Content warning: contains spoilers for “Beartown.” Contains discussion of sexual assault.

When HBO released a series based on Fredrik Backman’s novel “Beartown,” it felt serendipitous. Here was an adaptation of a 400-page story I’d been immersed in for months making its way to screen. Still, how do you fit a 400-page novel into five sixty-minute episodes? How can five episodes give justice to everything Backman’s novel works so meticulously to explore — topics such as sexual assault, hockey culture and teenage sexuality in sports? Despite some shortcomings, the series reflects the book’s raw authenticity in story and content. 

The Bears from Beartown

“Beartown” is a story about a small Swedish town in the forest, full of passionate and often aggressive people with a love for hockey. They love the game almost as much as they love the junior hockey team’s star player, Kevin Erdahl (Oliver Dufåker).

Peter Andersson (Ulf Stenberg) is an ex-professional hockey player born and raised in Beartown that returns with his family after retiring from the sport. He quickly becomes part of the management at the Beartown Ice Hockey Club and attempts to transform the club by taking the junior team to finals. 

When Kevin is accused of sexually assaulting Peter’s daughter Maya (Miriam Ingrid), the town is shocked and broken, not because of the horrific accusation, but because Kevin isn’t allowed to play in the final and Beartown loses the game. Subsequently, Maya is harassed by the town: her teenaged peers and their parents alike. As Beartown’s future hangs on a precipice, characters grapple with the town’s ugly reflection. Has their love of the town’s hockey tradition created a monster?

From Page to Screen

In watching the series, I most anticipated seeing how the rape scene from the novel would be depicted on screen. Backman writes about the actual moment of Maya’s assault in Kevin’s bedroom during a party at his house, spending time depicting the bedroom and noting the details the survivor will remember forever.

He spends time in Maya’s head. He forces the reader to be there with Maya, to experience that moment as much as they can without actually experiencing it themselves. In the same way, the series doesn’t provide the viewer any comfort by distancing them from the moment. We see the assault in its entirety. On this point, the series holds up to the caliber of honesty about and dedication to the topic of sexual assault that the novel sets. 

Though this aspect holds true to the inspiration of the book, the series falls short in other ways. In the novel, the sexuality of one of the junior players, Benji Ovich (Otto Fahlgren), is more greatly explored. Although the series doesn’t entirely neglect this aspect of Benji’s character, as it does follow his secret relationship with a boy, in the novel his sexuality has implications for his relationships with his friends on the team and with his coach that don’t make it on screen. The gay jokes they crack, unaware of his sexuality, put Benji in the complicated space between “insider” and “outsider” and affect what he’s willing to share about his life with the people he’s supposed to be closest to.

Despite the series’ shortcomings, it asks all the right questions. What is the cost of silence? What is the cost of winning? What is a town’s dream if it’s at the expense of one of its own? “Beartown” is the unflinching series we need. 

“Beartown” is now streaming on HBO Max. 

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