Eliana Willis

If mild winters are making you pine for the days when it really used to snow in New York — or if you just have a taste for the dramatic vistas and peculiar goings-on of Scandinavian television — here’s a roundup of recent and coming series from the Far North. And we mean far: None of these shows was filmed below 60 degrees north latitude.‘All the Sins’Fans of Henning Mankell’s mystery novels, and of the British series “Wallander,” which was based on them, may feel comfortable in the confines of this Finnish series available through the PBS Masterpiece channel on Amazon Prime Video. The deep green and dark blue landscapes, a mix of tidy agriculture and ubiquitous water, recall the southern Swedish vistas of “Wallander.”And like many of Mankell’s stories, “All the Sins” is built on a specific Scandinavian social issue, in this case the power in northern Finland of Laestadianism, a stern offshoot of Lutheranism. As portrayed in the series, the sect’s strictness combined with its belief in the absolute power of forgiveness make it a good match for a story involving ritualistic murders and church-enforced cover-ups.The mystery is handled competently if a bit perfunctorily, with a typical gallery of suspects including an immigrant Iranian pizza maker, a fervent atheist and a skeevy businessman pushing a shopping-mall project. The real focus is on the byplay between the mismatched detectives: an uptight former Laestadian (Matti Ristinen) for whom the case is an excuse to skip therapy sessions with his boyfriend, and a middle-aged single mom (Maria Sid) with guilt issues — she killed her daughter’s father, for one thing — who self-medicates with loud and frequent sex.These two don’t exactly solve anything — they spend most of their time complaining, discussing responsibility and absolution and trying to manage their lives back in Helsinki by phone. The case is resolved less through detection than the accumulation of guilt and desperation, as Nordic an outcome as you could hope for.‘Arctic Circle’Set and, amazingly, filmed in northern Lapland — at a higher altitude than Iceland, or most of Alaska — this Finnish-German medical-conspiracy thriller goes about as far north as mainstream television gets. Through most of its 10-episode season (beginning Thursday on the streaming service Topic), the landscape is almost entirely white, the snow broken only by paved roads and scattered buildings. You have never before seen this many snowmobile chases.Matching its extreme setting is its plot, which mashes up contagion (the sudden appearance of a rare virus), human trafficking, suspicion of Russia and a love affair between a stoic Finnish cop and a dedicated German virologist. The overheated story and frigid locale recall the British series “Fortitude” (whose third season, not yet available in the United States, was filmed even farther north, on Svalbard). But the Eurothriller clichés in “Arctic Circle” are stitched together in even more haphazard and sometimes nonsensical fashion.It may be worth sticking around, however, for the show’s star, Iina Kuustonen, who makes the stock character of the local cop — coping with a deadbeat ex, a special-needs daughter, sexist co-workers and the big-footing of Finland’s version of the F.B.I. — entirely believable and appealing. (She’s ably supported by Venla Ronkainen, a young actress with Down syndrome, as the daughter.) If the “Avengers” franchise needs a Norse superheroine, she’d be a natural.‘Ragnarok’This six-episode Netflix commission is the balmiest show on this list: It was filmed amid the magnificent scenery of Odda, which is practically the tropics where Norway is concerned. It’s also, surprisingly, the only one with an overt environmental theme. The villains of the piece run the town’s paper mill, contributing to the climate change that’s shrinking the local glacier (and in the process exposing old secrets fundamental to the plot).And then there’s the biggest difference, which may help to explain Netflix’s interest: It’s a Scandinavian spin on a teenage superhero story, with a hunky but awkward high schooler (David Stakston) moving to his mom’s hometown and suddenly discovering he can throw a hammer for very long distances. This puts him on the radar of the town’s alpha family, an unusually polished and attractive bunch who are not, we soon find out, strictly human. That’s where the title “Ragnarok” — in Norse mythology, the apocalyptic final battle of the gods — comes in.