4 out of 5

Created by: Pontus Edgren, Martina Håkansson

covers season 1

Quicksandis pretty straight forward, and pretty clear about its focus up front: the briefest, suggestive glimpses of the aftermath of a school shooting lead us to survivor Maja (Hanna Ardéhn), clearly in shock, and being escorted away from the scene.  She is then charged with complicity in the killings.

Maja doesn’t quite remember what happened.  She shot someone, but it was in self defense; she is accused of shooting someone else but she cannot believe that to be the case… although she doesn’t remember.  We’re not shown what happened, and her lawyer, Peder (David Dencik), appointed by her parents, is interestingly not allowed to inform her as to the known details, as it may influence forthcoming interrogations with the police.

He does his best to walk with her through the days leading up to the shoot, which takes up parts of our initial episodes – flashbacks of her romance with boyfriend Sebastian (Felix Sandman); her rocky friendships with Samir (William Spetz) and childhood friend Amanda (Ella Rappich) – with further bits and pieces added as the questions from police and prosecutor begin.

Some of this background scene exposition feels eye-rolling – launching into moments that wouldn’t necessarily be directly relevant to the conversation – and then questionably manipulative: why aren’t we, the viewer, being told what occurred?  Is this all being set up for some type of poor taste twist, some bait for a second season?

In the latter half of the six episodes, Maja waits for her trial in her cell; we do not visit the family or survivors to see the effect of things upon them: we are with Maja as she shuts down, convinced of a forthcoming guilty sentence, wallowing in further revealed memories of Sebastian… Samir… Amanda…

The thing is: we believe Maja.  Ardéhn doesn’t necessarily pull off some of the characters outbursts, but her moments of self-reflection – of her thoughts wandering inwardly for truth – convince us: she doesn’t remember.  She feels guilt but she knows not for what.  Still, though – why withhold what happened from the viewer?  Why are we only told things as Maja learns them?

As Quicksand edges into trial in its last two episodes, its proven itself beyond those initial doubts: once the pacing of flashbacks is established, and once the key players are understood, it becomes very necessary for us to explore the interactions, and to start to wonder how we got from there to the shooting… but not in a “puzzle” fashion – not manipulating us into a whodunnit – rather in how we can spot troubling signs, and must ask ourselves if we recognize our own behaviors anywhere along the way; how would we have behaved amongst this circle of friends and boyfriends and girlfriends?

The series does show us what happened.  It’s important to know, and it’s a significantly emotional blow when it’s finally revealed: the path we’ve taken to that point has made us question our perceptions and assumptions of the shooting, and at series’ end, knowing what we know, does it change anything?  What do we do with that knowledge?