A small, secluded, restricted town near the active volcano Katla in southern Iceland is astonished to see a lost woman wandering into their town, shivering in cold, naked, ash-covered—from top to bottom. Upon receiving some treatment from the local hospital, the woman claims to be living and working in the town hotel. But no one really knows her there. Turns out, she is claiming to be a woman who worked there 20 years ago. But for her, not a day passed since then. They contact the woman who was living in Sweden. And there is an uncanny resemblance. Both women know things only they could have known. It cannot be doubted that both of the women are the same person.

It doesn't stop there when another woman who gone missing on the glacier about a year ago, comes back. Also naked, covered in volcanic ash. She too has no memories of what happened at that time. And thus the show begins, with a mystery that had time implications of time travels.

This new show called "Katla" from Iceland popped up on my radar recently and my subsequent viewing of its trailer made me curious enough. I admit the trailer gave an impression of a popular German sci-fi show called Dark, which thrived on its complex plotlines, time travel, multiple timelines, and so on. And that is one of the reasons I wanted to see Katla—fully aware that if it turns out to be a Dark copycat, I wouldn't feel bad. I don't mind watching poorly made sci-fi once in a while. Fortunately, it isn't like dark. It is also not sci-fi as many would claim.

For my personal amusement, I have a set of clear conditions on what makes something sci-fi or fantasy. Any story element or function that is probable in the future or has the possibility of happening according to our scientific understanding, is sci-fi. Flying cars, aliens, space travel, zombies, genetic mutations, and so on. And anything that impossible scientifically, or more accurately improbable in relation to the natural laws is fantasy. Telekinetic abilities, gods, spirits, star war's "force" and so on.
Although, I will admit that what is fantasy today may become sci-fi tomorrow, or vice versa. A book written in the 1930s with aliens on mars may be sci-fi in the 1930s, but today it is fantasy as we objectively know there are no Martians on mars.

The mechanism Katla presents before us as to explaining the act of duplicating human beings (which I will not describe here to avoid spoilers) while keeping both versions at the same time is not physically possible. Perhaps a near-identical body is not impossible to recreate using DNA information, but the consciousness and personality that shapes a person cannot be replicated best to my knowledge and therefore I'm considering Katla as a fantasy narrative.

Being fantasy is not a defect of the show, I enjoy the genre as much as I do sci-fi. The distinction I made here is just because I like categorizing things.

Katla is an interesting show at any rate. The plot is captivating enough. Although it has some pacing issues. I got bored many times and wanted to rush. It is bad with anticipations. You ignite the audience and then you keep feeding them stuff to keep it lit—Katla forgets to do the feeding part. While the cinematography is quite charming and pleasant to the eyes, the show doesn't offer them enough. Nonetheless, I loved the cool tones and the harsh geography of Iceland. The set design is amazing, you feel yourself near a very active volcano, waiting to erupt and swallow everything with fiery saliva.

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But it does stand out with its philosophical implications. While I liked Dark, the biggest complaint I have against it is that it is too mechanical and heavily relies on the sci-fi aspect. Katla on the other hand uses the mystery to build relationships on set and questions the motives of living. Shared unhappiness and expectations we face every day in our lives. Loss, pain—what could have been and what has been.

The show might not blow anyone away but definitely a good watch.

Trailer

attached photos are screenshots, if not otherwise specified.

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