“Ragnarok” was developed by the Danish writer and producer Adam Price, who created the highly regarded series “Borgen” and “Herrens Veje” (“Ride Upon the Storm”). It has a fluidity, and a canny balance between mordant humor and Gothic adolescent drama, that you’d more commonly find in a British or American series, and it’s not hard to imagine it on Freeform or the CW. But it’s better than that would suggest, or at least different — less slick, more serious about its ideas, more sensitive in its depiction of a lonely teenager coming into his own. And it helps make up for Disney taking back all those Marvel movies from Netflix.‘Twin’Norwegian twins, Erik and Adam, drive their camper to an empty beach framed by mountains — like a South Seas paradise north of the Arctic Circle — and pull out their surf boards, claiming the virgin break. Fast forward 15 years, and Erik’s still there, living in a shipping container and serving as a godfather and warning for the surfing camp that’s grown up around him: stay too long and end up a broke, middle-aged Nordic beach bum.The opening scenes of “Twin” (MHz Choice, beginning Tuesday) deftly sketch in Erik’s good-time, bad-news personality, with an emphasis on his irresponsibility and his resentment of Adam, now a solid citizen and proprietor of a local tourist hotel. Making Erik even more convincing, he’s played by Kristofer Hivju, who employs the feral, disreputable charm he gave the wildling Tormund Giantsbane in “Game of Thrones.”Hivju plays both twins, but not for long. In a twist that sounds melodramatic but plays out cleverly — it probably helped that Hivju and the show’s creator, Kristoffer Metcalfe, started working on the idea for “Twin” in film school more than a decade ago — the brothers have serious accidents within a few hours of each other. When Adam dies, Erik, who’s thought to be the dead one, reluctantly takes his place — at the urging of Adam’s wife, Ingrid (the excellent Rebekka Nystabakk, who’s really the show’s star).It’s a setup that’s legitimately noir, and suspicion is a major strand of the plot: A dogged young policeman (Gunnar Eiriksson) who looked up to the free-spirited Erik won’t leave the case alone, and Adam’s rebellious teenage daughter (Mathilde Holtedahl Cuhra) knows that’s there’s something off about Dad. And of course there’s a dark history, involving Erik, Adam and Ingrid’s shared past, to be doled out over eight episodes.But “Twin” holds your interest, and has some emotional heft, as a straightforward drama with elements of fish-out-of-water comedy. Erik, fresh from bachelor life in the shipping container, suddenly has a family, and his highly reluctant efforts to cope with that are funny and touching. And as a significant bonus, the series was set and filmed in the Lofoten Islands, a madly photogenic area of Norway (with an actual surfing scene) whose tourism revenue should be due for a serious bump. More

What’s StreamingTHE GREAT BEAUTY (2013) Stream on the Criterion Channel. Rent on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu and YouTube. In Paolo Sorrentino’s “The New Pope,” a new episode of which airs tonight at 9 p.m. on HBO, the line between the sacred and the profane is vanishingly thin. The Roman Catholic Church, as Sorrentino presents it, is a throbbing tangle of contradictions where spirituality and corruption coexist in flamboyant contradiction, often within its individual members. Desire, he indicates, is omnipresent, but its object takes many different forms. This film covers similar territory in much the same way but on a greater scale. Its protagonist, Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo), is an aging, hedonistic journalist who undertakes a journey to discover authentic beauty and give up its many alluring counterfeits.THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (2012) Stream on Hulu. Rent on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu and YouTube. Much like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the television series Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard collaborated on, this movie by the pair is a comment on the genres that it draws upon. Its setup is one of horror’s most basic: A group of young people descend on the titular cabin and are soon set upon by a wide variety of terrors. But the youngsters are not alone. Two men ensconced in a mysterious control room (Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford) also appear. “There is a scholarly, nerdy, completist sensibility at work here that is impressive until it becomes exhausting,” A.O. Scott wrote in his review for The Times.What’s on TVAMERICA’S CHOICE 2020: IOWA CAUCUS 4 p.m. on CNN. Eyes will be on the Hawkeye State as voters there take the first step in determining which Democratic candidate will square off against President