Lilyhammer
Lilyhammer is a crime comedy-drama television series starring Steven Van Zandt about a former New York–based gangster named Frank "The Fixer" Tagliano trying to start a new life in isolated Lillehammer, Norway. The first season premiered on Norwegian NRK1 on 25 January 2012 with a record audience of 998,000 viewers, and premiered on Netflix in North America on 6 February 2012, with all eight episodes available in full for streaming on the service. Lilyhammer was promoted as "the first time Netflix offered exclusive content".
The spelling of the series title alludes to Tagliano's dog Lily, killed in the first episode during an attempt on Tagliano's life, and the way that Tagliano and some other Americans pronounce the town's name. The series produced three seasons; the final episode aired 17 December 2014. On 22 July 2015, Van Zandt posted on Twitter that the series had been cancelled, and the following day Netflix confirmed that they were pulling out.
Van Zandt's character Frank Tagliano draws parallels with his character Silvio Dante from the HBO series The Sopranos. They are meant to be different, but most traits are the same between the two.
Synopsis
Season 1
Frank Tagliano, a former underboss from New York City in an American Mafia crime family, is placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program after testifying in a trial against Aldo Delucci, the new Mafia head who had ordered a hit on him after succeeding his recently deceased brother, Sally Boy Delucci. Frank requests that he be relocated to Lillehammer, where he believes no one will look for him. His new identity is Norwegian-American immigrant Giovanni "Johnny" Henriksen. On a train journey from Oslo to Lillehammer, Johnny impresses teacher Sigrid Haugli, her son Jonas, and a man who later turns out to be a civil supervisor. Johnny befriends the Hauglis after doing them a favor, and sometime later, after he and Sigrid spend the night together, Sigrid learns she is pregnant with his twins.After a wolf kills Jonas's lamb, and the locals complain that authorities are doing nothing about it, and citizens are prohibited from killing wildlife, Johnny enlists his new friends, brothers Torgeir and Roar Lien, to help him hunt the predator. After killing the wolf and hiding its carcass "mob-style" the hunters hide in a cabin owned by Jan Johansen, a local NAV worker with whom Johnny has developed a frictional relationship, and Johnny blackmails him with naked photos of underage girls Johnny took from the cabin.
The supervisor, who heard shots and saw the Lien brothers in the woods the night Johnny killed the wolf, reported them to the police. However, when Johnny's neighbour, police chief Laila Hovland, and police officer Geir Tvedt question the trio, the supervisor— remembering Johnny's favor on the train—says he misidentified the Lien brothers and the hunters he saw must have been youth from Oslo.
Hovland and Tvedt become suspicious of Johnny when Johnny opens the Flamingo nightclub. When the local biker gang attempts to start a war with Johnny, Johnny hires the gang to deliver the club's alcohol supply. Johnny invests in an apartment complex and is promised his own penthouse. Johnny is told the apartments are meant for families, and he schemes his way out of the deal, making a profit. Meanwhile, Geir edits a photo of Johnny to make Johnny appear to be a terrorist and presents the photo to Laila, who dismisses it. Geir is later suspended after he mistakes a toy gun Johnny is holding for a real gun during a local ski race and interrupts the race to tackle Johnny. Laila gives Geir the gift of a trip to Graceland in Memphis to visit the home of Geir's idol, Elvis. While stopped in New York, Geir learns that Johnny bears a similarity to vanished criminal Frank Tagliano and attempts to investigate.
In New York, Geir befriends a transsexual woman who uses her knowledge of underworld hangouts to show Geir where Geir might collect information about Johnny. Aldo learns of Geir's appearance and sends hitman Robert Grasso and Aldo's nephew Jerry to interrogate Geir and find information regarding Frank's location. While being interrogated, Geir attacks his captors but is shot and killed in the struggle. When Aldo learns that Geir was from Lillehammer, he sends Robert and Jerry to Norway. Meanwhile, in Lillehammer, Johnny purchases a penthouse and invites Sigrid and Jonas to move in. When a mysterious beating occurs, Laila finds a connection between Johnny and the beating. Torgeir – who previously remarked upon Johnny's unusual knowledge of guns for a restaurant owner – informs Johnny of the hitmen and becomes curious about Johnny's true identity. When Torgeir later confronts Johnny, Johnny lies and says he is a CIA agent wanted by the criminals from his past.
Robert and Jerry kidnap Jonas, and Johnny gives chase through a nearby amusement park. Jonas manages to escape, and Robert kills Jerry. Johnny makes a deal with Robert, providing his ring as evidence for Aldo, in New York, that Johnny died in a mutually fatal shootout with Jerry. Laila discovers the two burying Jerry's body, but allows them to go after learning that Jerry was responsible for Geir's death. When Sigrid learns of Jonas's abduction, she breaks up with Johnny.
