Plot
Norwegian Dag Refsnes (Atle Antonsen) is a marriage counselor who embraces being alone, which eventually caused him to become an introvert. He tells his clients to get divorced because he thinks it’s better to be alone, but when he meets Eva Holstad (Tuva Novotny), thanks to his sister setting him up on a date with her, that all changes and makes him question his lifestyle choices. He turns people away, but has one close friend who’s an ex-client and allows him to sleep in his hallway when he gets into trouble. The hilarity ensues when those around him bother him when he tries to relax with a strict routine he devised for himself.
Review
The two-disc box set has five episodes on each disc but sadly lacks any subtitle options, the subtitles are in English only. DAG focuses heavily on surreal humor and slapstick violence. The greatest thing about DAG is the fact that it ranges from multiple genres of comedy, which is unique to television, and is also a touching look at a man who has lost himself and eventually made emotional walls to cope with life using his home as a safe haven to shut off his brain from everyone and everything. Dag is highly intelligent and uses that intelligence to work as a marriage counselor, even though he hates his job and managed to gain a 90% divorce rate from his clientele. His best friend Benedikt Skovrand (Anders Baasmo Christiansen) is addicted to sex and women and left his girlfriend at the hospital while she was giving birth to his child, which results in him freaking out about her brothers trying to kill him. This makes for some hilarious scenes, because very early on in the show you realize that Benedikt thinks of women as nothing more then sexual objects, which always ends in disaster leading him to using Dag’s hallway as a place to sleep. Dag has a sister and nephew he doesn’t believe he’s close with and tries to stay away as much as possible. All the characters in Dag’s life are often quirky and eccentric and his clients are often crazy or have some weird fetish/way of life which makes him seem normal. One of the unique things about Dag is that he has monologues which showcase various stunning locations around Norway. In his monologues, his brain is showing and that makes for some interesting viewing because its so surreal. When Dag talks to people it’s always engaging because his intelligence is shown and he’s such a cool character as well as an anti-hero when he behaves in a way that makes you question whether you like him or not; especially when he takes Valium, which he places in cartoon character Pez dispensers.
Arrow Films is releasing more titles under the Nordic Noir & Beyond category to the excitement of many fans. Arrow Films has an incredible television show release with DAG season one, and I hope they release more titles as engaging and funny as this one. For fans of comedy and foreign cinema I highly suggest DAG. For people who hate subtitles, give this television show a chance because it definitely does tickle the funny bone immensely.
Special Features
N/A
Rating
5/5
Even though DAG season one lacked any special features, it deserves a perfect rating because it truly is one of the best television shows to ever grace television. I cannot give this title more of a higher praise.
Purchase
The link below is where you can purchase DAG season one, which will be released 5th October 2015.
*Special thanks to Arrow Films providing me with a review copy of DAG season one.