Trump in November. The coverage on CNN will begin in the afternoon and stretch into the night. Caucusing is complicated. The process begins around 7 p.m. C.S.T. (8 p.m. E.S.T.) at school gymnasiums, public libraries and other locations across Iowa. Over two rounds, voters make their choice by congregating in designated sites. After the first round, anyone whose first-choice candidate received less than 15 percent of the caucus vote have to choose another candidate, try to join forces to muster enough support to a nonviable candidate or remain unaligned. Once this portion is complete, the final tally is made. CREED (2015) 9 p.m. on BET. The director Ryan Coogler reunites with Michael B. Jordan to reinvigorate Sylvester Stallone’s “Rocky” franchise. Jordan plays Adonis, Apollo Creed’s son from an extramarital affair. Apollo Creed, you’ll recall, was a longtime friendly rival of Rocky Balboa’s (Stallone) who was killed in a fight with Ivan Drago in “Rocky IV.” In this sequel/spinoff, Adonis, or Donnie as he’s called, wants Rocky to train him to follow in his father’s footsteps despite Apollo’s sad end. A.O. Scott called the film “a dandy piece of entertainment, soothingly old-fashioned and bracingly up-to-date.” More

If you ended the week hoping that President Trump’s impeachment trial would go on longer, this weekend’s opening “Saturday Night Live” sketch imagined just such a scenario: a parade of self-serving witnesses that wasn’t necessarily an improvement.This week’s episode, hosted by J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans and featuring the musical guest Luke Combs, began with a voice-over lamenting that the president’s trial “wound up consisting of two weeks of dry debate and posturing, and will conclude without any witness testimony or new evidence.” Instead, the sketch promised “the trial you wish had happened.”The scene opened with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. (Mikey Day) vowing that he would conduct the trial with “complete disinterest” — only to be replaced by the reality TV host Judge Mathis (Kenan Thompson), who brought his own gavel with him.[embedded content]Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky (Beck Bennett) spoke on behalf of the president, remarking, “I just want to remind the American people that all men are innocent after proven guilty.”Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina (Kate McKinnon) also advocated for the president. When Thompson asked her if she was worried about how history might judge her, McKinnon replied, “Where I come from, we have our own history books, and on the cover, a T. rex is handing a Confederate flag to Jesus.”Thompson then called for the testimony of several witnesses, beginning with John R. Bolton (Cecily Strong), the former national security adviser. Strong said the president’s actions left her “deeply worried about the future of democracy,” but when Thompson asked her to elaborate on the contents of a forthcoming memoir, she said: “No, no, sorry, judge, no more free spoilers. But you can pre-order the book now. It’s called ‘Harry Potter and the Room Where It Happened.’”Pete Davidson appeared as Hunter Biden, entering the courtroom on a hoverboard scooter and explaining that he now sat on “the board of a Brazilian money-laundering company called Nepotismo.”Alec Baldwin at last turned up in his recurring role as President Trump, entering the trial with the assistance of a walker.“Your honor, I’m a very sick old man,” Baldwin said. “How could I withhold aid from the Ukraine? I can barely get around the house”Thompson asked him, “Are you trying to Weinstein me right now?”Baldwin replied: “In which sense? Because Harvey and I overlap in a few areas.”There were further appearances from Alex Moffat as Representative Adam Schiff and Kyle Mooney as Joe Pesci’s title character from “My Cousin Vinny.” (“That is too dumb, even for this,” Thompson observed.)Baldwin gave a closing statement in which he said, “Ladies and gentlemen of this government place, what I’ve learned from this trial is that clearly nothing I do or say has any consequence.”Thompson nonetheless found him guilty, fined him $10,000 and ordered him to say one nice thing about Speaker Nancy Pelosi.Football Sketch of the WeekAs you might expect in an episode hosted by an N.F.L. player on the night before the Super Bowl, there were a few sketches in this episode that dealt with football, including a fake ad for Oil of Olay eye black (“Oil of BrOlay”) and a segment that found Watt in an unusual recording session for a football video game.Still, we’ll give the edge to this filmed sketch called “Robbie,” which models itself on inspirational sports movies like “Rudy.” It features Chris Redd as the title character, a spunky member of his college team’s practice squad who has never gotten to suit up for an actual game, and Day, Moffat and Mooney as his well-intentioned teammates, all of whom are willing to give up their spots so that Robbie can finally play.Then there’s Watt as another fellow player, who makes it painfully clear why Redd should not be permitted anywhere near the field.Weekend Update Jokes of the WeekOver at the Weekend Update desk, the anchors, Colin Jost and Michael Che, continued to riff on the impeachment trial of President Trump.