After a two-year wait, Barracuda Queens has returned to Netflix with an exciting sophomore season that looks to up the stakes like never before. The Swedish heist drama series is back with six new episodes following the titular “Barracude Queens” five years after they made money stealing from their wealthy neighbors in Djursholm, as well as guys who had done them dirty. Barracuda Queens: Season 2 returns leading ladies Alva Bratt, Sarah Gustafsson, Tindra Monsen, Sandra Zubovic, and Tea Stjärne in addition to other faces fresh and familiar for an international art heist storyline
Opening Shot: The year is 2000 and Lollo Millkvist (Alva Bratt) is tied to a chair being threatened and interrogated by armed men wearing ski masks to obscure their identities. The masked interrogator grabs her face and demands that she tells him where “the painting” is, or else her friends are in trouble. Lollo stares at him, debating what action to take, before the screen cuts to black.
The Gist: After the interrogation scene up top, we wind the clock back two months as privileged young woman Lollo comes home to a big surprise party welcoming her back from studying in France. There, Lollo reunites with her longtime friend group of upper-class young women known as the “Barracuda Queens,” although Lollo informs her mother, Margareta (Izabella Scorupco), that they’re too old to be called that old moniker of their teenage years. Margareta wants the girls to promise that they’ll stop burglarizing homes now that they’re all together again, but they reassure her that those years of partying and crime are long behind them. As Mia (Tea Stjärne) puts it, “It was another millennium, remember?”
Well, it turns out that even if five years have passed since we first met our characters in Season 1, old habits die hard as Lollo still holds affection and nostalgia for her group’s past criminal activities. Everyone else initially seems to have moved on from their previous ways, as Amina (Sarah Gustafsson) works at the famous Thiel Gallery, Mia works as a bank cashier, and sisters Klara (Tindra Monsen) and Frida (Sandra Zubovic) look to finish their schooling.
However, Lollo’s return just seems to be the final nail in the coffin for these ladies, who have already been accumulating cracks in their mundane daily lives that leave them eager for a change. After Lollo’s party, all of the Queens assert their desire to move out of their parents’ homes, especially as Amina shares that her dad is paying for her to have her own small apartment (even if it is, according to them, tiny and in the undesirable municipality of Mörby). Klara then asks her own dad (Johannes Bah Kuhnke) if he’ll buy her a place, only for him to remind her that he’ll get her and Frida their own residences after they graduate from school. Her mom (Mirja Turestedt) to helpfully remind Klara that if she hadn’t cheated on an exam, she’d have already graduated by then. To add insult to injury, Klara runs into her ex, Niklas (Hannes Alin), that same day, and he expresses how unappealing he finds the idea of living at home with his parents at his current age.
Amina is also struggling despite her impressive workplace, in large part due to her demanding and difficult boss, Siv (Cecilia Frode). With a big vernissage coming up at the art gallery, Amina is excited to seemingly be given the opportunity to give the event’s keynote speech. But after she writes it up and gives it to Siv, her boss clarifies that not only is this speech not quite up to par, but that she will be giving it, while Amina will be working the event as a server.
As the Barracuda Queens vent their frustrations to one another, Lollo proposes that they all go in on an apartment together. In fact, she has already signed on it, even though she doesn’t have the funds to cover the eight-room Östermalm flat she found for a discounted price on the black market. While the girls are all eager to live together, they’ve spent all of the money they made from past burglaries, and don’t make enough in their current situations to cover the cost. This is when Lollo gets the bright idea to dip their toes back into burglary by using Amina’s insider knowledge to steal Anders Zorn’s Hins Anders painting from The Thiel Gallery, so they can resell it for a profit and make life difficult for Siv in the process. This launches the start of a brand new heist where the stakes are higher than ever, setting up this season for fresh thrills, hijinks, and felonies that are sure to bring the heat this summer.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of?: Barracuda Queens: Season 2 is like if you took some of the entitled guests in The White Lotus, made them desperate or bored enough to burglarize, then put them in the worlds of heist and theft-focused shows like Good Girls, Snatch, and Imposters.
Our Take: Imagine being so privileged and spoiled that you stage an art heist out of boredom. Truly insane work, but it just goes to drive home how truly unlikable our titular Barricuda Queens are. Even so, their greed and pettiness make the characters that much more interesting, especially coupled with the fact that these characters are charismatic enough that you still can’t always decide if you want to see them pull their misdeeds off or see them fail.
It’s somewhat gratifying to see the previously high-flying and irreverent Barracude Queens now slightly bogged down by the realities of life. Mia and Amina are working adults, while Klara and Frida are confronted with the embarrassment of falling behind their peers as they commit to finishing school. They’ve all more or less moved on with their lives, but Lollo is still living in the past, reluctant to take responsibility and grow up. Instead, practically as soon as she returns from abroad, she hatches a harebrained scheme to pull the ladies back into burglary, and the most pathetic part is that none of the girls take that much convincing to follow her.
Indeed, they’re all apparently so tired of living as normal (well, normalish, they’re still mostly rich girls), law-abiding citizens that, after some initial half-hearted protests, they jump at the chance to spice up their lives with good old fashioned crime. Their desire to break out from their parents and have their own place is probably less exciting to them than the actual heist itself, and their enjoyment is palpable through the screen as they plot and enact their plan.
Like them or not, the characters are engaging and entertaining, and this, coupled with the tight script that doesn’t waste time with unnecessary recaps or exposition, pulls viewers in right away and makes you hungry for more.
Sex and Skin: None in this episode.
Parting Shot: The Barracude Queens seem to be back in full force as they toss the stolen art in their getaway boat and ride off into the night while Mia yells, “We fucking rock!”
Sleeper Star: All five of the leading ladies give strong performances, but Sarah Gustafsson and Tea Stjärne particularly stand out with their grounded, nuanced acting in the first episode as Amina and Mia, respectively. They’re showing more than they’re telling, making for intriguing work that suggests their characters have hidden depths and layers you’ll be curious to fully uncover.
Most Pilot-y Line: Amina is hesitant to get back to burglarizing, but Lollo claps back with a confidence and logic that will surely hold up in court:
“Guys, we made a promise. No more burgalries.”
“This isn’t a burglary, it’s art theft. One hell of a difference. And Mum won’t suspect a single thing. No one will, for that matter.”
Famous last words, truly.
Our Call: If the first episode is any indication, Barracuda Queens: Season 2 is well-made, strongly acted, and fun international TV full of exhilarating new twists and turns that will keep you invested and intrigued from start to finish. STREAM IT!