REVIEW: ‘Home For Christmas Season 3’ Hits The Right Notes

After a lengthy hiatus, Home For Christmas (Hjem til jul) has returned for a new season, with our favorite hot mess queen, Johanne (Ida Elise Broch), back at the center. In Home For Christmas Season 3, Johanne is still figuring out her next steps and trying to avoid a future of loneliness as she recovers from heartbreak. Navigating the dating scene as a 35-year-old presents its own challenges, but with a new job and life changes, this may be the most Johanne has had to juggle (and struggle) yet.

Five years after the events of Season 2, Johanne is stuck in a transitional space in Home For Christmas Season 3. She is applying for a promotion at the hospital, where her unorthodox nursing practices have drawn the administration’s scrutiny during a probationary period. Her father, Tor (Dennis Storhøi), is struggling with his separation from her mother, Jorid (Anette Hoff), and adjusting to being left alone as an empty nester. Johanne takes care of him during her time off, while the rest of her siblings and their families go about their own lives.

Determined to maintain some semblance of familial traditions, Johanne declares that Christmas Eve dinner will be held at her house. However, her kitchen pipes have other plans, forcing her to remodel the kitchen under a tight timeline. Only one person agrees to her unreasonable timeline: Bo (Gard Løkke), and it seems the holiday season may be back on track. But it’s Johanne’s life, nothing ever goes according to plan, and she spends the weeks leading up to Christmas balancing a holiday play, everyone’s precarious emotions, and, of course, dating.

Home For Christmas Season 3 shows how far Johanne has come and how much more she has to learn.

Given the time jump, Ida Elise Broch plays Johanne with a lived-in maturity that comes from a character who’s burnt out on love. There’s a weariness in some of Johanne’s interactions with men, particularly a new colleague in Home For Christmas Season 3, that reveals a new guarded development. With her age being more of a factor in conversations this season, it’s no wonder that with her experience, she knows more of what to avoid.

Yet, this doesn’t quite stop her from playing the field, only to tumble into a whole new minefield of mistakes and awkwardness. One thing Johanne can’t fully outgrow is her awkward energy, and Broch never wholly leaves that behind. This is abundantly clear in the opening scene of Home For Christmas Season 3, when Johanne is clad in a startling rodent costume, with minimal context. Whatever she ends up getting into, you can bet it is something foolish (often with good intentions). 

Still, despite her nature and penchant for endless bouts of drama, Home For Christmas Season 3 features Johanne coming into her own. Over the course of three seasons, we’ve watched Johanne slowly find her footing, figuring out who she is, what she wants, and realizing her worth. With some hard truth bombs thrown at her this season, she’s forced to look herself in the mirror and see where her faults lie. It isn’t until she can actively acknowledge these that she can move forward.

It’s not just Johanne. Many familiar faces are figuring out their next steps in life.

While Johanne is left figuring out her life, other characters surrounding her are grappling with their own loneliness after major life transitions. There’s Trym (Audun Sandem), who hasn’t yet figured out how to recover from nearly six years of his separation from his wife. Similarly, several of Johanne’s family members have been dealing with this as well: her parents struggle to feel wanted as their kids move on, and Maria (Helga Guren) becomes a metaphorical single parent.

It is here, in Home For Christmas Season 3, that, despite everyone meddling in her romantic life from the beginning of the series, Johanne’s importance to people’s lives comes into full focus. Her efforts (however unwelcome they may be at times) ultimately give people the space they need to recover from whatever ails them. Whether in her professional and personal lives, her influence touches people. It’s no wonder, then, that the series’ ending evolves as it does.

Despite the evolution of Johanne’s story and Home For Christmas Season 3 having eight episodes to tell its tale, what is presumably the series’ wrap-up, the last two episodes read rushed, particularly in how things are resolved between Johanne and her final love interest. With what ends up happening between the two, in particular, one life-changing event that should have had more of an impact on Johanne than is seen in Episodes 7 and 8, the ending is too clean and easily packed away. 

While things end with an air of finality in Home For Christmas Season 3, there is always potential for more.

That’s not to say that the ending doesn’t feel earned. Many story threads reach their conclusion, however minute in execution, in the camera’s lingering moments and will warm the cockles of the heart. It’s just, given how Johanne resolves her issues with two additional love interests this season, what is meant to be a final conflict between her and the last man standing is glossed over. It’s a nitpick, if anything, and likely shows how compatible the two actually are, but dangit, what happened was serious and should have been discussed.

Even still, after three glorious holiday-infused seasons, it does feel like the end of the journey for Johanne and her quest to find, not just love, but who she ultimately wants to be. As someone entering a similar transitional time, it’s been an honor to watch this series (and subsequently feel a little bit attacked all at once), as Johanne navigates all these varying struggles of adulthood in one’s 30s. The accuracy of just how incredibly messy this period of life is cannot be overstated, but the series offers a bit of hope for those of us navigating it.

And so, Home For Christmas Season 3 ends Johanne’s journey on a hopeful, albeit a little bit rushed note. Across these three seasons, we’ve watched Johanne remain authentic to herself, even when the advice she’s been given tells her otherwise. Unapologetically messy and a bit of a drama magnet, Ida Elise Broch’s Johanne is a relatable gremlin of a human being that may finally get her happy ending. That is, unless Netflix decides to approve a fourth season. We’ll see! 

Home For Christmas Season 3 is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.