Altough I'm german I rarely check out german TV shows. The last one was Deutschland 83 and that was like two years ago. Germany just hasn't figured TV out yet but that's another discussion.
When I heard Netflix was producing a german show I just had to check it out because Netflix has a great track record so far and Germany does have talent infront and behind the camera. But overall I think this show just fell flat. Good, but nothing great.
Fantastic visuals that are shot very beatifull, the actors IMO are mostly great and the music/score can be beautiful but often gets obnoxious. But unfortunetly there are too many characters that are hard to keep track off which distracts from the story.
The story is already confusing enough even without trying to keep up with the many characters over different decades and it heavily sets up future seasons without answering a lot of questions about this one and just left me unsatisfied at the end.
Still worth watching tough IMO and very bingeable similarly to Stranger Things.
But if you do watch it then choose the subbed version. I checked out the dub really quick and it sounded horrible. And also don't browse your phone as you might do on other shows. You're going to miss so much important shit.
EDIT after Season 2:
I'm not actually sure what just happened and what I think about it. But the one thing I'm sure of is that the casting in this show is absolutely phenomenal. The actors look so much like their younger counterparts that I'm not fully convinced they aren't actually related.
Plus the cinematography is still fantastic and the music monatages are really beautiful (and they got rid of those obnoxious sound effects).
And altough the story is still very confusing I found it more easier to follow and more engaging than Season 1 because I now know all the charcters and their background. And it seems that the writers had this all planned out and aren't just making shit up as they go.
Changed my rating from 8 to 9.
EDIT after my first rewatch just before S3 is released.
Changing my rating again. This time to a 10. After S1 I thought it was good but confusing show (8), after S2 I thought it was great and really well thought out one (9). Now after rewatching both seasons for the first time I think the show is fucking masterpiece. (10). Once you can watch it without being confused and actually knowing what is happening your just in awe throughout all of it.
If they stick the landing with season 3 it could be up there with the best ever.
EDIT after Season 3
Masterpiece. Simple as that.
Writing. Directing. Cinematography. Casting. Acting. Soundtrack. Everything is perfect.
I'm going to miss the beautiful music montages at the end.
Absolutely fantastic. I will admit that I hesitated at first, but then I thought why not give it a try. Gloomy and eerie, but good at it. The music throughout the series is really well chosen; it fits perfectly well. The writing is also top notch, as is the acting. You can either have it in English sound or in German sound with English subtitles. Honestly I wasn't bothered at all with the English sound, so if that's your thing you will be able to enjoy the series just fine (maybe you'll also be slightly less distracted as opposed to reading subtitles). Personally I chose the German sound, as it felt more natural.
Honestly, give it a try. Might very well be the best series I've watched this year.
EDIT: Binged season 2 in a sitting. Just wow. This review doesn't do it justice. And the casting...I mean, I totally thought old Ulrich was the result of CGI or something. Season 2 is best thing I've watched this year and last year included (ever?).
Damn! Dark, the trilogy as a whole is a very well written show with a captivating story. This only becomes more apparent when you realize how consistent the series has been throughout the three seasons and how everything was so well thought out beforehand. Granted, calling it immensely complicated would be an understatement as it may require careful attention or multiple viewings to grasp and remember everything but once you clear this hurdle and understand this show, its brilliance will readily become apparent.
This show may very well go down in history as one of the greatest Sci-Fi content both in terms of films/tv ever made. We will be darn lucky if anything ever comes close to the greatness of this show in future. Or maybe considering how it is a sleeper hit, it inspires studios to order more thought provoking contents, but who knows.
I think , once they prevent the deaths and time-travel from being invented, Jonas'(Split Reality 1) and Martha's(Split Reality 2) universes(realities) are annihilated, the Scientist's "Original reality" splits/branches again, to form another "3rd" Split Reality which is the one shown in the end.
Since "Endings are beginnings and beginnings are endings or everything is predetermined and past/future can't be changed", this would make the most sense without breaking the show's rule because if the Scientist didn't try to invent time Travel, there wouldn't be 2 split realities and with that no Jonas or Martha coming to change the past, and if they didn't come, he would invent time Travel, a Paradox.
