I was blown away by OCCUPIED (available on Netflix), a Norwegian TV series (created by bestselling author Jo Nesbø) about a Russian “silk glove” invasion of Norway. As a political, spy, and police thriller, it’s hands-down one of the best things I’ve seen on a small screen. Just finished the second season, which is as good as the first, with enough twists and ratcheting tension to satisfy any thriller fan, and with enough smarts to satisfy those who prefer TV written for thinking adults.

At the end of the first season, Jesper Berg, the prime minister, joins the resistance as open warfare erupts between the country and Russia. The second season opens with the prime minister in exile after eight months of guerilla warfare produced an uneasy cease fire. The new prime minister hates his no-win job and resigns, creating an opportunity for Berg to come back. His assistant Anita, however, makes a pitch to parliament for a new government that results in her becoming prime minister. Anita must now navigate Russian influence and maintain the peace, while Berg must keep the heat on and disrupt that peace to get the Russians out and him back in power.

The result is a powerful political thriller with realistic characters in realistic conflict, motivations and actions that are rarely morally clear, and extremely smart machinations and twists that keep you guessing and surprised. I loved it, and I’m hoping a third season gets made.

I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO (2016) is a documentary based on an unfinished manuscript by James Baldwin, a Black novelist and social critic. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, the film depicts Baldwin’s observations about race in America from the 50s on and traces his relationship with the American civil rights movement, notably Medgar Evers, Malcom X, and Martin Luther King.

The documentary lacks historical depth and is more deeply personal, going into Baldwin’s head and what he thought. We’re given an ample look at his views going back to the 60s, including his infamous debate with William F. Buckley that brought the mostly White audience to a standing ovation. Baldwin’s observations are smart, cutting, and powerful.

As examples, he derides Bobby Kennedy’s observation that Blacks had made significant progress in America, and that in 40 years, might even make President. While White liberals saw this as uplifting statement, Baldwin naturally found it insulting, wondering if he should be thankful that in 40 years, if the Blacks were good, they might be elected to the highest office. In his views, Blacks and Whites needed each other, were both Americans with just as much right to participate in society, but that Blacks found themselves disenfranchised as if living in somebody else’s house. “Negroes built this country,” he says. Popular culture depicted Blacks as stereotypes, which he despised, feeling it denied his humanity, just the way social questions about “how to help the Negro” did and blind racist hatred did. Blacks needed a fair shake and to be regarded fairly and equally, as human beings, nothing more, but certainly nothing less.

These and many other issues are explored in the documentary, which I found more a social critique and personal intellectual narrative than historical film. While it lacks punch, its power is subtle, gnawing at you by making you think about race relations a new way, especially if you’re White.