A Nearly Normal Family ‘Netflix’ Limited Series: Recap & Ending Explained – What happened on the night of Chris’ murder? 

‘A Nearly Normal Family’ (Original Title: En helt vanlig familj) is the new Swedish-language thriller series streaming on Netflix. Its screenplay, written by Anna Platt and Hans Jörnalind, is based on Mattias Edvardsson’s bestseller novel. Directed by Per Hanefjord, it follows the story of the seemingly normal Sandell family from a posh suburban household in Sweden. Their life takes a sudden, tragic turn when one of them ends up in custody, accused of murder. Through their tale, we get to witness a suspenseful and cerebral crime thriller. It stars Alexandra Karlsson Tyrefors, Lo Kauppi, Melisa Ferhatovic, and Björn Bengtsson in the central roles.  

Spoilers ahead. 

A Nearly Normal Family ‘Netflix’ Limited Series Recap:

What is ‘A Nearly Normal Family’ on Netflix about?

‘A Nearly Normal Family’ on Netflix follows the Sandell family’s turmoil after the daughter gets accused of murder. This mystery thriller narrative takes us through the family’s psychological struggles while uncovering the truth about the night of the murder. 

Episode 1: 

We meet Stella Sandell (played by Alexandra Karlsson Tyrefors), a 15-year-old student, during her school trip. She notices their new assistant coach, Robin (played by Christoffer Willén), and gets instantly smitten by his presence. Later on, she asks Robin to join her for a swim. He agrees. After the swim, they enter a cabin where they share a kiss. But he misunderstands her intent and takes the matter too far. He has sex with her without her consent. After this incident, her father – Adam (played by Björn Bengtsson) – who’s also a priest – gets upset that she had sex despite being so young. Stella reveals that Robin forced himself upon her. So, Adam gets concerned and gets the medical check-up done. 

Stella’s mother, Ulrika (played by Lo Kauppi) – who teaches criminal law – asks her details about the traumatic incident. Ulrika tries to understand whether Stella said No to Robin’s advances. After the conversation, she figures that they won’t win the case – because they won’t be able to prove their side. Then, four years later, we see the family on Stella’s birthday. They behave like a normal family without any emotional baggage. Although Stella wants to travel the world, Adam gifts her a motorcycle to help her with her commute. It upsets her since this means he still worries for her safety. Later that night, she goes out to a club with her long-time best friend, Amina Besic (played by Melisa Ferhatovic). 

Since Stella left her education midway, she feels left out by Amina and her friends – who ask her about her subject of graduation. Stella cannot answer. So, instead of spending the night miserably, she heads out. Outside, she strikes up a conversation with a man and goes to an exhibition with him. Later, she also joins him at a club and enjoys the night with him – drinking and dancing. Six weeks later, Stella stays out late, which worries her father. He tries to reach out to her, but she barely responds. In the middle of the night, she suddenly returns and tries not to wake up her parents. She heads to the basement and changes her clothes. Adam reaches there and notices some blood on her pants. But she does not say anything. 

They spend the next day as usual. But Adam and Ulrika seem to be facing some intimacy issues in their marriage. After spending time with Amina’s parents, Ulrika learns shocking news – Stella has been arrested for the murder of someone named Christoffer Olsen (played by Christian Fandango Sundgren). Ulrika quickly goes to Stella’s room and notices a bag under her bed. She keeps it in her tote bag and leaves – hoping to sneak out. But the police were already waiting for her. They take her to the station for questioning and then send the forensics team to their house. 

Episode 2:

Across the season, we see a few glimpses of the events from the night of the murder, which collectively gives us an idea of what actually happened. In this episode, we see Stella return home, take off her stained clothes, and go for a quick shower. Before it took a dark turn, she was in a good relationship with Chris – even though her parents did not know a thing about him. In the present, we see the police take Ulrika to the station for questioning. Ulrika’s colleague, Mikael Blomberg (played by Håkan Bengtsson), meets Stella to guide her about the further legal procedure. 