So the original reality still exists alongside the new 3rd reality. However Jonas and Martha are erased from existence since their universes no longer exist.
Hannah deciding to name the unborn child 'Jonas' was also a nice way to spare us a completely sad ending.
But hey who knows! The series is open for multiple interpretations.
Here's something you might find helpful:
How To Understand Dark
1. Determinism:
I. Watch Predestination (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2397535 ) to acquaint yourself with the general idea of a closed time loop. Also maybe give Triangle (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1187064 ) a shot.
II. Arrival is also great.
III. Watch Devs (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8134186 ) [Ignore the last episode, unfortunately Alex Garland still can't stick a landing] to really get the essence of a deterministic universe on the quantum level.
2. Split/Parallel Realities:
I. Rick&Morty has several episodes dealing with the concept. However, S02E01 A Rickle In Time(https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4462494 ) and the recent S04E08 The Vat Of Acid ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10655692 ) both do the best job of explaining IMO.
II. Steins Gate is a masterpiece if you are into anime (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1910272 )
Dark Season 1 & 2: “Things can’t get any more complicated than this”
Dark Season 3: “Hold my beer”
Just masterpiece fucking happens. Probably the best Netflix production until now.
Overly convoluted with characters that are difficult to keep track of and very little by way of payoff at the end of the season.
Until season 2 it was ok, but season 3 was way too repetitive and boring.
What an absolute masterpiece! Probably the best time travel story ever told.
My girfriend walked in when I watched this show, I immediately switched to porn, because it easier to explain :)
Basically it's a huge paradox and Noah's story doesn't make any sense. The show has its moments, but I had higher expectations to be honest.
PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME LIKE ME ON THIS SHOW
One of the greatest Sci - Fi stories ever told, Straight up. They pulled off such an intricate web of characters, timelines, worlds, and relationships in only three seasons. It's a travesty that this show isn't more popular than it is, but they've already cemented its greatness with this final season so that's all that matters .
3 Thoughts After Watching ‘Dark’:
This show is one of THE most complex and intricate stories I have ever watched in my life. It’s often mind-numbing and frustrating because of it. But, I promise you, the ending makes up for everything... no matter how confused you are.
This series has some of the absolute best casting EVER, with different actors playing younger or older versions of a single character. The resemblances are incredibly impressive.
As I currently process the finale, I’m realizing more and more that this show is probably smarter than I ever gave it credit for. (but there’s gotta be actual plot holes in there somewhere! lol) Kudos!
Wow! Absolutely phenomenal show!
Season 3 is incredible and the pace is fast and such a complex plot with so many twists.
Well done to Netflix for bringing this to our screens. So many foreign shows we’d normally never see without them. It’s dubbed, but well done.
I watched season 1 & 2 together and then waited a longtime for season 3, and unfortunately I found it difficult to remember who was who in season 3. If you can, watch all seasons one after the other.
I never expected after season one it would turn out to be one of my favourite shows. I suppose I didn’t really know what I was watching to begin with, I thought it was a crime show, but instead it’s sci-fi and I suppose fantasy and supernatural too in some aspects.
Regardless, the plot is incredibly intricate and mind boggling.
Well done to everyone involved in this show, especially to those who wrote it.
This is one show not to miss!
I literally had no idea what this show was about when I started the first season. I thought I'm about to watch just some dark-themed crime series but no.. not even close. It's a masterpiece. Outstandingly written and acted. Also, the soundtrack is brilliantly picked! This is easily one of my all time favorite shows from now on. I'm so happy I chose to watch this.
Update after watching the series finale:
After the second season, when I wrote this review the first time, I had dropped one star because of the complexity. Yes, I struggled a lot trying to remember who everyone was, and it didn't really get much easier until the very last episodes. The character relations in this show are something else.
But now, after seeing the finale, I think this show definitely deserves 10 out of 10. The final season provided a very satisfying ending for the show. And piece by piece, they actually managed to untangle the complexity in a wonderful way. Kudos to the writers for creating such a clever, complex yet still surprisingly clean story. And without forgetting to mention, the story truly lived up to its name. It is dark, very dark but still beautiful.
