Deliver Me (I dina händer), a Swedish suspense drama series follows two teenagers who fall into the clutches of the dark side and destroy everything in the process. It is based on Malin Persson Giolito’s best-selling novel by the same name and the series is directed by Anna Zackrisson. The five-part miniseries has a runtime of about 38-49 minutes respectively.
The cast of the series includes Yasir Hassan as Billy/Bilal, Olle Strand as Dogge/Douglas, Yusra Warsama as Leila, Ane Dahl Torp as Jill, Henrik Norlén as Teo, Ardalan Esmaili as Farid, Mahmut Suvakci as Sudden, Solomon Njie as Mehdi, Abdirahman Mohamed as Tusse/Tusane, Yusra Hassan, Hidaya Awes and others.
Deliver Me follows the case of a 14-year-old boy who dies in a snowy playground, allegedly shot by his best friend. It further questions – Who is to blame for children committing terrible acts, and what happens when they are seen as monsters? This story explores the impact on society and the marginalized children who slip through the cracks.
Deliver Me Review
Dogge and Billy are childhood best friends, who did everything together. From stealing their parent’s car for fun to joining a local gangster gang, they were literal partners in crimes. However, their happy memories are interrupted by a 911 call, where a frightened Dogge inform them about Billy being shot in the head, at the playground. Questions start bubbling up in our minds, what could have happened to the duo? What have they gotten themselves into? Who shot Billy and if Dogge is in danger too?
Similar questions and many more baffles on the scene police officer, Farid. We get a quick hint that he personally knew both the kids and was deeply affected by what was in front of him. Despite not wanting it to be true, the only person in question remains Dogge – the primary suspect in Billy’s murder. With Dogge being under the influence of drugs, suspicion rises even higher, until he testifies that it wasn’t his will to kill him. The local gang leader Mehdi Bah is added to the investigation, as an instigator and the person who provided the gun.
On the surface, it looks like two troubled teens who got involved with the wrong company were tortured by the gang members. They were apparently reeling from the repercussions of trying to get away from the world of crime. But was it entirely true? While Dogge puts the blame on Mehdi, it’s hard to brush off the look of guilt on his face, questioning if there were some other motives behind it. Mehdi obliviously denies all claims of murder but looking at his violent past records, one can’t deny the possibility of him being the conspirator. Deliver Me keeps us questioning the truth and wondering where did it all went wrong.
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The first thing to know about the show is that the pacing is quite slow. Even by the end of Deliver Me episode 1, one isn’t sure what exactly has happened and the cause behind it. You get some quick flashbacks and abstract scenes in-between but it’s hard to make a connection. With the pacing, you grow more frustrated looking at Dogge’s character. You feel like shaking him up and asking what’s wrong with you – which signifies that the actor, Olle Strand has done a brilliant job. But the showrunners seem to have left out the part to make us understand his character better or give us a glimpse of the inciting incident which threw them into the dark.
From a personal perspective, it seems like a commentary on lost children. Those who are either neglected by their providers, or dealing with poverty, or social alienation. While we expect everyone to grow up the right ethical way anyhow. But who would be deemed responsible when they fall between the cracks? And if they get involved in heinous crimes like murder, then are they innately evil beings or someone who could have been stopped beforehand? While these questions form the core plot of the story, sadly, there isn’t a good lesson to take away from it all.
If you expect it to be a suspense thriller then you are quite wrong. While the suspense behind Billy’s death does haunt us till the end second, there’s no satisfactory resolution to the mystery that boggles us. If you are not one of those people who would run their brains to make sense of everything they watched, you would feel quite confused and disappointed. From the beginning to the end, the mood of the show is grim and depressing. The end doesn’t give us a view of the ideal world where everything has become better but shows that it’s an endless loop of crime, death and despair.
One of the biggest questions left in our minds was – how did Billy and Dogge even join the gang? Why is Dogge so messed up? It’s evident that losing a loved one and his family’s negligence are the main causes but why is he so messed up in the past as well? What’s Billy’s reason for seeking Mehdi and why is his parent’s relationship strained? It’s contemplating to watch Dogge’s and Billiy’s troublesome lives unfold but we never get to see how they reach such a dark point. Overall, it’s a dark show which gives us a hard lesson about the impact of family dynamics and society on growing children. But it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Rating: 2.5/5
Deliver Me is available to watch on Netflix.
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