As you may already know, Gustav and Linus is my favourite relationship of the show. I love their brotherhood so much but it's been quite the rollercoaster for them.
In the first episode of season 1 they are just normal brothers, playing video games together and fighting with eachother. Despite the age difference it feels like they are quite close.
I've tried to figure out how old Gustav is but I can't really figure it out. Linus is 12 in season one, 15 in season 4 and 18 in season 5. I would say that Gustav is between 6-8 years older.
Things change after their dad's death of course. Not only do they lose their dad, Linus is left with significant trauma from watching his dad be brutally murdered.
Immediately Gustav steps in to look after Linus despite being pretty messed up himself (Jill, Need I say more?) He comforts him when Sonja is not home and over all takes care of him. We really get a sense of how caring Gustav can be and how protective he is of Linus in particular. He's definitely stepping into a new role with regards to Linus in season one.
Then in season 2 I feel like they went back to the dynamic they had before Fredrik died. Especially in the beginning. They obviously have had time to heal but also grow closer.
I love that we get to see them just being brothers, teasing eachother and wrestling and all that fun brother stuff.
Things get though pretty quickly though and soon enough they are kind of left to fend for themselves. Nina moves out and has her rebellious faze and Sonja is MIA and neglectful. Once again Gustav steps into more then a big brother role. He comforts Linus after the thing in school and when Sonja forgets his birthday.
I also love the little scenes of them cleaning together etc. It just makes their relationship feel stronger. They are just hanging out together while Sonja and Nina are doing their thing.
I also love the storyline in season 2 revolving Lukas. At the beginning neither Gustav or Nina are happy to have him around but for Gustav it changes when he realises they need Lukas to protect them.
It's obviously different for Linus since he literally watch Lukas murder his dad and he still has alot of trauma surrounding it.
Gustav trying to talk Linus out of shooting Lukas is always one of my favourite scenes. When Linus then turns the gun towards himself we really get to see how close their bond is. Gustav is just so protective of Linus.
I also love them going with Nina to the rehab facility together and being there for her in hospital. Even if this is a post of Gustav and Linus I wish we got more scenes with all three of them.
Gustav's kidnapping is still so random to me but it did lead to a nice sibling scene. Linus lying next to Gustav and asking him when he'll stop sweating so much is precious.
Over all I think season 2 has their relationship being the strongest because it quickly changes in season 3 with Gustav moving out and getting involved with the drugs.
Their relationship definitely changed between season 2 and 3. Mostly because Gustav actually moved out and became a bit absent because he was so tired of Sonja's bullshit. I don't blame him one bit but I sads me that it affected his and Linus relationship so much.
Like I said Gustav wasn't around the house much in the beginning because he was definitely trying to stay away from Sonja and build his relationship with Juana. Then when Juana died he just spiraled.
I would have loved to see Linus actually more involved. Like would he have been able to do something to comfort him? Linus was very young but I still think he could have been there for Gustav and while I don't think it would have made a change in how Gustav acted with would have been so nice seeing Linus comfort him even if he's the younger brother. I love the scenes we got with Nina and Gustav though.
I also think it would have made a huge difference for Linus to have either of his siblings around more when all the things with CPS happened. Particularly Gustav who's always been there for him.
They were both so wrapped up in their own lives so it makes sense but he was literally so lonely. First with the hit and run and later when he was terrified that he would be taken away and Sonja was acting like a dick to him both times.
I don't think he would have run away if his family life felt a little more stable but at the moment I think he felt very lonely with Sonja neglecting him and being dismissive of his feelings and John and Kasper leaving them.
I mean at that point he'd barely seen his siblings and it just randomly ran into Nina at the hospital.
I love that Gustav decided to come home for Linus sake though, too bad it was too late. I also wish we would have seen his reaction when he learned that Linus was assaulted.
The scenes at Gustav's apartment when Linus is "kidnapped" are definitely one of my favourite scenes of the whole show just because we finally get to see a glimpse of how protective Gustav is. He's immediately agreeing to the Icelandics terms just as long as Linus is safe.
And Linus looking at him with teary eyes, utterly terrified about what will happen always breaks my heart.
The fire scene or like a friend likes to call it "Linus getting 'lightly' toasted" so well acted. And then Gustav carrying him to the car while apologising for hurting him 🤌
And then at the end we see them just be normal brothers again, playing guitar hero and it really does feel like they are on the right track to get closer again.
Yeah well... that didn't happen...
