History Series / Riget

* AuthorAvatar: Trier himself always appears doing the credits to give a closing monologue, in which he usually recaps the plot, delivers some ScriptWank and reminds everyone to: "Take the Good with the Bad."

-->-- '''The OpeningNarration'''

Meanwhile, war is brewing in the neurosurgical ward between the new, arrogant Dr. Helmer and the more down-to-earth Dr. Krogshøj (AKA Krogen (The Hook)). Helmer has recently botched a brain operation on a young girl and is trying to hide the evidence, which will give Krogshøj the advantage. The Head of Department, Dr. Moesgaard, is blissfully ignorant of all this as he is busy planning his great reform of the department "Operation Morning Air". At the same time, his immature son Mogge runs afoul of his professor, the (madly) idealistic Dr. Bondo, after having stolen a head from the morgue and used it for a prank. Dr. Bondo wants to get his hands on a rare tumor in dying Mr. Zakariassen's liver. And when Mr. Zakariassen's family says no, the good doctor is driven to desperate action.

The series ran for two seasons, respectively in 1994 and 1997. It was never officially cancelled, but the deaths of the actors playing three significant characters (most notably Ernst-Hugo Järegård as Stig Helmer in 1998 and Kirsten Rolffes as Sigrid Drusse in 2000) prevented any continuation. In December 2020, however, Trier made the surprise announcement that he was going to make a third season consisting of five episodes, titled ''Riget Exodus'', which will act as the GrandFinale to the show. Trier and a crew of both recurring and new actors filmed the new season during 2021, and the finished product is set to premier at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2022. Prior to this, a newly remastered HD version of the original two seasons were released in August 2022. Trier has said that while ''Exodus'' will continue and provide resolution to the story, it is also supposed to be a semi-independent installment and welcoming to newcomers, and as such familiarly with the two original seasons won't be strictly mandatory to enjoy the new series.

* {{Cameo}}: Creator/StellanSkarsgard appears in a sole scene and playes a Swedish lawyer who advises Helmer that as long as he avoids acknowledging the bailiffs' attempts to serve him with a writ to appear in court for medical malpractice, the case can't go to trial. He describes it as "the Swedish defence".

* GreekChorus: The two dishwashers with Downs syndrome.

* [[spoiler: TheBadGuyWins: The ending of Exodus features the ultimate victory of the Devil, the destruction of the hospital, and pretty much all of the characters dying.]]

* [[spoiler: EverybodyDiesEnding: The ending of Exodus.]]

* AlmightyJanitor: Krogshøj might be a low ranking doctor, but he is also the hospital's resident KnowledgeBroker and FriendInTheBlackMarket who knows every dirty secret worth knowing and is able to get you whatever you need within a few hours, giving him quite a bit of political weight to throw around as he can call in favors from pretty everyone.

* {{Tsundere}}: Anne from Exodus is a really weird example. She torments Helmer Jr. with false sexual harassment claims and false rape accusations, while also following him around like a puppy and seemingly being very besotted with him, as if extoring money from him were a sort of strange courtship. She also sometimes acts as his HyperCompetentSidekick.

* {{Tsundere:}} Anne from Exodus is a really weird example. She torments Helmer Jr. with false sexual harassment claims and false rape accusations, while also following him around like a puppy and seemingly being very besotted with him, as if extoring money from him were a sort of strange courtship. She also sometimes acts as his HyperCompetentSidekick.

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Whenever you think Stig Helmer isn't all bad. It seems like he does actually care for his girlfriend Rigmor, and is he going to apologize to Mona's mother? Unfailingly, he always reveals himself to be an even bigger jerkass.

The series ran for two seasons, respectively in 1994 and 1997. It was never officially cancelled, but the deaths of the actors playing three significant characters (most notably Ernst-Hugo Järegård as Stig Helmer in 1998 and Kirsten Rolffes as Sigrid Drusse in 2000) prevented any continuation. In December 2020, however, Trier made the surprise announcement that he was going to make a third season consisting of five episodes, titled ''Riget Exodus'', which will act as the GrandFinale to the show. Trier and a crew of both recurring and new actors filmed the new season during 2021, and the finished product is set to premier at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2022. Trier has said that while ''Exodus'' will continue and provide resolution to the story, it is also supposed to be a semi-independent installment and welcoming to newcomers, and as such familiarly with the two original seasons won't be strictly mandatory to enjoy the new series.

