Created by Peter Stormare, Glenn Lund, Peter Settman and Andrew Lowery
“We’re dicks. Swedish dicks.”
— Axel explains it all.
What could be better than one Swedish dick?
Two, obviously.
Or at least that’s the premise of Swedish Dicks, a low-key American-Swedish comedy web/TV series.
Swedish ex-pat INGMAR ANDERSSON (played by co-creator Peter Stormare) is an aging, former stuntman trying to make a go of it as a private eye in Los Angeles, without much success. He hooks up with happy-go-lucky fellow countryman and former DJ AXEL KRUSE (Johan Glans) and invites him to become a partner in his detective firm “Swedish Dick” (necessitating a name change to “Swedish Dicks”).
Thing is, despite the cowboy boots, the buckskin jacket and a lot of enthusiasm, Ingmar’s not too bad a detective, while Axel’s definitely a few Crayolas short of a full box. Which only helps fuel the rivalry between the dicks and Jane McKinney (played by Traci Lords, the former porn star), Ingmar’s long-time nemesis and the “number-one investigator in all of Los Angeles.” She just wishes the two dicks (and particularly Ingmar) would just go away.
It’s all low-key, low-budget fun, not to be taken very seriously, and there’s a nice contrast between the occasionally suicidal dark horse of Ingmar’s fading but still potent machismo, and Axel’s genial incompetence and irritating optimism. Nor does it hurt that Keanu Reaves shows up occasionally as Tex, Ingmar’s stuntman pal (or is he a hitman?) who died while on set years ago.
Or did he?
Toss in Felicity Cooper as Ingmar’s legal whiz lawyer (who’s black), and Vivian Bang as Sun, a North Korean refugee with some very peculiar habits who hangs around the office, and you’ve got a show. A quirky but endearing little show whose surface stupidity can’t quite conceal the cleverness beneath.
The show premiered on the Swedish online streaming service Viaplay, and in the States on the Pop television network, while it was distributed worldwide by Lionsgate TV.
TELEVISION
- Season One | Watch it now!
(2016-18, Viaplay/Pop/Lionsgate)
30-minute episodes
Premiere: September 2, 2016
Created by Peter Stormare, Glenn Lund, Peter Settman and Andrew Lowery
Directed by Allen Baron and Robert Day
Original music by Stu Phillips
Produced by Glen A. Larson
Starring Peter Stormare as INGMAR ANDERSSON
and Johan Glans as AXEL KRUSE
Also starring Vivian Bang as Sun
Felisha Cooper as Sarah Andersson
Keanu Reeves as Tex Johnson
and Traci Lords as Jane McKinney
Guest stars: Margaret Cho, Anthony LaPaglia, Eric Roberts
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- SERIES ONE
- When Ingmar Met Axel” (September 2, 2016)
- “The Blind Leading the Blind” (September 2, 2016)
- “The Very Brief Adventures of Maintenance Guy and Plant Man” (September 9, 2016)
- “Let’s Talk About Cults” (September 9, 2016)
- “Howl Like a Big Dog” (September 16, 2016)
- “Tale of the Tape” (September 23, 2016)
- “The Curse of the North Korean Curse” (September 30, 2016)
- “Back to School” (October 7, 2016)
- “There’s Something About Tex” (October 14, 2016)
- “See You Later, Alligator” (October 14, 2016)
- SERIES TWO
- “A Thief Amongst Us” (December 25, 2017)
- “Dial M for Medium” (December 25, 2017)
- “It Had to Be Lou” (January 1, 2018)
- “Floyd Cal Who?” (January 1, 2018)
- “Two Dicks Walk Into a Bar” (January 8, 2018)
- “Behind Bars” (January 8, 2018)
- “Dawn of the Dicks” (January 15, 2018)
- “The Swedish FBI” (January 15, 2018)
- “Girls Day!” (January 22, 2018)
- “Till Dicks Do Us Part” (January 22, 2018)
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
-
Nordic Eyes
Swedish Dicks and Other Nordic Gumshoes
THE DICK OF THE DAY
- July 20, 2021
THE BOTTOM LINE: “We’re dicks. Swedish dicks,” explains ex-pat Swede turned LA PI, in this 2016-18 cult fave. Sorta like a gumshoe Arrested Development, plus… Keanu!
Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith, with a tip of the fedora to Film/Television editor Chris Baldemor.
