The Rain – Review

Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Fiction
Cast: Alba August, Mikkel Boe Folsgaard, Lucas Lynggaard Tonnesen, Lars Simonsen, Iben Hjejle, Angela Bundalovic, Sonny Lindberg, Jessica Dinnage, Lukas Lokken, Johannes Bah Kuhnke
Set in a post-apocalyptic Scandinavia, Netflix’s first Danish outing The Rain has just enough about it to make the post-apocalyptic genre unique. Created by Danish filmmakers Jannik Tai Mosholt, Christian Potalivo, and Esben Toft Jacobsen, the show opens with the sudden cataclysmic event that sees the rain laden with a deadly virus.
There’s no wasting time with this series. We jump into the series as leading lady Simone (Alba August) realizes the apocalypse is nigh in real time. One minute, she’s flirting with cute boy and worrying about a high school presentation. The next, her dad is screaming about rain, swerving on the highway, and forcing his family into a underground bunker in the middle of the forest. Immediately following, she’s been abandoned, suffered a family tragedy, and left in charge of her little brother Rasmus (Bertil De Lorenzi), all while trapped in a bunker she never even knew existed. All of those catastrophes happen within the first 12 minutes of The Rain.
The show offers a potent mix of mystery, action, and most importantly, fascinating characters. Each one offers a fascinating perspective of the horrifying circumstances they are stuck in. It always keeps you invested, because every character turns out to be more interesting than you think they are going to be. There comes a moment where you realise everyone who is still alive is alive for a reason. Some people are just survivors, and some, like Simone and Rasmus, are lucky.
The Rain‘s greatest strength might be its clever hand with doling out information. It is very efficient in the way it unspools its plot, only sharing as much information as viewers need to understand what’s happening in front of them while withholding key details. It’s entertaining, and the narrative pull toward the answers that may lie near Stockholm is strong.
Another important aspect of The Rain is the young cast. While Simone and Rasmus are the main characters, they do come across other people their own age who have suffered at the hands of the virus, but haven’t lost their youthful spirit in the process. Everyone feels like they’re actual kids, instead of what you might see in other teen shows.
If post-apocalyptic fiction has become too rote and familiar over the last decade, a good mystery yarn never loses its appeal, and The Rain is intriguing, with exciting, unpredictable characters that keep you glued to the screen.
> Mar Martínez