The new TV-series Exit took Norway by storm last September. The series features real stories from inside the financial environment in Norway and Oslo. With a heavy emphasis on sex, drugs, violence and physical and mental abuse viewers was left aghast. Why? Let's take a look.
What is Exit?
In 2017 producer Petter Testmann-Koch was put in contact with four Norwegian investors and financiers. Over the course of a 3-4 hour dinner the men were asked a lot of questions and filmed while answering them. Under consent. The stories that surfaced would over the next two years turn into the biggest talking point in Norway. The new TV-series Exit, produced and published by NRK.
The series depicts four men in their thirties. Adam, Henrik, William and Jeppe. Married men with children. Men about to get married. Men that spends their days doing drugs, partying with prostitutes and doing whatever it takes to keep it a secret.
If these characters are based on the four men from the aforementioned interview is unknown and has been under heavy speculation. The producers has, of course, done everything by the book to keep their identities hidden. What kind of contract these men has, or what or if they've been paid to partake in this is unknown.
What has been revealed is that the men has been kept in the loop throughout the production of the show. They approved the manuscript before production went live and said that they were happy with how the show turned out. Basically calling it the real deal.
It's been revealed that about 70% of the events taking place in the series are real and has happened in the financial environment in Norway.
Why is this a big deal?
The plot of the series probably doesn't sound like anything special. Sex, drugs, violence and abuse. We've seen it all before and we're gonna keep on seeing it for years to come.
One thing that makes the series special in the big reveal. Many people may have known about what's going on on the inside of this environment but few have seen it depicted. Few has seen it depicted from accounts coming straight from the source.
Another thing that makes this a big deal in Norway is, in my opinion, Norwegian naivety. Many Norwegians think to highly of their fellow countrymen. Which is a great thing really. Respecting your fellow citizens and loving thy neighbor shouldn't be criticized. Still, it is part of why this is a big deal in Norway.
People just don't believe that these things happen in Norway. Norway is a small country and we consider ourselves small. We watch a lot of movies featuring sex, drugs and violence and we love them. It's nothing new to us but it doesn't happen in Norway. Or se we thought.
The scenes in this series are on the level of some of the worst things we saw in The Wolf of Wall Street and beyond. Still, people on the inside has said to the media that what we see in the series hasn't even scratched the surface. In a country where everyone knows everyone this is a big deal.
And that's what's shocking to people. To see these scenes play out and know they're real and that it has happened in Norway. Little, innocent Norway with barely 5,4 million people. The show was such a hit that in the first week close to a million people had watched it either on the streaming service of NRK or on streamlined television. That's close to 20% of the entire population, and that's a big deal.
An important show
A series like Exit has importance. It's entertainment coupled with journalism. It brings the dealings of this environment into the living room of the laymen and it gets them talking. It gets them engaged.
More importantly it riles up the environment on the inside. In the weeks after the shows release we saw financiers and investors defending the show like nothing but stories. This isn't how it really is. This series has zero realism.
They were the only people saying this while everyone on the outside was disagreeing. They had finally been revealed and they couldn't accept it.
At least that's the theories. If the dealings in the series are in fact real we'll never know, but I see no reason as to why they would be a lie when they're being backed from so many different sources.
There's more to come
I was late to the show with this one. They have material and enough stories to fill three whole seasons. Season 2 just dropped and I'm about to start watching it. 1.16 million Norwegians saw the first episode during the first weekend. That's now officially past 20% of the population.
It was highly anticipated. The new season is supposed to be harder, rougher and even crazier than the first. People just can't wait to see more of what's going on at Tjuvholmen, the financial area of Oslo. It's the big talking point in Norway these days and I can't wait to jump back into it.
I'll be glued to the TV in between work and tennis practice this week.
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