Secrets We Keep opens in an idyllic Scandinavian neighborhood where two upper-class families live side by side, seemingly sharing a picture-perfect life. Their sons are close, the mothers are inseparable, and the husbands are professionally connected, though one works for the other, subtly setting the stage for an imbalance of power. On the surface, their lives look harmonious, but beneath the well-manicured lawns and wine-soaked evenings, deep cracks are ready to split wide open.
Each household has employed a Filipino au pair. In Cecilie’s home, Angel is treated warmly, included in family moments, and spoken to with kindness. Though still a worker, she's regarded as more than just staff, perhaps even like a distant relative. Next door, however, Ruby’s experience is markedly different. At Katarina’s house, she is clearly viewed as a servant, present but invisible, expected to function without complaint, and certainly without emotional connection.
When Ruby vanishes without explanation, her absence barely registers as an emergency to those around her. But to a newly assigned investigator named Aicha, it’s a case worth taking seriously. Fresh to the job and unbothered by the social hierarchy that keeps the wealthy insulated, Aicha refuses to be intimidated by class or influence. She wants answers, and she’s determined to find them.
Cecilie, too, is disturbed by Ruby’s disappearance. Ruby had confided in her shortly before vanishing, expressing a desire to leave her job with Katarina. Cecilie, trying to remain loyal to her best friend, had suggested Ruby talk things over first. That conversation turns out to be the last time Cecilie ever sees her.
The next day, Katarina arrives at Cecilie’s home in a rage. Ruby is gone, and nobody seems truly concerned. The young woman’s passport and personal belongings are still in the house, raising clear red flags, but the urgency is alarmingly absent. For Cecilie, the lack of empathy and action from Katarina and others is unsettling. It begins to strain their friendship and exposes a wider web of moral compromise and systemic inequality.
The show cleverly unpacks themes of privilege, class division, and cultural blindness without falling into cliché. It doesn’t offer simple heroes or villains. Instead, it presents layered characters, especially Cecilie and Katarina. Marie Bach Hansen brings warmth and unease to Cecilie, portraying a woman torn between comfort and conscience. Danica Ćurčić, as Katarina, is masterful in capturing a woman so consumed by appearances and entitlement that she becomes blind to others’ pain.
What could have easily been a predictable domestic thriller transforms into a sharp social drama. The tension is not only about a missing girl, it’s about the people who choose not to see her. As Cecilie and Angel begin their own quiet search, the story widens to include the voices of other Filipino au pairs in the area, many of whom also know nothing about where Ruby might have gone or why.
Secrets We Keep isn’t just about a disappearance. It’s about the truths we ignore, the people we overlook, and the quiet injustices that happen behind closed doors. It’s a slow burn, but one that leaves a lasting mark.
Final Score- [8/10]
Reviewed by - Neerja Choudhuri
Follow @NeerjaCH on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times