Do you know that feeling that everyone received a manual for life except for you? For Tore, the 27-year-old protagonist of this Swedish Netflix series, life was on “pause.” He worked at the family funeral home, his father was his safe harbor, and he had never lived normal youth experiences like clubs, kisses, and adventures.
His father even tried to give him some nudges, wanting his son to discover the world, but fate decided to do it in a much more brutal way. A tragedy changes everything: his father is killed by a car while they were picking up a body at a local nursing home. At that moment, chaos ensues.
System Failure: The Grief Process in TORE
The most interesting thing about TORE is that his grief isn’t about crying on the couch. He simply freezes. He keeps working as if nothing happened, and it is in this absurdity that the show makes us reflect. Watching him try to act normally while the world collapses around him generates scenes of agony and pity that leave us totally shaken.
His best friend, Linn, tries to be a light in the middle of the darkness. Their dynamic brings a necessary breather, as she is that down-to-earth friend who desperately tries to understand what is going on in his head, facing his silence, his distancing, and his aggression.
Unfiltered Discovery
When denial turns into revolt, Tore decides to live 10 years in one week. He dives into the Stockholm nightlife and, for the first time, explores his sexuality. His “first times” are lived without him having a real sense of what he’s doing: his first blackout, his first kiss with a stranger, and his almost-first sex all happen while he is completely out of orbit due to alcohol.
The series plays with LGBTQ+ subculture codes in a very real way. The drag queen at the club he starts frequenting gives him an iconic tip on how to identify people in alternative bars: “They say straight people are the only ones who still wear wristwatches!”
Why is it worth the watch?
Created by and starring the talented William Spetz, this work is not just about sadness. It’s about that moment when we realize life is too short to watch from the sidelines. It is a raw, sometimes irresponsible, but extremely human journey of self-discovery.
If you’ve ever felt like a stranger in your own nest or think you’re “past your prime” to find out who you are, you’ll feel right at home. In TORE, grief is chaos, but it is a chaos that sets you free.