Lilyhammer

Lilyhammer is a Norwegian series revolving around Franky “The Fixer” Tagliano, a former underboss who had worked for the Delucci crime family in New York city. The series begins at the funeral of his former boss; who had been killed in a hit ordered by his brother who subsequently assumed his position. A hit is then put out on Franky’s life, which he survives and because of this decides to testify against the new boss and go into the witness protection program. The identity he assumes is Giovanni “Johnny” Henriksen, a Norwegian-American who has moved to the town of Lillehammer in Norway for a fresh start.  For that reason let’s call him Johnny, as to not get confused. Once he arrives he finds that his accommodations aren’t quite as nice as what he is used to from a life of organized crime. As a part of the program he is sent to the unemployment office in search of work. This is when he decides that he needs to make it on his own and establish himself in the Lillehammer community. He does this the only way he knows how; blackmail and extortion.  As you might have figured from his “Fixer” moniker Johnny is the kind of guy that gets things done but you come to realise he is actually a good person and will always do the right thing in a bad situation. As he starts to gain “favours” from the people of Lillehammer he builds his own nightclub, which he uses as a base of operations and an outlet for money laundering. Before long he becomes the crime boss of his new town and has to deal with competition and obstacles from various sources, which help develop the plot. Johnny’s main business is illegal gambling and even though I’ve chalked him up to be a community leader he always collects in one way or another. Rival biker gangs and local criminals who all at one point try to oppose Johnny usually end up working for him or leaving town with their tails between their legs. 

Many people around town realise that he is a criminal yet view him as a necessary evil because of his generosity and the fact that he actually lowers the crime rate and cleans the streets of drugs, prostitution and other destructive behaviour. While in Lillehammer Johnny becomes a father to twins, as much as he loves them he begins to find it difficult balancing his legitimate and illegitimate business with being a husband and father. Another recurring theme throughout the series is his mafia background in New York. With the families back home wanting him dead for turning state’s evidence he has to maintain a low profile, which doesn’t turn out to be easy. As the seasons progress the stakes get higher and higher (like most series shot from the criminals’ point of view) and makes the series more and more interesting as it progresses. I highly recommend this show to any fans of HBO’s “The Sopranos”; there are many references to it (especially in season three) and recurring actors such as Steven Van Zandt who plays the main character Johnny in this production and Tony’s right hand Sylvio in the HBO series. There are also many references to other classic mafia movies/series such as the Godfather and Goodfellas. I find this series especially intriguing because Johnny essentially starts his own criminal organization from nothing in a country where he knows no one and barely speaks their native language. All in all the series can get confusing if you don’t like subtitles because even without putting them on there is still a lot of Norwegian dialect where they naturally appear. I would recommend turning on closed captioning regardless to better understand what’s going on and what people are saying. There are 3 seasons available on Netflix but a 4th season has yet to be announced. Anyways I hope this post has possibly opened you to the idea of deciding to watch this show.

-Jackson