Watch The Skies (also known as UFO Sweden), by Victor Danell, is a sci-fi drama that begins with a daughter's impossible dream of finding her missing father and gradually evolves into a heartwarming story of family and found friendships. Denise, a teenager growing up in Sweden during the 1990s, was practically a tech genius. She could hack virtually anything with ease. And these small thrills were her only source of joy. Denise grew up in foster care after her father, a UFO hunter, disappeared one night in 1988. She despised her father and everything he stood for, and was convinced she had always been chasing a mirage. But her opinion changed drastically after her father's red Saab landed in a local barn. The farmer claimed the car had fallen from the sky, and naturally, no one believed him, and it was concluded that he was just very drunk.
After discovering that her father's hypothesis might be true, Denise contacted UFO Sweden. It was a club formed by space enthusiasts, and her father was a member. Denise claimed that, according to her father, there was a connection between UFO sightings and erratic weather conditions. On the night the red Saab supposedly went down, the press had announced that it would rain heavily, but it didn't rain at all; moreover, the unexplained power outage compounded the mystery. She added that she went to the barn to check the car, and although the license plate was gone, her father's cassette tape was still there, leading her to the conclusion that it was indeed her father's car.
Director: Victor Danell
Writers: Victor Danell, Jimmy Nivrén Olsson
Stars: Inez Dahl Torhaug, Jesper Barkselius, Sara Shirpey
The group initially dismissed her theory; they believed a similar cassette tape could have been purchased, and besides, there was no evidence to support it. Without facts, they refused to proceed. Denise showed Uno's theory and equation, according to which he had predicted where UFOs could be sighted. But Lennart firmly believed that Uno was on the wrong track. There had been a serious dispute with Uno: in an attempt to help Uno by providing him with confidential data, Lennart ended up losing his job at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute.
He despised Uno because he had always proven to be selfish and never truly thanked those around him, who had risked their jobs and lives for him. But the young team members were interested in giving Denise's theory a chance. They voted for further investigation. During their search for answers, they stumbled upon a SMHI weather station. Denise believed the data collected by the institute could help them find answers, but the group refused to break the law. Denise decided to break into the station and collect the data. The research director, Kicki, appeared on the scene after a while, and Lennart became even more suspicious of SMHI. He wondered if they were using Uno's equation to track UFOs, but of course, Kicki dismissed his theory. Lennart and the group helped Denise escape with the data. As they left the site, the sky suddenly turned red, and they spotted what appeared to be a UFO.
The data revealed that Kicki had been studying gravitational anomalies since November 25, 1988, the day Uno disappeared. Denise became even more convinced that the SMHI knew there was a connection between her father's disappearance and their UFO research. Gunnar, the oldest member of UFO Sweden, strongly opposed Denise's decision to investigate further, but the rest of the group was equally curious. They voted in Denise's favor again, and this time Lennart supported her.
Denise was confident that if they searched thoroughly enough, they would find the UFO near the area where they had last seen it. But the equipment they had was inadequate for the mission, which led to her frustration. She declared that if she could access the SMHI network, she could triangulate the impact site. But Lennart refused to let her do it, and Denise lost her temper. Lennart wasn't willing to put his organization at risk, while Denise didn't care about the team. Just when Denise was losing all hope, Tomi appeared.
They had forged an unlikely friendship: Tomi was the one who found Denise in Uno's studio after she disappeared, and he had supported her since she was little. He wanted Denise to live a normal life and was afraid of falling into the same trap as her father. Lately, he had begun to suspect that Denise was collaborating with UFO Sweden, but he needed to find proof. After the blackout at SMHI station, Tomi spoke to Kicki and offered to help her find the stolen data. But every time Tomi thought she was close to catching UFO Sweden red-handed, she missed her chance.
Tomi managed to track down Denise as she stood looking at the wrecked plane, completely disappointed. He arrested her, and they headed to the police station. Denise watched the plane being taken away and noticed the number (DK-2342), which reminded her it was the same plane that had disappeared over the Baltic Sea. She asked Tomi to stop the car, but she refused to listen. Desperate, Denise ended up crashing. She survived the accident and realized Tomi was also breathing and that help was on the way.
Denise immediately returned to the UFO Sweden office and tried to explain that the fact that the plane had ended up in the lake, just like her father's car, which had fallen from the sky, couldn't be a coincidence. She believed they were very close to solving the mystery, and perhaps all they needed to do was ask Kicki for help, since she was also interested in UFOs. While Gunnar made sure no one took Denise's side, to her surprise, Lennart offered to help her. Since the rest of the team wasn't willing to take the risk, or at least were afraid of offending Gunnar, Lennart decided to help Denise. She had apologized for her previous comments and added that it was impossible for her to do it alone and that she needed his help. Lennart didn't lose faith in Denise; he gave her his "UFO Sweden" pin and left the office with her.
They managed to sneak into the SMHI office, and Denise finally spoke with Kicki. She showed him Uno's equation and hoped they could solve it together. Kicki didn't mind doing it together as long as they found the answers. And finally, they did: through the equation, they deduced that the gravitational deflections were located in an Einstein-Rosen bridge, also known as a wormhole. According to Lennart and Kicki, the plane and car ended up in strange places because of the wormhole, and they believed Uno wasn't in the car because he had possibly left to be with those who created him and thus make time travel possible. Denise was hell-bent on finding the next wormhole.
Meanwhile, Gunnar, out of spite, contacted the local police station and warned them that UFO Sweden would bring down the SMHI building. Since the rest of the team ultimately decided to support Lennart and Denise, he thought they deserved punishment. The police tracked them down, but their friends came to their aid. They were driving the same red Saab that Gunnar had gotten from the police dump just to prove Denise wrong. At the time, she thought it was a mistake because she was sure the car she had seen in the barn was her father's. But Gunner had proof of ownership suggesting it was Uno's car. Denise and Lennart managed to get into the car and attempted to flee from the police. But the chase continued, and they ended up on the top floor of a multi-story parking garage.
After learning about the wormhole, Lennart reasoned that if the red Saab was destined to end up in the barn, it was impossible for them to crash, even if they drove it out of the building. It was a crazy idea, but it was the only way to test their hypothesis. They reasoned that risking their lives one last time to find out the truth was better than turning themselves in to the police and never finding out what was on the other side. So Denise and Lennart decided together to get the car out of the building. Although it was scary, their theory turned out to be true.
The car didn't crash; instead, they entered a wormhole and ended up in the barn, where it was snowing heavily. It felt like an alternate reality about to crash, and Denise knew she had to find her father before the wormhole closed. After walking for a while in the storm, she saw her father in the distance. She called out to him, and he couldn't believe he'd made it to the other side. He asked her to accompany him to explore the universe. When Denise hesitated, her father told her to make a decision quickly, as "they" were waiting for him and he needed to leave before the wormhole closed. Denise decided to get away from her father.
After everything she had been through, Denise realized that her father had never prioritized her. He was more concerned with being with "them" than returning home to his daughter. Although they were related by blood, Denise felt no emotional connection to him. Instead, she felt a desperate need to return and find Lennart, who was bleeding from his leg after a shard of glass accidentally pierced it.
In the Watch the Skies finale, Denise chose Lennart because, unlike her father, he was there for her. He believed in her and stood by her firmly when things got tough. He was her family, and she knew it was her responsibility to protect him. She ran back to him and they tried to reach the barn, but the wormhole began to close rapidly. They gave up and embraced the unique experience. Upon awakening, they found themselves in 1998 (two years in the future), on a film set. Karl, the field inspector for UFO Sweden, received a call confirming that Denise and Lennart had finally been found.
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