Review | Beasts – The Swarm is a competent new thriller that rewards the viewer – but stay away from the trailer

Based on the suspense novel by the German Frank Schätzing, Beasts is a slow-opening thriller about an ecological disaster, the causes of which are being investigated by a group of scientists from around the world.

Elisa Viihde Viaplay’s new series Pedot on Frank Schätzingin an international production based on the novel, of which he is the producer Game of Thronesissakin worked Frank Doelger. In a world threatened by the climate crisis and ecological disaster, the suspense series feels very timely, because at its center we see a natural upheaval threatening the entire world.

I haven’t read the original book myself, so I can’t compare the differences between the novel and the film adaptation.

In the series, like our modern world, humanity has used the world’s seas recklessly. So things start happening around the world. In Canada, whales start to behave strangely, a new species is found in the depths of the sea in the North Atlantic, ships sink inexplicably, natural disasters strike areas where they are not normally experienced, in Europe, crabs climb ashore en masse and make people sick.

Everything is connected by water, that sustainer of all life, which the creators of the series keep in the pictures in its various forms all the time. Reminding how important it is to us and underlining that we should take better care of our seas and water.

The series starts like a puzzle, which is why the less you know about the plot, the more interesting the series becomes a suspense puzzle – even the trailer reveals too much about the story. One natural science researcher there and another here encounters events or organisms that modern science does not know or has no explanation for. Little by little, these researchers end up on each other’s trail and begin to study the phenomenon together.

In the end, they find a humanity-shaking answer that no one expected.

The name of the series, The Swarm / Der Schwarm, i.e. “swarm” or “swarming”, just like the name of the Finnish novel behind it, is for some very confusing reason Beasts in Finnish. The name gives the story a completely wrong impression. At least for me, the name gave me the impression that it would be Killer shark kind of animal horror.

And this is not the point at all.

Beasts is an ecological thriller, which in principle could – at least up to a certain limit – be true in real life as well. Its story starts leisurely, but rewards the patient viewer. For the impatient, on the other hand, the sky is barely known, which such a viewer can hardly continue beyond the first episode.

The series takes the viewer from their couch to the center of scientists’ lives, to laboratories and research ships. Their work unfolds slowly and slowly, sometimes getting caught up in the twists and turns of bureaucracy, but in that calm the tension of the story grows in an interesting way. The natural science research becomes a suspense drama, which, like an addictive detective story, compels you to watch one episode after another while waiting for the final solution.

In many jänners, the action gallops around the world. Beasts also takes you from a Canadian seaside community to the coast of Scotland, France, Germany and Norway, but the series has Citadelin compared to the type of agent adventure, due to the topicality of its subject, more gripping surface.

Dr. Sigur Johanson, Alexander Karim / Tina Lund, Krista Kosonen

The series does not handle all its characters with silk gloves and manages to surprise the viewer several times. None of the characters in the story is safe, and no clear central character can emerge. The series works like a mutual collaboration of researchers in its story, where everyone has their own part to contribute to the whole.

Completely without nicking, the Beasts will not advance. Some plot twists feel forced in the search for drama, and the moments meant to humanize the story are sometimes downright pointless against the huge shadow of the eco-catastrophe. The series makes up for its technical shortcomings with fascinating detail.

You cannot develop a deep emotional bond with the characters in the story, because they are not deepened as people. In the main, they are only presented as people standing in the face of a confusing reality, tasked with unraveling the secret of nature that has messed up the seas. Most of the actors handle their plots convincingly as scientists who care about the future of the world and are ready to sacrifice themselves.

See you in the main roles Joshua Odjick, Alexander Karim, Leonie Benesch, Takehiro Hira, Barbara Sukowa and Cecile of Francein addition to which there is also a Finnish color and plays one of the supporting roles Krista Kosonen.

The Swarm / Beasts starts on Elisa Viihde Viaplay on May 28. We got all eight episodes from the series to preview.

And finally, a warning: the trailer below spoils the events of the series badly, so if you want to travel with the series at its own pace while piecing together the puzzle of the story, I recommend skipping watching the trailer!