I give up trying to understand this messy sh!tshow and licking the writers boots for making something very out of the ordinary
no one should spend an extra time of their lives on YouTube and on Dark's official website trying to understand this messy timeline and the characters idiotic decisions, I did that until the end of season 2 but I'm not doing that anymore.
I don't care if I'm not understanding jack sh!t of this 3rd season, call me dumb or whatever you want, I'm sick of playing games, I'll be just watching this for kicks and giggles.
A glitch in the matrix.
The first season is excellent. The second one is just fine. On the other hand, the third is a pure waste of time, we're going in circles. Anyway, my advice is to only look at the first season.
Now having watched S1 and S2 twice in preparation of S3 and having been done with S3, I can definitively say, this is easily my top show of all time. Unfortunately it's not perfect but I can attest to the sheer quality in every single aspect of it's production and writing.
This show could have been a 10/10 contender for me and up until S3E7, it was. It was making it's way to be the perfect show but the ending is not as satisfying as I'd hoped because it doesn't live up to the promise the show establishes. Before I discuss the ending, I must assure you that almost every single mystery and question you might have had till S2 is resolved and answered. What follows is a complete spoiler for the ending so DO NOT READ UNTIL YOU WATCH ALL OF S3
Until S3E7, the show establishes that the universe the show takes place in is utterly deterministic and I loved it for that. They even tease a non-deterministic possibility only to turn it on it's head and cement even more that it definitively is. But then S3E8 comes and forces a "fix" to the whole timeline that does actually make a lot of sense with the established world. When the characters were operating on the duality of worlds, it was only obvious that if everything else operated in threes, why not the worlds? But then the resolution and the whole fix and the unnecessary scenes in between to make it a sci-fi ending doesn't pull it off completely. I love sci-fi endings and stuff like Arrival, Annihilation, Interstellar, 2001 and the game Observation are my bread and butter. But this show has established itself too much into a certain way of the universe operating that the ending seemed to fit way too clumsily into a "happy" ending. I wish the authors had established a far more bleak ending of a never ending cycle simply continuing and looping into itself to tie all the characters into their respective dooms for eternity.
That said, a somewhat weak ending doesn't ruin 25 episodes of near perfection. The show deserves a 9.5 but alas a 9 is all I can give
Don`t be put off by this being a foreign language tv show. Its really worth the time. A really good show about time travel.
this is precisely the type of mindfuck i like
EDIT: AFTER SEASON 3 (Final Season)
Wow. Just wow. When I started the series I thought it was beautiful and wonderfully written, but I didn't think it'd be this absolute masterpiece by the end of it all. You can tell the whole series was well-thought out since the beginning--everything from the cast to the dialogue, plot, music, etc was spot-on. One of my top 3 shows for sure hands down. This show is so agonizingly underrated. If you haven't watched it yet, please do. You will not regret it.
I think season 1 started pretty decent. Nice interesting story, cool characters, grimm atmosphere and overall pretty look and feel. But this show got worse and worse to a point it was just lazy writing. 'Oh just add another timeline and a handful of new characters' seems to be the tactics of season 3. This doesn't lead to any 'omg there is another timeline?!' reaction if that's what they expected.. It's just too easy to be interesting. There are no eureka moments at all, the stuff that a mysterical thriller desperately needs. I want to be involved in the plot as a viewer, in Dark there's no room for that. Before you figure things out the writer decides to add a whole new alternative universum and expects you to go with it. It's almost like Lost, but that had a way better start. The last season felt like a chore.
so glad i decided to give this ago when it popped up on Netflix. I'm not a huge fan of English dubs but I don't mind subtitles, so I figured i'd watch it in the native german with English subtitles. man am I glad I did! this show was a huge shock, I didn't expect to become so engrossed in the lives of all these many people. I laughed, I cried, and I cried some more. What an emotional rollercoaster of a show an absolute masterpiece.
Easily one of the best TV shows I've seen in my life and I don't say this lightly. What an amazing, thrilling, complicated, and moving ride from beginning to end. THIS is how you make a show, THIS is how you engage your audience, THIS is how you get us to think about so many things, THIS is how you tell a story about love, loss, choices, time travel, life. Amazing! Truly amazing, worth every single minute and I can't wait to watch it again.
