Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Girl From Oslo’ On Netflix, Where A Norwegian Diplomat Reveals Secrets To Get Her Daughter Out Of ISIS Captivity

At least here in the U.S., shows about intelligence agents fighting terrorism feels so 2011, at least on cable and streaming. But in Israel and Europe, it’s still a topic of interest for writers and producers. A new Netflix series, which splits its time between Norway and Israel, may feel like it comes out of the recent past, but it gives viewers a twist or two along the way.

THE GIRL FROM OSLO: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A couple pull up outside of an apartment building in Oslo.

The Gist: Alex Bakke (Anneke von der Lippe) and Karl (Anders T. Andersen) are there to surprise their daughter Pia (Andrea Berntzen) for her birthday. They knock on her apartment door, but find that Pia isn’t there; the friend housesitting for her says she’s away in Israel. The fact that she went there and didn’t say anything makes Alex feel like the fight they had a few weeks before really ruined their relationship.

In Sinai, Pia is on the beach with her friends Nadav (Daniel Litman) and Noa Solomon (Shira Yosef). She’s having a good time; Nadav and his sister serenade her for her birthday. But we also see her being spied through binoculars. On their way back to where they were staying, the trio get kidnapped by ISIS operatives.

Alex, after not hearing from Pia for days, decides to travel to Israel to find out what happened. The first place she visits is the Ministry Of Intelligence, where her old friend Arik (Amos Tamam), the Israeli intelligence minister. Alex was a diplomat who worked with Arik during the Oslo Accords in 1992. She asks him to do her a favor and find out where Pia might have went. She goes to Pia’s hotel to look into things, but Arik soon gets the bad news about the kidnapping.

ISIS is looking for a prisoner exchange, including 12 Palestinians being held by Israel and Abu Salim (Abhin Galeya), who is being held in Norway. Both Alex and Karl are shown the video where Pia is forced to make the demands for her captors. Alex tells her husband, a judge, to stay in Oslo and put pressure on the government to let Salim free, though it’s the government’s official stance to not negotiate with terrorists. Arik, on the other hand, needs to mull whether to do the exchange — which leads to some of the prisoners going back to their previous terroristic activities — or go in and get them, hoping to avoid casualties.

When Alex is told by a member of the Norwegian Embassy that they basically are waiting to see what the Israeli government can do, Alex pulls out the information that led to the rift with Pia. She goes to Arik, married with two kids, and tells him that Pia is actually his daughter.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Girl From Oslo (original title: Bortført) has shades of Homeland and Fauda, but a whole lot more simplistic.

Our Take: There’s something about The Girl From Oslo that feels like a show that was made somewhere around 2011 and put in storage until now. For one thing, plots involving ISIS, even though the organization is still very active in real life, seem dated now. But, the other aspect that makes the show feel dated is it’s good-guy-bad-guy, black-and-white stance.

We’ve got the lily-white, innocent young woman being kidnapped by the big, bad Islamic terrorists. Then we have her diplomat mother determined to free her at all costs. And the kindly Israeli intelligence bigwig that helps her out. It seems to be more or less a straightforward story, even with the monkey wrench of Lily’s lineage thrown in. The fact that Arik is Lily’s real father wasn’t even that big of a shock, given that Alex dropped such a big bomb with Pia that the two of them had a falling out.

The plot will get more complicated as Abu Salim tries to get himself released as part of the exchange and rescue missions will be launched. But, in the end, it’s still a good-guy-bad-guy narrative that it feels we’ve seen so many times before, in shows from the U.S., Israel and Europe.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: While being transported, the captors’ truck breaks down. Nadav tells Noa and Pia that it’s their opportunity to run. Noa manages to escape, but Pia and Nadav are loaded back on the truck.

Sleeper Star: None that we could find.

Most Pilot-y Line: Alex asks Arik what he would do if his daughter was one of the people ISIS had captive. When he responds he’d do anything to get her free, this is Alex’s response: “You have a child kidnapped.” That’s how she tells him that Pia is his daughter. Talk about passive-aggressive.

Our Call: SKIP IT. While the episodes of The Girl From Oslo are a fast-paced 30-or-so minutes each, the plot is so basic and predictable that you’re better off finding far better shows with similar themes, like Fauda.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream The Girl From Oslo On Netflix