn between her critical mind and her penchant for fantasy. What if her new boss was a chaos agent working on a giant conspiracy? 

With its familiar setting in a political arena whose codes have become recognisable, its rather classical direction, and a sound design energised by the stressful sounds of a watch, 8 Months aims for efficiency rather than originality. And it works! Just like the Belgian series Pandore, which was frequently described as the new Borgen when it came out in 2021 then went on to become the Belgian French-language production sold abroad the most, 8 Months follows a proven formula all the while having its own things to say.

Rather than question power’s potential for corruption, a theme exhausted in political series (House of Cards, Under Control), 8 Months embraces its conspiratorial and sensational story. Even better: by relying on current ideological tremors and political conflicts, it anchors its mystery in the present, especially through the troubled character of minister Jacob Weiss. Could his blonde youthfulness and his ability to rise above party politics evoke the lively centrism of Emmanuel Macron? Doesn’t his hiring through a private consultancy firm underline the way Western governments tend to align themselves with the market? And what of the government? Can it still appear legitimate once its uncompromising Prime Minister (Sissela Kyle, the deadpan highlight of the show) tells her cabinet that she couldn’t care less about the middle class? Times have changed, yet the cold war rears its head. 

This tension between novelty and repetition finds a beautiful echo in the personal lives of the two lead characters, in both cases through the prism of a mother-daughter relationship. Nina is constantly bickering with her mother, herself also a journalist but locked into a logic of East-West polarisation that is rather old-fashioned. Maxie, meanwhile, is an expert in control and alertness, but fails to walk the talk when her teenage daughter complains about the bullying she is enduring at school. After only two episodes, these relationships already seem to tell us which direction the characters must go: a moral and civic awakening for Maxie, and a potentially salutary slide into paranoia for Nina. Between the somewhat predictable plot on the one hand, and the pleasure of seeing a large scale story unfold on the other — will you give in to panic? 

8 Months was produced by Anagram Sweden AB and Beside Productions and is broadcast by TV4/C More.

(Translated from French)