I thoroughly enjoyed this series. I mean damn, a time travel drama wrapped in multi world theory ..even without the satisfaction of knowing what happen to the guy and his eye. This is a must watch if you like time travel stories. You are in for a great story. Just watch it. Bravo. Well worth the hype. I'm not going to deprive you of experience dark firsthand. Go in completely blind that my recommendation and choose your language of preference. Then come back here and give me a like for not telling you what happens.
Just give me the season 2 dammit
My favorite, it's special and may not please everyone.
Full of physics references (if you like general relativity theories like me)
I've waited a long time to see something like this. I'm not disappointed and sad it's over.
Awesome actors too. What a blast.
Thank you for making this
I have no words for this show. The cast is mesmerising, the story intriguing and the end unpredictable. I loved every single minute and it hurts to realise that I can never watch this series again for the first time.
In the story of Dark, everything is connected.
The premise is extremely simple, a boy goes missing in a small town shrouded in secrets, and as its secrets are uncovered you begin to see the bigger picture. It sounds similar to Stranger Things but unlike that show, Dark is so much more complex and engaging to a point where I had to set aside special time to watch uninterrupted because it commanded my full attention. Alongside a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack and incredible German voice acting (and acting in general), Dark is a show that I would recommend to people with a curiosity for the unknown.
The Best Netflix series ever :heart: the cinematography with soundtrack s is on another level just insane... well written with great great acting..
Holy fuck-knuckles!! This is the best show I’ve ever watched.
This show was a mind bending experience! Definitely recommend it, but be warned, it's a complicated, confusing and intriguing ride.
I love this series... thank goodness it has been renewed for season 2, although with netflix we most likely will have to wait another year before it's released. Germany does pump out some very good film and television, the next I'm looking forward too is Deutschland '86.
I rate it "In fourth season, Jonas becomes a transvestite from Transylvania, goes back, and has triplets with teenage Jonas" out of ten
This is one of the best shows I've ever seen. Very thought provoking. I highly recommend it. Also I recommend watching in German with subtitles. It is much better than the English dub in my opinion.
Brilliant Television Series.
I avoided this series like a plague, because I thought this was about missing children and dark magic. The thought of sitting through another cliche about western religious stereotypes and superstitions did't sit well with me. Oh boy! was I wrong?
This series is about time travel. Paradoxes and human connections that revolves around time travel. I like that it doesn't pull punches in story telling. It is complex story telling. You have to pay attention to understand the intricacies of relationships, characters and time.
It is totally worth it.
Best in class casting. The crew is amazing in acting and resemblance.
The characters portray desolation well. You can see the perpetuating sadness in the main characters. Time is taking it's toll.
Watch it in German. English is okay, But German is Amazing.
Go with the subtitles in the original German, you lose a lot with dubbing. It's probably one of the best shows I've watched this year. It grips you from the start and is excellent in many ways. It's dark and gritty. I loved it. It's also complicated. I had a good time watching it.
It is complicated but I loved it just the same.
One of the best ever made!
Complex and stylish. Suspenseful and chilling. First two seasons are great and third season was expectedly far too convoluted. At its core, though, this show is great. You gotta commit to the mind-fuckery and bang out the whole thing in one setting. It really is a masterpiece. Go!
I gave it a 10 rate before S3 dropped, But tbh i still don't know why many series fails to keep the same level the story became more complicated to degree you can't like it anymore, They could end it better than that, But anyway we can't denying that they made a real masterpiece
Watched season 1. Excellent acting, music and cinematography but unfortunately there were way too many characters, together with 3 different timelines, which just made it very confusing. I found myself reading an explainer after finishing, which itself was effortful to wrap my head around. I can see why people love this show but it's not for me. It takes too much effort to understand and is somewhat dissatisfying in that sense.
Amazing show. Tons of characters, great cast, super complex story with a perfect ending. Everything gets explained... eventually, not in the beginning. You can pick up so many things you missed the first time when rewatching. I'm currently on my third watch and I'm hooked again.
