Subtext: Jonas says it used to be important to Eva to spend a lot of time with her friends, but every single scene so far has shown Eva being alone, and this piece of dialogue shows that this isn’t Eva’s normal. The thing that’s changed, and that is left unsaid by Jonas, is that Eva lost all of her friends, not that she suddenly didn’t think it was important to spend time with them.



Cinematography: Eva coming home to an empty house is yet another shot that shows how alone she is. Jonas just left her to go home to his family, but Eva’s family isn’t there for her.



Blink and you miss it: The note says: “Hope you enjoyed the cabin trip! Love you! Mom.” Enclosed is 1000kr, because Eva’s mom felt guilty that she left her alone, again.



Blink and you miss it: The guy on the bench is putting a piece of snus under his upper lip. Snus is a tobacco product that pretty much only exists in Scandinavia.



Culture: Eva and Noora are not in the same class, since we’re only seeing them together for Spanish. Eva, Jonas, and Isak are most probably in the same class, since they often compare homework and assignments, but Jonas picked French, and Isak probably picked German, which is why neither of them are in this classroom.



Subtext: The line “She feels alone” is subtext only because it is in Spanish. The homework assignment for the autumn break was apparently to read a story in Spanish about a girl who feels alone, and it just so happens that the girl in the story that is season 1 of SKAM also feels alone.



Subtext: Noora is completely new to Oslo and doesn’t have any friends, but even she can pick up the fact that Eva doesn’t have any friends either, it’s that obvious.



Culture: This scene takes place during lunch break, because you can see the ubiquitous matpakke, wrapped sandwiches, that they’ve each been eating.



Subtext: Jonas and Isak are discussing a school assignment, while Eva is completely uninterested. This further shows that Jonas and Isak are good students, while Eva is struggling.



Culture: Takk for sist, “Thanks for last time”, is a common Scandinavian phrase that politely acknowledges that you remember the person you’re talking to, and that you had a good time the last time you saw that person. You can use this when meeting both old friends and new acquaintances alike. If the last time you saw the person was at an event they hosted, for example a party, it is even more important to remember to say this phrase.



Culture: If you are Norwegian, it is extremely obvious from the first moment Eva opens her mouth, that she is from Bergen, not Oslo, since she has a very noticeable Bergen dialect. That Vilde thinks Eva is from Trondheim, which has a distinct dialect that is completely different from Bergensk, tells us that Vilde is a stereotypical Oslo native who doesn’t care about people from outside the capital. She’s lumping them all together as backwards hillbillies, she can’t tell one regional dialect from another, and obviously she feels the need to explain to the uncivilized country bumpkin how to “properly” celebrate russ.



Blink and you miss it: On the poster about drug problems someone has scribbled in English “A friend with weed is a friend indeed”.



Blink and you miss it: Chris’ excuse for not being able to host the bus meeting is that her mother is having friends over for a wine evening. Vilde will recycle this excuse in the future.



Blink and you miss it: Sana calls Vilde “Hilde”.



Lost in translation: Spenn means money.



Culture: Almost everyone who starts the same school year are born in the same year as each other. It’s hard to know or keep track of when exactly everyone else has their birthdays, which makes it hard to know exactly how old everyone is. Two people born in the same year are considered being the same age, even though they may actually be eleven months apart in age. Birthyear is also widely used in junior sports to divide children into teams.



Since this is so common officially, kids and teenagers talk about each other’s age in the same way, which is why Eva doesn’t tell Sana exactly how old Jonas is, only what year he’s born. At this point in time, Jonas is actually still only 15, same as Sana, while Eva and the rest of the girls have already turned 16.



For the school year of 2015/2016, first-year students were typically born in 1999, while third-year students were born in 1997. When Sana asks if they know any ‘97 guys, what’s she’s actually asking is if anyone knows any third-year students.



Blink and you miss it: Sana says that Eva is the prettiest of the girls, but Vilde obviously thinks she is the prettiest, judging by her reaction.



Subtext: So far in the show a recurring theme has been that Eva doesn’t have her own opinions, that she can’t think for herself, but here Sana just assumes the opposite, that of course Eva can think for herself.

