‘We Got This’ Gets to Us

(Photo: Schiaffino Musarra in ‘We Got This,’ courtesy Sundance Now)

Rather than tuning in to the Republican Convention last week, we took a trip into Scandinavian conspiracy theories by previewing subscription streamer Sundance Now’s We Got This, a six-episode mix of thriller and comedy debuting this Thursday, September 3.

And, get this…We Got This, a Swedish series, is largely in English. Because who else to solve the 30+-year mystery of Prime Minister Olof Palme’s 1986 assassination than an American immigrant who mostly refuses to speak his adopted country’s language? As if to rub in the point, his name is George English.

This unkempt, unemployed character lacking in social skills is played to perfection by Schiaffino Musarra, who’s also the series creator and writer. Like George English, Musarra is an American-turned-Swede.

English’s best friend (Alexander Karimis) is a black Swedish newspaper reporter reduced to doing short clickbait online stories and true crime podcasts. English’s exasperated Swedish wife, who can speak perfect English without a Swedish accent, is played by Sandra Andreis.

Sundance Now will debut a new episode of We Got This on Thursdays through October 8. The series ran originally on Sweden’s SVT in the spring.

We Got This is “based on true speculations,” according to the opening credits of each episode.

If you’d like to further explore such speculations, which – starting with a one shooter vs. two shooter theory – seem to eerily echo America’s JFK conspiracy theories, you may want to also check out Death of a Pilgrim, a four-part SVT series from 2013.

Based on author Leif GW Persson’s trilogy, “Fall of the Welfare State,” which reopened the cold case in the form of a police procedural, Death of a Pilgrim is available with an MHz Choice subscription or free with the Hoopla library-connected service. Rolf Lassgård (Wallander: The Original Episodes) stars as Lars Martin Johansson, leader of the new investigation.

An earlier 1998 Swedish movie, The Last Contract, also tried to solve the case through fiction. It’s not streaming in the US, so you’ll have to settle for this un-subtitled trailer: