Unfortunately, creator Adam Price (also behind the Danish megahit Borgen) suddenly remembers the age of his protagonist, and Ragnarok becomes riddled with rather stereotypical high-school coming-of-age tropes.
A kind gesture later, Magne is unexpectedly and mysteriously given the powers of Thor, and as all of this happens three minutes into the story, the audience may be hoping that this promising alternation of revelations and twists will be a constant throughout. Then, from the very first shot, it introduces our hero, Magne (a rather too contemplative David Stakston), who returns to his native town of Edda with his mother and brother.
The show takes a moment to give the audience the definition of Ragnarok, the apocalypse in Norse mythology, which starts “with natural disasters and culminates in the great battle between the gods and the giants”. Although it has pace issues and makes some dubious screenplay choices, this hybrid between a coming-of-age story and a superhero adventure has some aces up its sleeve. When extreme weather conditions seem to herald the apocalypse, extraordinary warriors are needed in order to fight back against the end of the world: at least this is the stance of the new Danish miniseries Ragnarok, released on Netflix on the last day of January. David Stakston and Jonas Strand Gravli in Ragnarok
