Chosen: Season 1 – Netflix Review (3/5)

CHOSEN on Netflix is a new Sci-Fi series from Denmark. The main characters are teenagers but it works thanks to the casting. Unfortunately, the story has a few plot holes too many. In part due to the season being way too short. Read our full Chosen Season 1 review here!

CHOSEN is a new Danish Netflix series. We’re in the sci-fi mystery genre and the main characters are all teenagers. Sure, you’ll probably guess all the major plot developments ahead of time, but that’s okay. The actors make sure that this series is better than the sum of its parts.

Honestly, there’s no getting around the fact that the plot and storyline development is “choppy”. To put it mildly. Then again, a season with just six episodes does mean much is rushed. The season also ends on a cliffhanger of sorts which makes it feel much more like a midseason finale than a season finale.

We watched all six episodes in the season and are more than ready for season 2, which should help shed more light on many plot issues. Continue reading our Chosen Season 1 review below.

The actors make it come together

If there’s one thing this new Netflix sci-fi series really has got going for it, it’s the young cast of impressive talent. The opening scene does have a somewhat mechanical sound monolog, which scared me for a second. However, there’s a reason for that and we immediately head into “real” dialogue.

Also, unlike the Danish post-apocalyptic series The Rain, the characters in Chosen are much more realistically written. And yes, this does also mean that there is a lot of swearing. Danes drink and swear like nobody’s business (I should know, I am one).

In Chosen, the plot revolves around a small group of friends-turned-investigators. They live in a very small [fictional] Danish town called “Middelbo” which was made famous when a meteor crashed there. However, the investigating group of friends feels like the “meteor crash” is covering over the real event; A spaceship crashing in Middelbo.

The main character of Chosen is Emma (Malaika Mosendane) and she works at a museum built at the crash site. She joins the group of young investigators when she suspects the meteor isn’t exactly what they’ve been told.

We need more focus on the characters

A plot like the one in Chosen desperately needs solid characters to drive the storytelling. While the characters are good and feel well-rounded, we don’t get to know them nearly enough. The main character of Emma is the only one we really get to know. Or rather, she’s the only one who gets to exist on her own, outside the group, as well.

The rest of the friends in the investigator group clearly have interesting backstories but we never get anywhere near hearing them. Especially the character Marie, portrayed beautifully by Andrea Heick Gadebjerg (Riders of Justice), steals every scene she’s in. A talent to look out for.

Also in the cast are Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt (Another Round) as the wheelchair-bound leader of the “investigation”. Mohamed Djeziri is the rich kid, Elvis, and the good-natured (if a bit dumb) Frederik is played perfectly by Andreas Dittmer.

Another key character is portrayed by Anders Heinrichsen, who you might recognize if you’ve watched the Danish horror movie Breeder (2021). Honestly, I have not seen him in anything where he worked for me. Until now in this Netflix series. That was definitely a nice surprise!

Plot holes in Chosen on Netflix

Unfortunately, there are huge plot holes in season 1 of Chosen. It feels like many of these issues could have been avoided with a longer season. Instead, things are forced in a way that makes little to no sense. Like the fact that our teenagers so rarely use their cellphones.

They don’t take pictures of things, they know will require evidence. Also, they don’t use their phones to contact their friends when they’re in trouble. Instead, they run off like their trapped in an 80s setting along the lines of Stranger Things. If you’re going to establish that they use cellphones, then you have to also let them use said cellphones.

Watch Season 1 of Chosen (2022) on Netflix!

Chosen was created by the team behind The Rain. While this was a very popular series on Netflix, we were never huge fans. Or rather, we liked the first few episodes, but then the characters and plot quickly fell flat. To be fair, we really wanted to like that series (after all, it’s from our native Denmark), but it just felt like a chore to watch.

The young cast of Chosen manage to do an excellent job which is especially apparent in the natural dialogue flow. Sure, the dialogue has to be well written too, so there’s more to it than “just” a strong cast. The cast of The Rain also did what they could, but the dialogue in that series was just off (something non-Danes probably didn’t notice).

Overall, season 1 of Chosen is a very mixed bag. The first two episodes are really good. Then things get a bit messy plot-wise and before we’re totally back on track, the season is over. Still, I was never bored and it did not feel like a chore to get through. Hopefully, Chosen season 2 will make sure everything in the plot is less messy!

Give it a shot if you enjoy sci-fi mysteries. If nothing else, to show Netflix that we cannot get enough of these genre productions.

Chosen season 1 is out on Netflix with all six episodes from January 27, 2022.

Details

Creators: Jannik Tai Mosholt, Christian Potalivo
Director: Kaspar Munk
Screenwriters: Jannik Tai Mosholt, Kaspar Munk, Christian Potalivo, Ida Maria Rydén, Stefan Jaworski, Julie Budtz Sørensen
Cast: Malaika Berenth Mosendane, Andrea Heick Gadeberg, Andreas Dittmer, Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt, Mohamed Djeziri, Magnus Juhl Andersen, Anders Heinrichsen, Line Kruse, Henrik Prip, Marie Louise Wille, Ken Vedsegaard, Nikolaj Kopernikus, Shahbaz Sarwar, Eva Jin, Elena Borzunova, Jesper Vigant, Rikke Eberhardt Isen, Thomas Kirk, Emilie Finkielman, Sarah Rose Clear