“The impeachment trial is basically over,” Jost began …… is a sentence I could have said two weeks ago when the trial began. We didn’t even get to hear any witnesses in this trial. And by the way, look at the witnesses we could have had. [Shows pictures of Lev Parnas and John Bolton.] You don’t want to hear anything from these guys? They look like the two characters in a video game who give you the best information. My questions for them aren’t even about Trump. My questions are like: “What’s your deal? Walk us through a typical day. What kind of food do you eat? Is it human food?”He continued:It was reported that President Trump pushed for the vote to be on Tuesday so that he could boast about his acquittal during the State of the Union. But now experts are saying that Trump might strike a more humble tone. And we actually have an advance copy of his speech: [Plays an animation of President Trump dancing to MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This.”]Che, shaking his head, picked up the thread:What better way to start Black History Month than to be failed by the justice system. Why was this impeachment ever a good idea? We would have been better off just yelling, “Citizen’s arrest!” And why didn’t we get Alan Dershowitz? This dude was amazing. He somehow convinced the court that a president should be allowed to break the law as long as it’s good for the country. That’s like telling your girl you only cheated to practice being good at sex for her. You know what? That’s it, I’m a Republican now. I’m tired of losing. I can’t be a Democrat and a Knicks fan. It’s too much heartbreak, man.Black History Month Salute of the WeekEgo Nwodim appeared at the Weekend Update desk as Dr. Angie Hynes, a professor of African-American Studies at Rutgers University, who said that she wanted to spotlight figures who were not as well-known as, say, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks. Instead, Nwodim began by singling out a woman named Cynthia Woods, who she said “showed up at my wedding wearing all white.” Nwodim added, “She is black and she is history to me.”She similarly called out an ex-colleague who had sent her inappropriate photographs; her twin sister, Angel, who may or may not have cheated with her husband; and the drugstore chain Duane Reade, which Nwodim called “black Walgreens” but dismissed for “locking up the lotion.”“Duane Reade, you black, and you history,” she said. “CVS, welcome to the cookout, baby.”Gallows Humor of the WeekBowen Yang returned to the Weekend Update desk in his recurring role as the fictional Chinese government official Chen Biao, now promoted to the position of a health minister contending with the coronavirus outbreak. As Yang said of his character’s new gig: “It pays more and it’s a lot sadder. I guess I’m China’s new crisis queen.”Yang explained that he and his colleagues would eventually contain the virus with “patience, diligence” and the use of Burberry surgical masks. He did not seem particularly bothered to hear that American Airlines was halting its flights to China.“Oh no, I can’t fly American Airlines anymore?” Yang said sarcastically. “The only airline where if you ask for a Sprite, they say, ‘Is Sierra Mist O.K.?’ Who will I pay to throw my luggage in the garbage?” More

What’s on TVTHE MASKED SINGER 10:30 p.m. on Fox. You may ask yourself two questions while watching this vocal competition: Who’s behind the mask, and how can they breathe in that thing? The series, back for Season 3, has celebrities compete against one another by belting out pop songs while decked out in elaborate disguises. The contestants’ identities are only revealed after they are voted off the show. (Previous singers include a shimmering butterfly and a fox in a top hat.) Nick Cannon returns as host, joined by the panelists Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger and Robin Thicke.GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET: MADAMA BUTTERFLY 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). The