NORDIC NOIR

Netflix's Swedish crime thriller Land Of Sin is undermined by weak writing that makes the show a chore to watch

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Brand new for 2026, Netflix's Swedish crime thriller Land Of Sin arrives with a premise that is deliberately grim. From the outset, it evokes the spirit of gritty neo-noir Westerns and Nordic crime dramas alikestories where suspicion and distrust define the relationship between law enforcement and tight-knit rural communities that prefer to handle their problems internally. The sense that outsiders are unwelcome and that truth itself is negotiable hangs heavily over the series from its opening moments.

Much of the animosity in Land Of Sin is concentrated within a single, deeply dysfunctional family tree. In that regard, the show follows a familiar template seen in series like Department Q and even in a strange tonal way House M.D. by anchoring the narrative around an abrasive central figure or Dani Anttila (Krista Kosonen), a detective based in Malmö who is gruff, confrontational and almost pathologically incapable of social grace. Dani rubs virtually everyone the wrong way, whether suspects, colleagues or civilians, and the series makes no attempt to soften that aspect of her personality.