If you’ve ever seen Trapped, you know that Ólafur Darri Ólafsson can be a big teddy bear. Of course, sometimes bears have claws, and he’s played plenty of bad guys – most memorably in the second season of Severance – where his presence is enough to make the blood run cold. After all, being six foot five tends to make you a dominating force even when you mean no harm; this is a man who played a character named “The Wall” in giant shark movie The Meg.
But while US film and television like him to play the heavy, when he’s working in Iceland, he’s known for playing endearing, charming characters with thoughtful depths. So what version are we going to see in Reykjavik Fusion? Well, that depends.
Here, Ólafsson is playing professional chef Jónas, and when we first meet him, he’s sweating – literally – over a meal for his family. Suddenly, he has to go to the storeroom for lemons. Inside, he sees a woman crouching over a body with a knife. No big deal: he collects the lemons and leaves without saying a word. Then we jump back in time seven weeks, and Jónas is still cooking, only this time he’s slaving over a hot stove in a minimum security prison. Looks like he hasn’t exactly turned over a new leaf.
The twist is, Jónas is adamant he’s an innocent man. He’s been wrongfully locked up with drug dealers and tax criminals for eighteen months, serving them fancy (and it has to be said, delicious-looking) meals all the while. The knives may be chained up, but that’s not going to slow him down: “Alright boys,” he says to a collection of shady-looking characters at a dinner to celebrate one prisoner’s release, “some amuse-bouche to please the taste buds”.
The chef is on a hook, and he’ll spend the rest of the series trying to get off it.
While his cooking remains first class (Reykjavik Fusion has a Michelin-starred chef, Þráinn Freyr Vigfusson, preparing the food we see on-screen), the rest of his life is crumbling. His ex, Katrín (Lára Jóhanna Jónsdóttir), has a new husband and doesn’t want Jónas to see their children. He tries to explain that he’s on a new path, but she’s heard it all before.
With the odds stacked against him and any path to redemption seemingly blocked, it’s no wonder he’s desperate to take back his life by opening a restaurant of his own. But as an ex-con, he can’t even hold down a low-paying job; being found guilty of insurance fraud and torching his own business means legitimate financing is definitely out of reach.
We all know where this is heading – the criminals he met in prison were openly offering to help fund him on the outside – but Ólafsson really sells the bind Jónas is in. Time after time, he’s knocked down, and while he takes the blows on his bearded chin, each time we can see the pain in his eyes as he realises the life he deserves is being taken away from him. Ólafsson is always a powerful presence on screen, and it’s painful to see him so desperate.
Eventually, the only option left is the worst possible option: crime boss Kristján (Thröstur Leo Gunnarsson). “You know I’m not your typical bank,” he says to his old prison buddy Jónas, who’s so grateful to find someone willing to support him that he doesn’t notice the slight delay before Kristján agrees that once the loan is paid off, Jónas will be free. The chef is on a hook, and he’ll spend the rest of the series trying to get off it.
Reykjavik Fusion is, as the title suggests, a mix of things. Jónas is juggling family and business while serving up a lot of very tasty-looking meals in the process. But he’s also increasingly tangled up in a world of crime, as the true price of the deal he’s made becomes clear.
Making matters worse, he’s now dealing with Mary (Hera Hilmar), Kristján’s right hand (and the person whose right hand was holding a knife in the opening scene). She’s there’s to make sure the restaurant is successfully integrated into the organisation, working as something of a mentor to Jónas as he finds himself increasingly forced into a life of crime.
Laundering money, drug smuggling, disposing of corpses. It’s a lot for Jónas to take in. Will he remain true to his dream of becoming someone his family can look up to, or are we seeing him become who he was always meant to be? Ólafsson’s performance skilfully keeps both options on the table; this is a chef who’s always cooking up something.
Reykjavik Fusion is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
Stream free On Demand
Reykjavik Fusion
