Secrets We Keep (Netflix series, 2025)
A terrific star turn by Marie Bach Hansen, one of Denmark’s finest actresses, propels Secrets We Keep (or: Reservatet) high up into the series stratosphere, where this well-made Nordic Noir, with a Harlan Coben-style mystery and a touch of both Adolescence and The White Lotus will prove irresistible to most viewers.
It’s like this: Cecilie (Hansen) is a successful business woman, with an equally successful lawyer husband, Mike (Simon Sears), a pubescent son, Viggo (Lukas Zuperka)
and a lovely daughter. She relies on Angel (Excel Busano), her au pair from The Philippines, to run things at her luxurious home, in a very affluent suburb of Copenhagen. Cecilie also shows us us that she is a decent human being who supports other women, because in her spare time she helps Angel develop a business plan of her own.
At least Cecilie is less openly selfish than her next-door neighbor Katarina (Danica Curcic) who she considers a friend, cause they go out to lunch on week-days when they could be working.
Kat’s husband Rasmus (Lars Ranthe) is a fourth-generation billionaire and one of Denmarks most successful CEO’s, who also happens to be Mike’s main employer. This feels a little bit too convenient, but the story is good that I’ll let it pass.
Rasmus and Kat, who are extremely selfish people, also have a son, Oscar (Frode Bilde Rønsholt) and an au pair, Ruby (Donna Levkovski), who also happens to be from The Philippines.
On the surface, everyone seems to get along just fine, but soon enough the shit hits the fan when Ruby goes missing. It’s a big deal, but Cecilie notices that she is more worried about Ruby’s fate than most of the others, so she starts investigating a bit on her own, even though she is told perhaps she shouldn’t.
The other person to really take an interest is Aicha (Sara Fanta Traore), a new police investigator keen to make her mark, even though her superior tells her there is no point in working late on a minor case like this.
And then there is Angel, who is worried sick about Ruby and has her own ties to the Philippinian community in Denmark.
The good thing about Reservatet is that right from the start there are a lot of suspects. Rasmus is an obvious one, but there is something strange about Mike as well, while the boys from the younger generation spend their time making secret video’s of the girls at school.
Like a good Harlan Coben story, everyone has their secrets and even Cecilie has to face her own blind spots. Although she gets on well enough with Angel, and basically considers her a family member, there is still a huge difference between the rich and the poor. One moment Cecilie can tell Angel to be honest with the police, while at the same time deciding to keep some information to herself.
Marie Bach Hansen - famous for quintessentially Danish series The Legacy - is in top form here, showing many sides of Cecilie’s personality, while the other actors are equally fine. Lars Ranthe is sly and cunning as Rasmus, while Danica Curcic plays Kat just a little bit larger than life. Excel Busano makes a strong impression as Angel, who is torn between conflicting interests, while Sara Fanta Traore shows true grit as Aicha.
Visually, the series looks elegant and beautiful. This is not a Nordic noir show covered in snow and ice, this one feels warm and sunny, even though there is mystery and danger lurking under the surface.
If it seems like I’ve given you a lot of plot to chew on, well, don’t worry, there is a lot more ground to cover over the course of six episodes.
Secrets We Keep also has a kicker ending, even though it may feel very European to international audiences, because it leaves some questions unanswered, or - perhaps they could be answered in a second season.
Created by Ingeborg Topsøe and directed by Per Fly, this series is so well written and well made that I was hooked from the start and found it easy to binge.
I give it four stars!