This show started off super strong for me, and then I lost interest half way through season 2. But I recommend because the first part is SO good, and it is probably just me and my poor attention span that lost the interest.
Very confusing if you have problems remembering faces.
It's a nope for me after chapter 2 of S2. Sorry, I was digging the concept, right before the encounter with "the thing".
I haven’t (maybe never) watched a serie as brilliant as Dark. It was hard to understand, i’m not even sure if i understood it but still it’s an excellent serie.
Falls dangerously short of being excellent through and through. As it stands Dark is still one of the best things Netflix has ever produced, but runs into some plotting issues along the way. The first season sets you up nicely and the second season is a banger through and through, but the third season (although planned from the get-go, it seems) jumps the shark ever so slightly that it feels like we lose a bit of what made the first two seasons ever so compelling in favor of complexity. If you are not okay with the idea of narrative confusion, I would avoid this series entirely. Because it is far more intricate than most things, and although I think it still handles everything well, be ready to watch all three seasons back to back because getting yourself reacquainted as the seasons dropped was a doozy.
Absolute masterpiece. I don't usually watch foreign-language shows but Dark hits it out of the park with an amazingly intricate story, terrific cinematography, and beautiful music. Overall an extraordinary television experience, and one that respects its viewers' intelligence.
It overwhelms the complicities of the mutual connections between the events and the characters. However, as a sf series about time travel, I think it will be the new classic of the genre. :)
DARK S03 FINALE (2020) SPOILER FREE REVIEW ⏱
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:scroll: Plot : A family saga with a supernatural twist, set in a German town Winden, where the disappearance of two young children exposes the relationships among four families and leads to unconventional happenings.
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:man:⚖ Review : Dark Season 3 is fitting conclusion of what started as gamble by NETFLIX in 2017. The Series saw success as fans loved it. Season 3 doesn't disappoint you in any way. This series will definitely go into my top 5 favorite science fiction shows. The edge of the seat and engaging premise with plot twists at every breath this series has proved itself unique. Season 3 is the longest and takes time to settle , the mysteries and characters take us to intriguing timelines with script that ties everything together in the end across Parallel Worlds. Lisa Vicari as Martha is the highlight of the final season and has given a brilliant performance. Dark is an experience and needs attention which keeps you longing for more with each of its episodes. If someone asks you for a Science Fiction which is mind boggling , Dark is the Answer.
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:thumbsup:Goods : The Sound Design and The Cinematography sticks with you after the shows has ended. The Characters and Mysteries revolve inside of your brains. This speaks volumes of how good it is.
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:thumbsdown: Bads : This Section doesn't apply to this series.
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:fire: Final Rating : 9/10
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:white_check_mark: Recommendation : Rating Speaks for itself. Take a deep breathe and stream it on Netflix.
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- Follow Instagram for More : @RiteshReviews
Couldve done without the endless repeating shots. Think it would’ve been a better, more concise story in a movie format. Good acting.
I liked it so much. I think the plot is so ground breaking and well studied but I found it too much slow ... too many silences made me annoying sometimes ... I would prefer a little more speed
Not only the best Netflix show, but one of the best shows ever. A masterpiece.
Greatest Sci-Fi show of all time!!
Such a bittersweet ending, both Jonas and Eva could have kept on feeding into the loop and keep the knot tight, but when they discovered the truth they sacrificed themselves to save the origin world, its really sad, but great things may require great sacrifice. This show will go done as one of the greatest stories and one of the best shows I have experienced, such a phenomenal show. The ending with Hannah was a really nice touch, ending with my favourite character. In the end paradise was reached for a lot of characters. A great end to the Dark trilogy
This show brought me through a brain hurting ride and it was an incredible journey. Amazing show with a great conclusion. Easily one of the best shows I have watched! 9/10
Almost finished with season two. Really fantastic show. Like so many others have said, best if you watch it in German work English subtitles. Be prepared to be a bit confused!!
just started watching this amazing series here in Australia
..I've only watched three episodes so far, superb quality acting,great visuals(very stunning Germany), definitely a series to watch,thanks Netflix
Brilliant. Lies, cheating, murder, mystery, time travel, unexpected plot twists. Watch it!
