Cornelia (Felice Jankell) is alone when she wakes up in a strange house with no idea how she got there. But that isn’t quite the start of Swedish series The Chosen Ones . Before we see her open her eyes, there are a few eerie shots where the camera glides down the empty corridors of a nicely decorated but empty mansion. It’s like the house is waiting; once those inside wake up, the experiment can begin.
As she carefully explores her surroundings, Cornelia’s clearly not happy to be there, even before blonde giant (seriously, she’s at least a head taller than everyone else) Alex (Frida Gustavsson) almost bashes her head in with a candle holder. Neither of them knows anything about how or why they’re there; everyone’s on edge, keeping quiet, acting like a monster could leap out at them at any moment.
Even when they’re suddenly joined by other groups – there are twelve young women trapped in total – the tension doesn’t ease. The doors are locked, windows too, and the weird hum that’s been buzzing all episode turns out to be coming from an electric fence outside a small outdoor area.
Cornelia (Felice Jankell, centre) with the other women who end up as 'The Chosen Ones'. Source: Viaplay
Consisting of only six 15-minute episodes, The Chosen Ones doesn’t have time to mess around. But the creators have taken their time with the opening few minutes, and they do an excellent job of establishing just the right tone. The mansion itself is unsettling, but not in an obviously sinister way. It’s the way that the people inside instinctively mistrust each other that makes it feel dangerous.
In fact, the longer they explore, the less the place seems like a prison and more like a large and very fancy Air BnB. Eventually one girl asks, “Is this a hotel or a jail?” and she has a point. Even the fridge is fully stocked: whoever’s locked them in doesn’t want them to starve.
The women immediately mistrust each other. Source: Viaplay
In fact, whoever’s behind their captivity doesn’t want much from them at all. A television set suddenly turns itself on and gives them the backstory: a mutant version of bird flu is sweeping through Sweden. Many are dead, towns are in lockdown or have been evacuated. The women are told that they’re there because a genetic quirk has made them immune. The locks and electric fences aren’t there to keep them in – they’re to keep the infected out.
Now that they’re safe, they’re going to help create a vaccine, the only hope for many thousands of people. All they need to do is give a blood sample and take a pill every three days. Oh, and there’s still a chance they might fall sick. “The first symptom is trembling hands,” they’re told. “We advise you to watch out for symptoms among you”. Oh, that’s definitely going to encourage trust among twelve complete strangers.
Often this kind of mystery show falters because they don’t get the balance right between the big choices, but The Chosen Ones gets the mix spot-on. The chance to help save thousands of lives is a good reason to follow orders; being kidnapped and locked up in a creepy mansion with cameras everywhere is a good reason to doubt what’s going on. And if the lockdown is for their own good, why did they all have their phones taken away?
Trapped together, but why, really? Source: Viaplay
The real problem is that the girls are mistrustful of each other right from the start. Alex is all for going along with the orders, while Cornelia has some serious misgivings. You only have to look at them to know they’re never going to get along.
Alex’s cream-coloured outfit suggests a born-to-rule attitude and the money to back it up; when she starts giving orders, almost everyone falls into line. On the other side, Cornelia’s dark tones and talk of hacking the system (one of the other girls asks, “Are you a gamer?”) suggests someone with an instinctual disregard for rules and authority no matter what the risks.
When are the chosen ones getting out? Source: Viaplay
But then again, we don’t really know anything about any of the girl’s lives before they woke up here. Cornelia says her messed up arms are the result of constant injections given in a (successful) attempt to cure her leukemia; another girl says her shaky hands are just a physical quirk and nothing to do with her being ill. Even when people’s stories don’t add up, Alex and her sidekicks are too busy forcing everyone into line to bother asking questions, even when those questions could provide real answers, or even lead to a way out.
Because if a deadly disease really is sweeping the country, maybe trying to escape is the one choice that could kill them all.
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