film director Anthony Minghella revives this timeless opera by Puccini. The soprano Hui He plays the title role, a geisha waiting for her American husband (Bruce Sledge) to return to Japan in the early 20th century. Pier Giorgio Morandi conducts.SUPER BOWL LIV 6:30 p.m. on Fox. The San Francisco 49ers go up against the Kansas City Chiefs in Miami. The 49ers were last seen at the Super Bowl in 2013, while this is the Chiefs’ first time on football’s biggest stage in 50 years. Jennifer Lopez and Shakira perform during the halftime show, while President Trump and the 2020 presidential candidate and former New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg present dueling ads during the commercial breaks. Expect plenty of star power in the other spots, including Bryan Cranston channeling “The Shining” in an ad for Mountain Dew.THE EE BRITISH ACADEMY FILM AWARDS 2020 9 p.m. on BBC America. This annual awards show, commonly known as the BAFTAS, is Britain’s equivalent of the Oscars. Todd Phillips’s comic book flick, “Joker,” leads the contenders with 11 nominations. In the best film category, it’s competing with “1917,” from Sam Mendes; “The Irishman,” from Martin Scorsese; “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” from Quentin Tarantino and “Parasite,” from Bong Joon Ho. Graham Norton (of “The Graham Norton Show”) hosts. What’s StreamingPRECIOUS (2009) Stream on Amazon; rent on Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube. Gabourey Sidibe will be back on the big screen this month in a new comedy, “Come As You Are.” More than 10 years ago, she burst onto the scene with her breakout role in “Precious,” a drama drawn from the novel “Push.” Set in 1980s New York, the film follows Claireece “Precious” Jones, an illiterate teenager who has never had it easy. Her classmates bully her; her mother (Mo’Nique, in an Oscar-winning role) is physically and verbally abusive; and her father has impregnated her — twice. But there is a glimmer of hope when Precious is transferred to an alternative school and meets a caring teacher (Paula Patton) and social worker (Mariah Carey). A.O. Scott named the film a Critic’s Pick in his review for The New York Times and wrote that Sidibe is the glue that holds it together. More

A black student in Texas who was suspended because his high school said the way he wore his dreadlocks violated its dress code has been invited to the Oscars.The actress Gabrielle Union and the former N.B.A. champion Dwyane Wade, a married couple who were producers of “Hair Love,” an Oscar-nominated short animated film by Matthew A. Cherry, have invited the teenager, DeAndre Arnold, to attend the 92nd Academy Awards on Feb. 9.“As you may have already heard, DeAndre was recently suspended and threatened with not being able to walk in his high school graduation if he didn’t cut his hair and inviting him to the Oscars was the least we could do,” the producers posted on Instagram on Friday with a segment of their announcement on “CBS This Morning.”“Hair Love” is about an African-American father who learns to style his young daughter’s hair for the first time. DeAndre was excited about the Oscars and the couple’s support.“It’s crazy. Like, I never thought that people like DWade and Gabrielle Union would be like on my side,” DeAndre said on the CBS show, where he appeared with his mother, Sandy Arnold.Ms. Union and Mr. Wade were not immediately available for comment on Saturday.Just before winter break, DeAndre was called into the principal’s office and placed in an in-school suspension. DeAndre’s father, David Arnold, said on Saturday that DeAndre was back in school and referred inquiries to his wife, who did not immediately respond for comment.DeAndre has said in interviews with news outlets that he has been wearing his dreadlocks since seventh grade and had no plans to cut his hair. He said his hairstyle had nothing to do with his potential.“Me and my hair kind of grew up together in a way,’’ he said. “It’s like we’re best friends.”Officials in the majority-white Barbers Hill Independent School District, which has nearly 5,400 students, said they were adhering to the handbook regulations on students’ grooming, which focus not on hairstyle but on length. The district is in Mont Belvieu, about 30 miles east of Houston.The school district’s student handbook says that “male students’ hair must not extend below the top of a T-shirt collar or be gathered or worn in a style that would allow the hair to extend below the top of a T-shirt collar, below the eyebrows, or below the earlobes when let down.”The guideline has been part of the student handbook for at least three decades, said Jami Navarre, a school district spokeswoman.