Loved it! Well made! Looking forward to season 2!
Fantastic series! It's a little hard to keep track of all the characters, but that's part of the fun. It makes you think and pay attention.
The photography is beautiful and the soundtrack matches the mysterious and creepy vibe of the show.
I'd recommend watching it in German with subtitles because then the performances are much more believable. 10/10
worth watching 10/10 from me i liked it all
A German Lost, but way less interesting.
A writing so poor that they have to explain everything three times. To hold up this nonsense plot they had to make characters so dumb it takes them 5 episodes to get anything.
One more in a long list of Netflix' garbage
Watching the trailer it seemed like a really interesting show. Unfortunately the show itself was not as good in the end. There's too many characters you have to keep track of and you constantly get confused who's who now as people look so alike sometimes. All the scandals, time travel and so on makes you dizzy. Some parts of the story seem really involving but then they kind of screw up and it's not as amazing anymore. Most annoying was the music… the same "thrilling" sound effect for every single scene… even if it's not even remotely thrilling…
An incredible series. Every episode leaves you wanting more. It is the kind of show that needs to be watched in silence and 100% focused. Can't wait for season 2, and I still have to more episodes to watch from the first season. Great job. The music choice is excellent.
Extremely good show, just finished re-watching season 1 and I will probably re-watch again soon.
Highly recommended to watch it in original German audio with subtitles. The English-dubbed version is just terrible.
This is the best show on television! Great story and interesting characters leaving me wanting more.
Great show. Very gloomy (man did it rain a lot, and I’m surprised at how many people we’re willing to pick up dead birds). I was surprised how quickly it got me hooked. Can’t wait for season 2!
If you thought Stranger Things was great... this is even better!
What a mindfvck series. I hope season 2 will be available before 2019.
This is simply the perfect show for me. From the complex characters and plot to the mind-bending twists and thought-provoking philosophical ideologies that clash into one completed show allowing this show to be the masterpiece it is. I can now safely say this show is truly amazing without having to exaggerate. Every episode of this masterpiece shocks you in ways you never thought was possible. The constant gripping revelations were so unexpected but because of the foreshadowing, anyone paying attention could see what's to come. With all the plot threads arching throughout a century of a town's history it managed to tie the story so well together. Exceptional and convincing acting skills by the entire cast and tons of heartfelt scenes between different character dynamics. This show is the perfect epitome of a well thought out show, meticulously crafted and executed so well and overall knows where it's trying to advance its story. This show has revolutionized time travel storytelling and is definitely one of the most throughout and consistently written shows of our time.
Season 1 - 9.9
Season 2 - 10.0
Season 3 - 9.8
Very well done visuals in combination with good music choice . The series shows a very complicated plot. You have to listen carefully and follow throughout every second to fully understand what is happening. The end leaves options. The choice of actors was very well! Especially Noah.
Being married to a german man I've seen my fair share of international movies dubbed to german and it is absolutely obnoxious. I am very pleased to see that that hasn't been done here.
Germany isn't exactly famous for producing good tv shows or films - with a few brilliant exceptions - and I was, if not intrigued, then at least interested to see how this turned out. So far I've only seen three episodes and it's not bad. A bit too heavy on the amount of characters one has to keep up with and it gets close to impossible when one then has to keep track of them in two times simultaneously... but so far I find it interesting.
Might have to come back to this and update - for good or for bad. Wir werden sehen...
Time for an update and I am very pleased to say that this is good. This is actually VERY good. It does get even more confusing, in a way, when even more time lines are introduced, but by then I had a pretty good idea of who was when and where... and after ten episodes I am hooked. Pretty, pretty please - produce some more of this show... because after all, those last seconds were a mighty cliffhanger indeed.
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand the dark..
