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Wall Street Journal

‘The Congregation' Review: Devotion and Delirium on Viaplay

The members of 'The Congregation' maintain a state of general religious delirium, but none are more ferociously devoted to Jesus than Eva Skoog (Aliette Opheim), spiritual leader of the Swedish Pentecostal community of Knutby and a woman who puts the rapt in rapture. It's a mad, Miltonian performance by Ms. Opheim, one that will keep a viewer glued to the series. Who knows what might happen? Well, some viewers, at least in the broadest terms: The real-life Knutby, circa 2004, was the subject of the 2021 HBO documentary 'Pray, Obey, Kill'; in Sweden, 'Knutby' has become shorthand for the kind of situation not quite spelled out by another current TV title ('FUBAR') as well as a willful blindness in the face of the obvious. But foreknowledge of the story won't have much effect on the viewing experience: It's a crime thriller, a social commentary, and a parable of dark and light. Will it be the glamorous, charismatic, raven-haired Eva vs. the pretty, blond, wan and utterly guileless believer Anna Andersson (Alba August)? An apocalyptic battle between good and evil? No, nothing so simple.