Tamal Kundu
Netflix’s Swedish crime drama series ‘Barracuda Queens’ tells the story of the eponymous group of young women as they commit burglaries on the homes of their equally affluent and privileged neighbors. Louise “Lollo” Millkvist (Alva Bratt), Klara Rapp (Tindra Monsen), and Mia Thorstensson (Tea Stjärne), and Klara’s sister, Frida (Sandra Strandberg Zubovic) discover that they have incurred a hefty bill after a night of partying. Not wanting to ask their parents for the money for various reasons, the girls decide to break into the home of their new neighbor, Amina Khalil (Sarah Gustafsson), and steal her mother’s jewelry. Even though Amina recognizes them during the act, she doesn’t inform the police, preferring to join the girls instead. If you are wondering about the setting of ‘Barracuda Queens,’ we got you covered. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Barracuda Queens is Set in 1995
The entire narrative takes place in 1995. The series begins with a flashforward set on October 26, 1995, when the authorities have brought in all five girls to question them about the burglaries. The narrative then shifts to earlier in the year. Lollo wakes up on a beach in Båstad, nude and with a guy she barely knows after a night of hard partying. Meanwhile, Frida tries to wake her older sister as Klara fell asleep in the bathtub with the tap open. And now, the hotel staff members are in their room, complaining about the water damage. When the girls get to their home, they discover that Lollo has been charged 100,000 kronor on her credit card, and Klara has to pay 75,000 for the water damage she caused in the hotel.
Being an exemplary student and diligent daughter, Klara refuses to tell her parents that she got so drunk that she fell asleep in a bathtub. She also doesn’t tell anyone that she was suspended from law school after she was caught cheating. Meanwhile, Lollo’s mother tells her that she needs to take responsibility for her actions. This prompts the girls to form a desperate plan to break into the Khalil home and steal things from there.
After Amina joins the group, they begin targeting people who have wronged them, stealing expensive wines, artworks, and other valuables. They leave behind an empty bottle of expensive wine/champagne surrounded by five glasses as their calling cards. After storing their loot at the barn of one of Lollo’s relatives, the girls go on a burglary spree between September 4 and October 12, making the police desperate to catch them. The season ends when the main timeline catches up with the flashforward and goes beyond that. The girls are brought in for questioning, but the detectives later have to let them go because of the lack of evidence, and they have other suspects in custody.
Barracuda Queens Take Place in Sweden
The series is set in and around Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. The girls and their victims are from the wealthy Djursholm neighborhood of the city, so the plot is almost exclusively set there. As indicated above, a sequence is set in Båstad, where the girls spend a weekend partying. Another sequence, in which they steal a Rolls-Royce convertible, is set on the island of Rindö. The series was shot on location in Stockholm County, Sweden.
‘Barracuda Queens’ is loosely based on the exploits of the real-life group called the Lidingöligan, who were active primarily in the late 1990s. Made up almost exclusively of young men of affluent backgrounds, they commit burglary in houses in wealthy neighborhoods such as Lidingö, Djursholm, Östermalm, and Danderyd. As several members of the group hailed from Lidingö, it became associated with the area and got its name. Although the team behind ‘Barracuda Queens’ has taken significant creative liberty with the series, they kept the setting of the crime more or less similar to where the burglaries happened in real life.
Read More: Barracuda Queens: Is Lollo Millkvist Based on a Real Person?
