Welcome To Sweden is a funny, sweet and charming fish-out-of-water story based on creator/star/executive producer Greg Poehler’s own life.

Bruce Evans (Greg Poehler) is a successful celebrity accountant living in New York City. When his girlfriend Emma (Josephine Bornebusch) gets a new job at a big bank in her home country of Sweden, Bruce decides to quit his own job, pack up and move to Sweden to join her.

Upon his arrival, Bruce meets Emma’s oddball family—her father Birger (Claes Månsson), a retired sea captain who barely speaks a word of English; her mother Viveka (Lena Olin), a therapist who doesn’t think he’s too short for her daughter; her younger brother Gustaf (Christopher Wagelin), a 28-year-old with no job who still lives with his parents; and her uncle Bengt (Per Svensson), who is obsessed with everything having to do with America, especially American films.

This Wiik family is a joy to watch. Throughout the season, we see all of the possible pairings between the various family members, and they never disappoint with both with humorous and dramatic scenes that all feel so natural and real. I really enjoyed Lena Olin on Alias, so it was wonderful seeing her in more of a comedic role.

This first season finds Bruce trying to adapt to this strange new country—he has to deal with the language barrier, learn new customs and find a new job. At the same time, he and Emma must deal with the the trials of a somewhat new relationship—meeting each other’s families, finding alone time, moving in together for the first time, and dealing with exes. While Bruce tries to move on and get a fresh new start, he keeps having run-ins with old clients who try to pull him back to his old life.

Throughout the first season, there are some hilarious celebrity guests playing heightened versions themselves—Amy Poehler, Will Ferrell, Aubrey Plaza, Gene Simmons, ABBA frontman Björn Ulvaeus and Malin Akerman. Bruce also gets a visit from his parents, played by Patrick Duffy and Illeana Douglas.

I thoroughly enjoyed this first season of the series. Greg Poheller is excellent in his first acting role. He has great on-screen chemistry with co-star Bornebusch. Their brief glances, smiles and inside jokes feel so genuine and real that you really believe this is an actual couple. I found myself smiling whenever these two were together on screen.

Poehler also has excellent comedic timing. Some of my favorite moments of the first season are when he’s interacting one-on-one with some of the quirky side characters. I really enjoyed Bruce’s relationship with Iraqi Hassan (Basim Sabah Albasim), and how he has to keep up his story that he is a Canadian in order to not alienate the only friend he has made abroad. His interactions with the café waitress (Madeleine Martin) are also so awkward and delightful.

All ten episodes of the first season are presented unedited and uncensored on this DVD. While there isn’t a lot of new material, it was great to see the series unblurred and unbleeped from its original NBC airing, plus a few extra short scenes and jokes added in here and there. The first season plays out like one long three and a half hour romantic comedy, which makes this DVD great for binge-watching.

The DVD presentation for the most part looks really good, and really captures the beauty of the Swedish landscape. However, there were a couple scenes where the picture looked a little less crisp, and a bit dull. The DVD provides both 5.1 and 2.0 English audio tracks. I watched the series using the 5.1 audio track and never really heard any use of the surround channels. In one scene when the characters are in a bar, there was heavy use of the LFE track which became a bit distracting and made the dialog a little difficult to hear. The added bass/subwoofer didn’t really seem to fit the type of bar setting depicted on screen anyway and wasn’t really needed. I switched to the 2.0 audio track for the same scene, and it sounded a lot better.

Unfortunately, there are absolutely no bonus features included on the DVD. I would have loved to have seen some interviews with or commentary by the cast, or some deleted scenes. However, the DVD still comes recommended based on the series itself.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (3:35:54)

• 480p / Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1,
  English Dolby Digital 2.0
• Subtitles: English
• Closed Captioned

Extras:

There are no bonus features included on the DVD

Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this first season of Welcome To Sweden, especially in its uncut/uncensored version on this DVD release. The first season plays out like one three and a half hour funny and charming fish-out-of-water romantic comedy. I found the series just as delightful to watch the second time around. While the DVD contains no bonus features, the set still comes recommended based on the quality of the episodes themselves.