Just how chilly can a Nordic Noir get? It’s a genre more than a little familiar with cold weather, frozen locations and the kind of mystery that’ll send a shiver down your spine. But even by Nordic Noir standards, Icebreaker takes things to a whole new level. You might want to rug up for this one.
When a winter storm leaves an icebreaker stranded in the frozen waters above the Arctic Circle during the longest night of the year, Sannar Tanner (Jessica Grabowsky) and Joonas Kapanen (Mikko Leppilampi) are the unlucky Finnish Coast Guard team sent out on a rescue mission.
Sannar Tanner (Jessica Grabowsky) and Joonas Kapanen (Mikko Leppilampi) arrive at the icebreaker. Credit: Sami Kuokkanen
For at least one member of the ship’s crew, they’re already too late. Tanner and Kapanen arrive through the ice to find a frozen corpse tied to a ventilation shaft and everyone acting extremely suspicious: of each other, of the new arrivals, and just generally – like they have something to hide.
If you’re thinking this sounds like a pretty straightforward whodunnit, you’re on the same page as the Coast Guard crew. It might not even be a direct case of murder – the weather’s so cold that being outside and exposed for any length of time is a death sentence. With the crew the way they are, it’s hard to figure out exactly what’s going on.
The weather definitely isn’t helping, and not just because the night is closing in. Often Nordic Noirs will use the weather to contrast with the evil that’s been committed: how could something so horrible take place in such a beautiful landscape? Others use it to isolate the characters against the frozen backdrop, or just to make it clear that help isn’t going to be coming in a hurry. They’re down-to-earth reasons. If you live in that part of the world, these are the conditions you deal with.
Icebreaker uses the cold and the dark for something else entirely. It’s not merely weather: these people are cut off from the world, and the place where they find themselves increasingly feels like it’s somewhere else. The ship is cramped and claustrophobic, the vibe on deck and down below verges on the supernatural. They’ve sailed to a place where bad things happen.
With darkness falling, there’s no rescue in sight. When Kapanen goes missing on the ice that’s trapped the ship (there’s a lot of it out there, and if you somehow fall through into the water beneath it’s a long way down to the bottom), it’s up to Tanner to try and figure out what has them trapped in this increasingly chilly situation. The crew have their own secrets, and they’re not talking – not even when the disappearances begin to mount.
Now Tanner’s racing against time during a night that never ends, trying to solve a mystery where the clues increasingly point to a folk legend about an ancient race of vengeful sea spirits. It’s hardly surprising that a bunch of sailors trapped at sea with at least one crew member dead would be on edge, but jumping at ghosts is a dangerous path to go down. For Tanner, a more rational explanation is the only plausible explanation.
Mona Kortelampi and Jessica Grabowsky in 'Icebreaker'. Credit: Kristiina Salmen
Thing is, the more she looks for a solution, the more believable the supernatural becomes. Icebreaker doesn’t play all its cards at once, but it’s obvious from the moment the Coast Guard make it out to the ship that something’s gone seriously wrong. When things are this creepy, ruling out anything is a big mistake.
It’s a series that walks a fine line between the murderous and the mystical. Even for a Nordic Noir, this is an eerie, chilly experience; every part of the ship looks set to take the skin off your hand if you touch it without gloves. And the stories spreading through the crew make as much sense as anything else out there on the edge of the world.
Trapped by ice in a place where the darkness seems endless, are Tanner and the crew faced with a merely mortal threat… or could creatures beyond human understanding really be reaching out to claim their victims on the one night of the year when the barrier between the world of the living and the dead grows thin?
All six episodes of Icebreaker are now streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Icebreaker
