Icelandic Thriller with 100% Tomatometer Beats Every Other Hollywood Crime Show

In recent years, Scandinavian series have firmly established themselves as leaders in the detective and thriller genres. At the same time, the harsh northern nature perfectly complements the plots and adds depth to the perception of what is happening on screen.

If you've already seen all the crime shows made in the UK and the US, then it's time to go to Iceland. And your guide will be the series Trapped – a record budget for Icelandic television, an atmosphere of isolation in an icy trap, and stunning snow-covered landscapes beneath which lie sinister secrets created by human vices.

What is Trapped About?

The action takes place in the outback of northern Iceland, where a series of mysterious crimes take place. Everything is complicated by the blizzard that literally paralyzes life in the town.

After a Danish ship enters the fjord, a mutilated body appears on the shore and Police Chief Inspector Andri Ólafsson has to find out what happened. He begins an investigation that unravels a complex web of intrigue and reveals the personal secrets of the townspeople.

Trapped Has an Outstanding Team of Creators

Trapped has assembled a surprisingly stellar cast of creators. The author of the idea for the show is Baltasar Kormákur, perhaps the country's most prominent director. He made the eerie drama Everest, the rom-com 101 Reykjavik and the thriller Adrift. In Trapped, he directed the first episodes of the first and third seasons – and once again showed how to effectively draw the viewer into a frosty, unfriendly atmosphere.

The series' soundtrack was composed by the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, who also composed the soundtracks for Arrival, Mandy and Sicario. Hildur Guðnadóttir, the Oscar-winning composer of Joker and Tár, also contributed to the show's main music theme.

So it is not surprising that the soundtrack in Trapped becomes a character in its own right. Even when nothing much seems to be happening on screen, the depressing, chilling music never lets you forget: somewhere behind the scenes, terrible things are probably happening right now.

Trapped is The Ultimate Scandinavian Noir with All The Best Features of The Genre

At first glance, the plot of Trapped is classic for the genre: a murder in a small town, a gloomy policeman on a mission, dark secrets of the locals. But as the series progresses, the issues it deals with become more global.

The plot involves human trafficking, the protagonist's daughters turn out to be school bullies, the authors criticize the police system, where it is more profitable to get a confession by any means than to find the real killer.

Trapped is a bright representative of Scandinavian noir, which will certainly be appreciated by numerous fans of the cult series The Bridge. The story is told from the perspective of the police, and the plot is striking in its cold austerity – this is a harsh tale of terrible crimes that people are forced to deal with, each of whom has their own trauma hidden deep in their souls.