Season 1
Episode 1 Recap And Review
A family of three make their way through a worsening snowstorm to get to the airport to start episode 1 of A Storm for Christmas. The couple argue as they go up the escalator and their young daughter sees a man dressed as Santa Claus. Santa passes through security and rushes to his position in a chair surrounded by Christmas paraphernalia. The first girl in line in front of him comes to sit on his lap. When asked what she wants for Christmas, she wants an iPhone and a Burberry purse. The bartender, Marius, obliges and then leaves to make a phone call. He tries to contact Dr. Mansen, but it seems the doctor is unavailable. He is trying to calm himself down when someone knocks on the bathroom door. He leaves and the man and woman come in and start fooling around with each other.
A pop star named Ida sits in a car with her bodyguard Asle. They are waiting for his assistant, Ingild, who returns with the news that they have booked a flight to Gatwick and will then be going to Ida’s concert. A white-haired man smoking a cigarette enters the airport with them. Inside, Ida sees an ad for her new album, but she doesn’t look too happy about it.
A woman in an orange vest helps a man in a Hawaiian shirt. He introduces himself as Reverend Ronja. The man, David, asks her to pray for good weather. They talk about hot dogs and David reveals that he is going on vacation to Malaga. His wife had gone there a week before him.
A biped tries to use the expressway at the airport, but fails. An airport employee tells him that his ticket is economy class, even though he says he has never flown in economy.
As Ida goes through security, a group of young teenage girls notice her and get excited. He smiles at them. At the counter, the security guard asks her about the pills in her bag and won’t let her go until Ingwild shows her the pill box. The security guard then tells Ida that she and her nieces are big fans, but Ida just walks away.
The little girl from earlier stands in line with her arguing parents. David, who is in front of him, starts a conversation with him. His parents then realized they had left a suitcase outside the airport and had to leave the check-in line.
From the toilet, a young woman, Stine, and her boyfriend are now standing in front of the airport window, and find that their flight to Copenhagen has been cancelled. A man calls the woman and tells her to come home quickly and that he loves her.
The white-haired man realizes that he cannot enter the lounge due to his economy class ticket. She asks the assistant lounge manager if she can at least use the restroom, and he complies.
Ida, Asle and Ingvild arrive and sit in the hall. Ida talks about how she feels like she’s always under control. He asks Asle if she loves her mother and if she loves him back and she says yes.
In the toilet, gray-haired Arthur talks to his agent, Mary. They talked about the last bad review. His agent says he needs to talk because his last concert sold only 32 tickets. He asks if one bad concert is enough, should they give him an economy class ticket? He smokes while talking to her and hastily puts it out when someone knocks on the toilet door. He opens it to find the salon manager there. He scolds her for smoking and tells her to leave.
When the young family finally checks their bags, they realize they are overweight. The couple argue about what to leave behind. A woman takes out her husband’s pétanque game.
The carousel takes the suitcase to the interior of the airport, where it is received by two airport baggage handlers, one of whom is Henrik. Henrik and his boss discuss getting married. Henrik claims he doesn’t want to answer to anyone.
An airplane flying through the air experiences high turbulence. The pilot makes an announcement inside, a woman and her son hold hands and pray.
Cheerful David comes to the bar and orders a beer. He chats with the bartender about his trip to Malaga. He asks the bartender for some chili nuts, and he seems to be eyeing it.
Henrik takes a cage with a small dog named Lasso. He puts it in a cell where the cage will be removed and transferred to the flight.
Olav, the pilot of the turbulent plane, passes through the airport. The service assistant instructs him to remain on standby as the other pilots are on sick leave. He says he will wait in the hall. The service assistant reaches Kine’s desk. Mother and son approach him from the ground. They have to go to New York for his son’s eye surgery, but Kine tells them that there is no flight so they will have to wait.
Stine and her boyfriend are sitting at a table discussing what to do. Stine talks about taking a boat from Oslo to Copenhagen because he has to go home. When the man offers to buy a hotel room, she says that the next day is Christmas Eve. He asks her who she thinks she is. He says that he is the one who slept with her in the toilet. This excites him and he leaves to find his own way.
A white-haired man comes to the bar and orders a drink. David recognizes her as a celebrity, but can’t quite place her. Then he sees Arthur’s name in a nearby newspaper. They were talking about him giving a concert on Christmas Eve. The two and the bartender discuss his bad review. In an attempt to motivate Arthur, the other two suggest that after a while anything can happen.
The priest rolls the prayer rugs in the room. He sits down and asks God for help. He said he needed direction and didn’t know if she was the right woman for him. She says that everyone needs help, but she can’t give them what they need, and that’s why she feels inadequate. Then he gets a phone call.
Episode Review
Episode 1 of A Storm for Christmas follows a series of airport workers and visitors as they go about their lives. The episode creates a collage of these people, where they came from and where they are going.
Unfortunately, this crisp editing isn’t consistent, and sometimes jumps between scenes that stand out more than they might otherwise.
Throughout the episode, the narrative focuses on small points, such as discussions about the best way to eat a hotdog. The problems plaguing these characters are more human than just delayed flights – from the low self-esteem caused by an economy class ticket to the child’s efforts to distract the parents from the fight. One thing is clear, it will be an emotional journey.