The series ran for two seasons, respectively in 1994 and 1997. It was never officially cancelled, but the deaths of the actors playing three significant characters (most notably Ernst-Hugo Järegård as Stig Helmer in 1998 and Kirsten Rolffes as Sigrid Drusse in 2000) prevented any continuation. In December 2020, however, Trier made the surprise announcement that he was going to make a third season consisting of five episodes, titled ''Riget Exodus'', which will act as the GrandFinale to the show. Trier and a crew of both recurring and new actors filmed the new season during 2021, and the finished product is expected to be released at some point in 2022. Trier has said that while ''Exodus'' will continue and provide resolution to the story, it is also supposed to be a semi-independent installment and welcoming to newcomers, and as such familiarly with the two original seasons won't be strictly mandatory to enjoy the new series.

* ExternalizingInternalMonologue: ''Thanks, thou watchtowers of Sweden. With plutonium we force the Danes on their knees.''

* ExternalizingInternalMonologue: ''Thanks, thou watchtowers of Sweden. With plutonium we bring the Danes to their knees.''

* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: After one particularity chaotic evening at the hospital, [[spoiler:where Rigmor shot Helmer in the leg, Krogshøj turned out to be OnlyMostlyDead and has returned to work like his "death" never happened, and the hospital priest was very brutally and messily killed by something unseen]], Moesgaard resolves to only mention all these events with a short comment each during the morning meeting and then immediately follows up by telling everyone present that he doesn't want to discuss any of these events in any kind of detail, and either should they.

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Krogshøj]], after his near-death, suddenly becomes a passionate believer in eugenics, suggesting that taking care of the "weaker" patients is not worth it from a financial or social point of view (he is only stopped from smothering Mona by the timely arrival of other doctors). In the final episode, a maintenance worker asks him to take over supervising the regular test of the hospital's emergency power supply, as if it doesn't switch on, the weaker patients will be exterminated...

The series ran for two seasons, respectively in 1994 and 1997. It was never officially cancelled, but the deaths of the actors playing three significant characters (most notably Ernst-Hugo Järegård as Stig Helmer in 1998 and Kirsten Rolffes as Sigrid Drusse in 2000) prevented any continuation. In December 2020, however, Trier made the surprise announcement that he was going to make a third season consisting of five episodes, titled ''Riget Exodus'', which will act as the GrandFinale to the show. Trier and crew of both recurring and new actors filmed the new season during 2021, and the finished product is expected to be released at some point in 2022. Trier has said that while ''Exodus'' will continue and provide resolution to the story, it is also supposed to be a semi-independent installment and welcoming to newcomers, and as such familiarly with the two original seasons won't be strictly mandatory to enjoy the new series.

* {{Cliffhanger}}: The second series ends with several of these: [[spoiler:Mona has disappeared after Helmer sent her through the hospital's internal transportation system to hide the fact that he has kidnapped her, Hook has allowed the hospital's power to remain switched off to wipe out the weaker patients, causing Christian to lose contact with the staff assisting him in his blind ambulance run and collide head-on with Mogge and Sanne, Mrs. Drusse is stuck in a rapidly descending lift, and Bondo has received a bone marrow transplant from Bulder that may or may not save his life]]. In the DVD commentaries, the makers mentioned that it might be just as well that the deaths of three actors prevented them from making a third series, seeing as how they had written themselves into a corner.
* CloudCuckooLand: The hospital is pretty much this, in a dark way.

The series ran for two seasons, respectively in 1994 and 1997. It was never officially cancelled, but the deaths of the actors playing three significant characters prevented any continuation. In December 2020, however, Trier made the surprise announcement that he was going to make a third season consisting of five episodes, titled ''Riget Exodus'', which will act as the GrandFinale to the show. Trier and crew of both recurring and new actors filmed the new season during 2021, and the finished product is expected to be released at some point in 2022. Trier has said that while ''Exodus'' will continue and provide resolution to the story, it is also supposed to be a semi-independent installment and welcoming to newcomers, and as such familiarly with the two original seasons won't be strictly mandatory to enjoy the new series.

