The Simple Heist: Series 1

Two Golden Girls, both faced with money problems, rob a bank and run into all sorts of complications in this Swedish miniseries, a comedy-drama in which the humor is mostly dry and the more serious moments are deliberately clichéd. Jenny (Lotta Tejle) and Cecilia (Sissela Kyle) are best friends, but each faces a financial crisis: Jenny’s husband has discovered her affair with a fellow teacher and is divorcing her without a cent, while Cecilia has lost the money she and her husband planned to use to buy a new house, by playing the Chinese stock market. Luckily—or not—a dying patient at the gastroenterology clinic where Cecilia works is a criminal who informs her of a bank job that he was planning, a heist that she and Jenny decide to take on themselves. Incredibly, they pull it off, but the difficulties in extracting the cash from the bank’s explosive storage canisters force them to seek help from a gang of thieving bikers, leading to complications. Meanwhile, Cecilia tries to keep her befuddled husband from learning that their savings have disappeared, and Jenny must deal with her daughter, who wants to live with her more easygoing dad. The writing in The Simple Heist fails to rise much beyond adequate, but the cast is so good—particularly Tejle and Kyle—that the series is a modest pleasure. Presenting all six episodes from the 2017 first season, this is recommended. (F. Swietek)