Adam soon reaches the station and deletes some of the messages he sent to Stella. The police officer Anders Thelin (played by Robert Bengtsson) asks him about the night. Adam says that he saw Stella return home exactly at 11:55 PM  – to clear any suspicions that she is behind the horrific murder. Ulrika goes to take care of her old father suffering from dementia. While in his room, alone, she hides the bag of Stella’s clothes that she had earlier brought in her tote bag. Later, Mikael tells Adam and her about the shoe print they found near Chris’ apartment building.  

During the conversation, Mikael mentions Chris’s ex-girlfriend, Linda Levander (played by Emilia Roosmann), who accused Chris of harassment. So, Adam impulsively drives to her place of residence and manages to enter under false pretense. While he tries to find details about Chris’ past, Linda realizes that he is lying about his identity. So, he decides to leave her apartment immediately. Before leaving, Adam notices Linda’s shoes – which are similar to what Stella wears.  

Episode 3: 

Adam meets Anders to mention his observation about the shoes. He believes it would free his daughter from prison. But Anders has sufficient evidence to prove otherwise. As a result, Adam tries to speak with prosecutor Jenny Jansdotter (played by Moa Gammel) with the same intent. But it doesn’t help and rather makes things difficult for them. In the church, he is told to take a leave of absence until the criminal matters get resolved. On the other hand, Ulrika starts her own covert investigation to bring in the possibility of another perpetrator for the murder. She meets Amina to find out where she was that night. Amina says she went to Bar Inferno to meet Stella, but Stella did not show up.  

Later, Ulrika seeks a friend’s help to convince Jenny that Adam meant no harm when he spoke with her before. Before leaving the building, she sneaks into Jenny’s office and looks through her files. She finds a document with a list of people whose DNA sample was found in Chris’ apartment. That’s where she finds Amina’s name. Meanwhile, Stella refuses to open up about her feelings to psychologist Shirin.

In the past, we see Stella buying a pair of shoes like Linda’s, after seeing her old photo with Chris. During dinner, Stella asked him about Linda, and he called it just his past. After a conversation about their thoughts about the good and the bad of life, they had sex. Later on, Linda visited the cafe where Stella worked and warned her about Chris. She told Stella to check inside the drawers of his cupboard. Later, Stella visited Chris’ apartment, and during a brief window when he went outside, checked it to find a bunch of cell phones and several packages of medicines. 

Episode 4:

After finding the evidence about the DNA sample, Ulrika meets Amina to find out what she’s hiding. But Amina stands by what she already said. So, she finds an excuse to have dinner at Amina’s family home. In between, she walks out and sneaks into Amina’s room. But before she can find anything, Dino (played by Pablo Leiva Kennedy) stops her. Later, Alexandra (played by Sara Channing Kennedy) tries to speak with her about it. But Ulrika does not entertain her. She heads straight for her lecture and notices students gossiping about something.  

Soon after, she suffers from a panic attack and gets taken to a hospital. Mikael reaches there and approaches to kiss her. Adam notices it from a distance and gets deeply upset. Ulrika realizes this and follows him outside the hospital. But the damage was already done. Meanwhile, Stella opens up to Shirin about her emotional struggles as the only child to mostly busy parents.  

In the past, Amina learned about Linda’s suspicions about Chris and warned Stella to be more cautious. When Chris was supposedly out of town, Stella went out for drinks with Amina. Suddenly, she noticed Chris enter a bar with a woman. So, she followed them to learn that the woman was his old friend. When Stella decided to leave, Amina went back in to get her bag. Later, she texted Stella that Chris gave her a ride back home. Days later, she showed up at Chris’ doorstep unannounced. He said he was in the middle of some work and told her to leave immediately. She saw his unbuttoned shirt and realized he was lying. Later on, when her parents were out of town, he gave her a surprise visit. He apologized and then tried to have sex with her.  

Episode 5:

Amina shows up at the Sandell residence to inform Ulrika about something important. Ulrika requests her to keep that information under the lid until the court trial. She knows it would then help them make others consider the possibility of another perpetrator. Later, she goes to meet her father. She takes out the bag of Stella’s clothes that she had hidden in his cupboard before. Then, she cleans a knife and puts it back in her kitchen cabinet. She burns the stained clothes to remove any trace of their existence. The next day, she and Adam argue about their differences. He says he wants a divorce and leaves the house. 