“Our policy is legally acceptable, and we have an exemption policy for religious and medical reasons,’’ she said.Still, critics of the school district’s decision have said the rule is racist, sexist or both. Black people have long been discriminated against, ostracized or punished for hairstyles consistent with their natural hair textures, such as Afros or dreadlocks.News of the suspension has attracted attention from national news outlets.Bernice King, a daughter of Martin Luther King Jr.; Gavin Newsom, the governor of California; and Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins tweeted in support of DeAndre.This week, DeAndre appeared on an episode of “The Ellen Show.” “Every day I would go to school, I would always be in dress code,” he said during his appearance. “But the thing with them is, if it was let down, I would be out of dress code. If girls can have long hair, why can’t I have long hair?”At a recent school board meeting, the public comments were dominated by debates over DeAndre’s suspension.“This is a policy that’s rooted in racism,” said Ashton P. Woods, a civil rights activist from Houston who attended the meeting with DeAndre and his family.“This is a policy that’s rooted in gender roles, homophobia, transphobia,” Mr. Woods said at the meeting. “Because we’re telling people how they should wear their hair when they’re doing really well in school.”DeAndre’s parents also spoke at the meeting.“You guys don’t call me because he’s a problem,” Ms. Arnold told school board members. “You guys don’t call me because he’s disrespectful. You guys don’t call me for anything. The only call I get is about DeAndre’s hair.” More

What’s on TVAUSTIN CITY LIMITS: BILLIE EILISH 11 p.m. on PBS. The 18-year-old pop singer Billie Eilish, who took home five trophies from last week’s Grammy Awards, including for best new artist, is featured in this hourlong concert. Her set list is largely made up of songs from her debut album, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” (which won album of the year), including the dark, assertive pop hits “Bad Guy” and “You Should See Me In a Crown.” Popular singles like “Ocean Eyes” are featured as well. Though she is a young artist, Eilish has been redefining the pop music genre for years, Jon Pareles wrote for The New York Times, saying that “she’s sullen, depressive, death-haunted, sly, analytical and confrontational, all without raising her voice.”2020: RACE TO SAVE THE PLANET 8 p.m. on The Weather Channel. Three months ago, eight presidential candidates sat down with Weather Channel meteorologists to discuss climate change, one of the biggest threats to America’s economy, national security and the planet’s longevity. The show is back for a second installment, but this time with a particular focus on environmental justice, and a modified cast. Democratic and Republican candidates who weren’t interviewed in the first installment have a voice in this one, including Senator Amy Klobuchar; the former New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg; Tom Steyer; and Andrew Yang.What’s StreamingWHEN HARRY MET SALLY … (1989) Stream on Hulu and Sling TV. Rent on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes and YouTube. Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) have been best friends for 11 years, and they want to prove that a single man and a single woman can have a platonic relationship. The two are clearly perfect for each other, though, so it’s easy to predict where the relationship ends up. The rest of the movie consists of romantic Manhattan scenes, scattered with hilarious conversations about love and sex between Harry, Sally, and their best friends, played by Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher. Directed by Rob Reiner with a screenplay by Nora Ephron, “When Harry Met Sally” redefined the romantic comedy for a new generation. SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954) Stream on BroadwayHD. Rent on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu and YouTube. Shortly after Adam Pontipee (Howard Keel) brings his new wife, Milly (Jane Powell), to his home on the Oregon frontier, his six unruly brothers decide they’d also like to get married. They ask their newlywed brother for advice: He suggests they kidnap women from a nearby town and bring them home. Milly teaches the brothers manners and the rules of courtship. Though Stephanie Zacharek, writing in The Times, once called this “Stockholm Syndrome in Cinemascope,” she also wrote that this musical includes “one of the most rousing dance numbers ever put onscreen.” More