A new Finnish television series has made its way to the US and UK: the supernatural/fantasy drama, Nymphs.
Scandinavian TV series out of Finland haven’t made as big a splash beyond the fjords as their Danish and Swedish counterparts, or even Norwegian for that matter. Until recently, the only Finnish program that US and UK programmers had imported (that I know of) was the crime drama Vares: Private Eye.
Then Viewster, the free (ad-supported) video-on-demand service based in Switzerland, brought the supernatural/fantasy drama, Nymphs, to viewers on both sides of the pond.
A bit of a mashup of the British Being Human and American Charmed series, the Finnish Nymphs follows a trio of (what else) nubile nymphs instead of a ghost/werewolf/vampire threesome or coven of witches. For human men, the nymphs’ powers of seduction are fatal attractions indeed, for every month, during the full moon, the creatures feed on them. And by feed, I mean bed. To death.
Seventeen-year-old Didi (Sara Soulié) has no clue that she’s a nymph, so when her beau, Johannes, dies post coitus, it comes as something of a shock. (Not the way she imagined her first time would be, I’m sure.) Learning that she is a one of the ageless beauties from fellow nymphs Kati (Rebecca Viitala) and Nadia (Manuela Bosco) isn’t much consolation, either, especially since (1) she has to leave everyone and everything she knew behind, and (2) she only has a couple of weeks — until the next full moon — to acclimate herself to being a nymph, lest she herself dies.
If only her troubles ended there…
The Nymphs Trailer from Fisher King Production on Vimeo
But they don’t.
The budding romance between Didi and her childhood friend, Samuel (Jarkko Niemi), is a big nymph no-no. Relationships between nymphs and humans can only end in tragedy, what with the fatal feeding thing and all, and Kati wants to put an end to it.
Detectives in Helsinki suspect that Johannes’ death is just the latest in a series of unsolved ones — others having occurred in Bulgaria and Portugal as well as Finland — over several decades. When one of them contacts Erik (Ilkka Villi) with information about the mysterious death, matters go from bad to worse.
Erik happens to be one of the satyrs, who, like the nymphs, look and act like humans. Only they have been oppressors of the nymphs for eons. Nadia and Kati managed to escape, and they must now protect Didi, because they believe she is the nymph of legend that will lead all nymphs to freedom. But Erik has other plans. When he learns that Didi was Johannes’ girlfriend, he sets about organizing a satyr posse to find her.
Created by Miikko Oikkonen, and written by Oikkonen, Sari Luhtanen, Antti Pesonen, Anniina Holmbe, Nymphs is being adapted into a trilogy of novels. The first, Nymphs – Legends of Montpellier, was published in 2013, with translations licensed for English, French, Russian, Spanish, and German editions; Nymphs – Astartes Knot is expected to hit bookstores this fall, and Nymphs – Queen of the Night will be released in 2015.
The twelve 45-minute-long episodes of Nymphs are currently available for streaming in the US and UK exclusively on Viewster. Note that there is explicit content that is not appropriate for younger viewers. (And remember to use the drop-down menu above the video player to select English subtitles.)
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