Where “The Valhalla Murders” showed Iceland at its whitest, “Katla” shows Iceland at its bleakest.
Katla is the biggest volcano on Iceland. In the series it had been erupting for a year. The series play in and around the Southern town of Vik which, I believe, in reality would be washed away by the melding glacier should Katla ever become active. In the series, the town is covered in a pack of ash and largely abandoned.
A few people remain in the vicinity of Vik either to guard the town, for scientific investigations or simply for refusing to leave. The volcano has taken some lives, but somehow people start to come back (not in a zombie fashion as the corny cover seems to suggest).
The series have a bleak and mysterious atmosphere and the story becomes stranger and stranger. People who have not died start to come (back) from the ash as well!
In eight episodes a fairly interesting story unfolds which every time leaves enough tension and questions to watch the next episode.
The series give a tiny peek into the ‘real Iceland’ with massive trucks for the rough landscape, the harsh weather, living with a volcano in the backyard, etc.
Not great, but not bad either.