* BrickJoke: When Stig takes over administration, he orders to narrow the door. After [[spoiler:he gets shot by Rigmor, his wheelchair]] doesn't fit through it.

* {{Cameo}}: For Creator/StellanSkarsgard who appears in a sole scene and playes a Swedish lawyer
* CastingGag: There is some suspicion that Lars von Trier intended to cast as many actors from ''Series/Matador1978'' as he could possibly find. Regulars in both Matador and Riget counts Holger Juul Hansen (Varnæs in Matador, Doctor Moesgaard in Riget) and Ghita Nørby (Ingeborg Skjern / Rigmor) were regulars in Matador, while Kirsten Rolfes (Mrs. Drusse in Riget) appeared in a single episode of Matador. Other actors from Matador play various bit parts throughout Riget.

* ChewingTheScenery: Stig Helmer with the hammy acting by Ernst-Hugo Järegård. Most memorably the iconic "''Danskjävlar!''" scream.

* {{Cliffhanger}}: The second series ends with several of these. In the [=DVD=] commentaries, the makers mentioned that it might be just as well that the deaths of three actors prevent them from making a third series, seeing as how they had written themselves into a corner.

* DeadlyGas: [[spoiler: Krüger killed Mary with chlorine gas under the guise of inhalations to treat an imaginary lung disease. At one point we see her ghost exhale green fumes.]]
** [[spoiler: Note that the cut to Mary's ghost exhaling green gas is made right after Drusse realises what happened to her, making this very potent NightmareFuel]].

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Krogshøj]] after his near-death

* {{Hellevator}}
* HollywoodSatanism

* LargeHam: Stig Helmer lives this trope ''combined'' with DeadpanSnarker. Actor Ernst-Hugo Järegård was a well-regarded ham of Swedish theatre and television.
** He's not the only ham on the menu: the PsychoPsychologist Ole is fond of hamming as well. Dr. Bondo's ham remarkably grows in size when he speaks to his students or colleagues.

* LongLostSibling: A few.

* AManIsAlwaysEager: Subverted. Mogge frequently lusts for Camilia to begin with, but once they have gotten intimate, Mogge loudly complains to Christian that all she wants to do with him is having sex, and its making him quite exhausted.

* NearDeathClairvoyance
* NearDeathExperience: Mrs. Drusse has one in the second episode of Season 2. Where she experiences her soul floating out of her body and she then ends up in an AfterlifeAntechamber, were Mary informs that it is not her time yet and that she still has much to do, causing her to revive.

* OminousLatinChanting: The intros have lots of it. ''Obscene'' OminousLatinChanting, if you listen closely. With a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N7iUGqcXLo&feature=related funky dance routine]]. Within the story, [[spoiler: the death of the chaplain in the second series.]]

* {{Redubbing}}: The abovementioned GreekChorus actors were overdubbed by others, presumably because their Downs syndrome prevented them from delivering their lines satisfactorily.

* RefugeInAudacity: When Helmer is caught pretty much red-handed trying to alter the medical records:
-->"You may be wondering what I'm doing here. And do you know, I don't know either? I can't explain at all!"

* SeriousBusiness: The bizarre rituals of the series' BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats.
** Also the counseling techniques of Psychotherapist Ole.

** The name Stig Helmer is the name of the meek protagonist of a Swedish comedy franchise.
** The repeated motif of a concrete wall, which is breached by water, as an image of the spirits breaking into the world of mortals, was also used in Lucio Fulchi's classic surreal horror movie ''Film/TheBeyond'' (1981).

* TheSocialDarwinist: [[spoiler: Krogshøj]] after his near-death.

* {{Understatement}}: "He's been different ever since he came back from the morgue".

* WorldGoneMad: The whole hospital, pretty much from the get go. And that's ''before'' the hauntings begin (who, at best, merely manage to add the cherry to the crazy cake). The few characters who are relatively sane end up going nuts as well over the opurse of just two short seasons.

->''Should you wish to spend more time with us here at TV Tropes, you'd be prepared to take the Good with the Bad.''