I generally like icelandic and norwegian productions. They have that unique feel to them and this one is no exception. The scenery sets the tone, the characters have that certain weight to them, no hysteria, there are plenty small details and consistency between scenes is always good. They also try to end up with some closure at the end too as a rule of thumb so you are not left hanging at credits.
KATLA covers all the good things and doesn't have many bad ones. It will be easier to list what i did not like.
The folklore part was shifted midway with no logic or explanation. The series broke the rules it set for itself about how the whole event works. They did that because they wanted to do something and they did pull it off (i don't want to spoil it) but by doing that they opened up that big unknown of what happens now... It has to do with the rules of appearance and they adjusted those as they went along. As the series ends, you are shown something that to me was just too forced for the sake of closing on a tensile note. It is almost as if they ended the series at the start of a zombie apocalypse. When you get to the final wall scene you will exactly what i mean.
The hotel owner/inn keeper. She was such a great character and they could have done so much more with her, instead she just had a small historian role and was sidelined. She was by far the most interesting person there and felt like they set her up for a lot but ran out of time and cancelled her out. Very unfortunate as there so much there to work with.
This is a series you can watch at face value or you can dive deeper into how people process and deal with grief and loss. It covers both and each character has a particular angle to show you. Makes you think how would you react if something like this happens to you, and they do examine that through several angles by using the various characters. I like that approach, it really works well and it all ties together with the main theme.
Good series, wish it was longer and had more targeted engine. 7/10.
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