In that state of pain and anger, he follows Robin and beats him repeatedly. Although Robin takes him to the police, he soon takes back the assault charges against Adam. Meanwhile, Shirin sensitively handles Stella’s emotional state and her feelings toward the unfortunate incident from her past. After that conversation, Stella recalls Linda talking about Chris’s controlling personality. Linda said that Chris raped her since he could not stand her not responding the way he expected her to. After that, Stella started avoiding Chris’ texts and calls. 

One morning, he suddenly showed up outside her house and made her join him for a ride. He took her to a beautiful location and mentioned his plans to build a house there with her. Later, on the night of the murder, she and Amina were supposed to meet at Bar Inferno. But upon reaching, she could not find Amina. She got a response from Amina that did not seem like hers. But she could not do much about it since her phone’s battery was low. Stella tried to take someone else’s phone to make a call. After the failure, she went straight to Chris’ house, suspicious that Amina would be there. She managed to enter the building and knocked on his door. But he did not respond. 

Episode 6: 

Ulrika goes to Mikael’s house to talk about the trial. She wants Mikael to press Amina to speak about whether Stella is violent or not and then hand it over to the prosecutor. While Mikael tries to kiss her, Ulrika backs off and calls their affair a mistake. Eventually, during the court session, Stella gets questioned about the events from the night of the murder. Stella reveals texting Amina, getting no responses, and then reaching Chris’s apartment to receive no response. She says she went home right after. Jenny points out factual inaccuracies in her testimony based on the evidence. Other testimonies make it seem like Stella is the culprit. When Adam gets a chance to speak, he lies about the texts and says they reached him later than when he sent them. 

A Nearly Normal Family ‘Netflix’ Limited Series Ending Explained:

What does Amina say during the murder trial?

When Amina takes the stand in the courtroom, Mikael follows Ulrika’s suggestion and gets the prosecutor to question her. Amina says she was with Chris on the night of his murder. She was supposed to meet Stella at Inferno. But Stella did not arrive on time. So, Chris approached Amina and flirted with her. He then apologized and offered her a drink. While walking out, Amina started feeling dizzy. So, Chris offered her a lift and sent Stella a text from Amina’s phone. Eventually, he took her to his apartment and raped her. Amina says she ran out of the apartment right afterward. She confirms that Chris drugged her and took advantage of her. Besides, she mentions that Stella was raped when she was 15 her parents thought no one would believe her. 

Does Stella get convicted for the murder of Chris Olsen?

After Amina’s shocking revelation about the truth of Chris’ nature, the judges consider another perpetrator. Ulrika tells Adam that she did not inform him about Amina because she did not want him to have to lie. They get back in the courtroom to hear the final verdict. Based on all the testimonies presented during the trial, Stella gets acquitted of the charges of murdering Chris Olsen. The judges conclude that she is innocent in this case. 

What actually happened on the night of Chris’ murder?

On October 7th, Stella reached Chris’ apartment and knocked on his door. Since he did not respond, she found another way to enter his apartment. Once inside, she stayed at a distance and noticed that Chris was taking advantage of Amina. So, at that moment, she sprayed pepper on his eyes and rescued Amina from his apartment. He still followed them outside with a knife. Along the way, he slipped and fell down on the ground. Stella noticed his knife on the side and stabbed him a few times with it. Then, she left the scene of the crime with Amina. Her sudden anger stems from years of neglect toward her emotions and how she silently had to endure her pain without any sense of justice.  

Read More: Everything Coming To Netflix in December 2023

A Nearly Normal Family (2023) Netflix Limited Series Trailer

A Nearly Normal Family (2023) Netflix Limited Series Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes
A Nearly Normal Family (2023) Netflix Limited Series Cast: Christian Fandango Sundgren, Björn Bengtsson, Melisa Ferhatovic

Where to watch A Nearly Normal Family