Season 2
Eight months later, British thief Duncan Hammer arrives in Lillehammer, looking to sell a Ferrari through car salesman Dag. However, Dag owes money to Johnny and his crew, which now includes the bikers and Jan. When Johnny and Torgeir capture Dag, Torgeir, Roar, Arne, and Roy, the leader of the biker gang, "borrow" the Ferrari and film themselves speeding across Lillehammer's longest bridge. On the way, they hit a moose and destroy the car. Jan learns that his old fling Randi is in charge of the refugee centre and blackmails her into selling Johnny a partnership in the centre, at one-tenth its market value. Johnny and Sigrid's twins are christened. When Duncan interrogates Dag about the gang's location, he corners Torgeir in the Flamingo. Before Duncan can kill them, Torgeir stabs him through the throat with a knitting needle, and the Flamingo gang hires Arne to dispose of the body.Johnny relocates Indian IT employee Gareth to Lillehammer, to become his crew's hacker. African refugee Balotelli is about to be deported back to Africa, but Jan and Johnny intervene and employ Balotelli as the Flamingo's head chef. Duncan's brother Tony and uncle Terry arrive in Lillehammer to find Duncan. Tony and Terry kidnap Roar and hold him for ransom. Johnny and Torgeir lure the gangsters to an ice lake, where they rescue Roar and leave Tony and Terry to freeze to death.
Johnny wins Citizen of the Year, and Torgeir befriends local millionaire Lars Olafsen. Lars becomes an investor in the Flamingo and convinces Johnny to fire Torgeir. Reluctantly, Johnny agrees and fires him. However, he later re-hires Torgeir and cuts Lars out of the club's future investments. Meanwhile, a bank robbery in Oslo results in the thieves' stealing files on Johnny's relocation. Laila moves to Oslo and becomes a successful writer. She is replaced by Mette Hansen, who sleeps with Torgeir and leads a raid on the Flamingo. Johnny hires his old friend, criminal Thomas Aune, to help him track down the thieves.
Torgeir and Roar's mother, Belinda, leaves a religious cult and returns home. Belinda's boyfriend from the cult, Swedish gangster Stanley Olsson, proposes to her and makes Johnny his best man and Roar his toastmaster. Torgeir and Roar hold a bachelor party for Stanley at the club, but Stanley begins to mistreat the dancers. The brothers kick him out of the club and leave him to wander home by himself. The next morning, Torgeir and Roar learn Stanley had raped their neighbor's sheep. They tell Johnny, who has Stanley abducted and sent back to Sweden. During Jan's birthday party, Randi walks in and finds him flirting with the dancers. She leaves and files a report on the refugee centre and herself, causing it to close down.
The crew tracks down the thieves, only to learn that Thomas and his friend are working with them. Johnny's crew raids the thieves' hideout and takes the stolen items from the heist. Johnny locks up his relocation file in his safe, and he gives the stolen jewelry to Hansen. In turn, Hansen returns the items to the bank, becomes a national hero, and gets a promotion to Oslo. Thomas, now aware of Johnny's past, goes to New York, where he plans to sell the information to Delucci. When a farmer owes money to Johnny, he promises Johnny's crew a reindeer herd. Johnny's crew plans to create an avalanche and collect insurance money, but Torgeir backs out because he did not want to harm the innocent animals, and the plan is ruined.
Johnny and Sigrid's twins begin at a local kindergarten, and Johnny falls for their teacher, Tiril. However, Tiril says that relationships between teachers and parents are forbidden, so Johnny enrolls his children in another school. After hearing how Tiril's grandfather raced reindeer in the north, Johnny decides to bring reindeer racing to Lillehammer. Johnny informs Lars of the idea, and they begin promoting the reindeer race. In New York, Robert learns of Thomas's presence and kills him and his accomplice. Jan returns to the refugee centre and tells Randi to rescind the complaint report. Randi refuses, and Jan pushes her into a wall, accidentally killing her.
Having discovered Randi's body and suspecting Jan, Johnny meets with him, and Jan confesses. Johnny advises Jan to disappear somewhere that he couldn't possibly be found, prompting Jan to emigrate to Iraq through his connections. Robert appears in Lillehammer and tells Johnny to return to New York to kill Delucci. Johnny, Torgeir, Roar, and Arne pose as Norwegian tour guides and sneak into a party held by Delucci in his home. On the balcony, they corner and shoot Delucci before pushing him to the street below. During a boat ride to the Statue of Liberty, Torgeir finds out that he won the lead in a local tribute to Glee, and the group returns to Lillehammer. Eight months later, the reindeer race is a success. Johnny and his friends watch from a rooftop and Johnny embraces his twin infants.