As dense and convoluted as a Higher Physics textbook, or like studying the Ptolemaic dynasty while being forced to read Finnegan's Wake. At some points even the most attentive person will get lost in who, where, when, and what world!? but the sheer detail and commitment of the storytelling take you to all these uncomfortable, out of sync places, with uneasy situations, with the unravelling identities and fluctuating motivations, with a grandeur that is breathtaking in scope. At first just a missing person case, but then unfolding out into a temporal anomaly, then intersecting temporal worlds, and then finally anomalous temporal worlds in each season. Some of the repetition others have noticed is actually mirroring as part of the plot, some of it foreshadowing. it was truly a maze, and amazing. Worth the investment of a curious and undaunted mind and the outlay of a DVD or even bluray (gasp) box-set, hence I give it a 10.
Pfff, at first I had it booked as "not overwhelming but at least it's got time travel and a neat soundtrack" but after dragging along with weird dialogues and painfully awkward acting up to season 3 I've reached the point where I don't know if I can go on. "Stranger Things - but cheaper and less awesome" much?? I'm absolutely not convinced. Maybe I just can't bear german acting and storytelling, idk…
This is a superb series. But, I'd give you two pieces of advice: 1) Watch it in its original language, German, with English subtitles (don't worry, you will soon forget you are reading subtitles), 2) Make or find a character tree. The drama centres around four families (Doppler, Nielsen, Kahnwald and Tiedemann), through 5 time periods (1921 to 2053). It can be confusing. Here is a link to a chart with pictures that may be useful: http://davidklein.de/dark/Netflix_Dark_Families_nospoiler.png. Otherwise dig in, this series is mysterious, engaging, interesting, and a good work out for your little grey cells. The writing is masterful, each reveal is so obviously calculated from the larger, more complete vision for the whole series. The casting is superb and there are some stellar, stand out performances (Lisa Vicari has a lot put on her character and she fills every moment with an emotional depth that belies her youth). Unfortunately, there are some performances that are overly melodramatic or one toned (yes, I'm talking about Oscar Mascucci). I thoroughly enjoyed the first season, but I think the second season has been even better. I have one criticism, though, the writers spend an unnecessary amount of time giving hypothesis as to how time travelling works. This is unnecessary and contradictory. There have been enough time travel movies and tv series, now, to just allow the premise to stand, unexplained. It is sufficient to know that there are two different motives at work in the travellers determined by their suppositions about time. This series is totally binge worthy, and after the second season I am giving it a 9 (superb) out of 10. [SciFi Mystery Drama].
An absolute masterpiece. Two as good if not better than one. My only regret is that I can only give it 10.
I need the second season like right now! :D
Be a 10 if the words matched the mouths lol the voices they chose kiiiiiilllll me sometimes wtf
When I first started it, my expectation was low. But man, did I love it? Recommended
netflix peaked
i need five words but theres nothing else to say just watch the show
i fell asleep most of the times
This series was great until the last season. If last season didn't count this was a 9 for me for sure.
This is a great show. it may get confusing to some, especially with the back and forth in later episodes. The show is very well done & the actors are all amazing. Recommend especially for those that like sci-fi thrillers.
wannabe good but is stupid and boring
Dark is the single best show ever created and I will die on that hill.
Such a fucking great show
For those who haven't yet seen the whole show, go and watch it first and then come back to my review.
It would be such a shame to be spoiled.
Those who know me will know that I'm particularly fond of time-travel stories, and this series is no exception.
If the 3 seasons can be summed up in a few words, they are:
- Season 1 - Time travel
- Season 2 - Time travel between two universes
- Season 3 - Time travel in the multiverse (Tri-verse)
It must have been an immense amount of work to write this story, to place each object meticulously in the sets, the make-up on each character in each version to both recognize and differentiate them, the acting of each actor who immortalizes perfectly the gestures and postures of their doubles, this series is a true masterpiece.
But that said...
There is no doubt that this version of time traveltold by its creator is not physically possible.
Whether by the simple fact of the beginning of the loop:
Jonas could never have lived and done what he did without his double Johnas from the future, the rest of the characters likewise, etc...
And by its ending: how can a moment that repeats itself ad infinitum can change in the middle of a loop?
The first way to explain this change is to have an interaction outside of the loop (in the manner of Schrodinger's cat, as explained in the series), but this raises several additional questions: the simple fact that this person has entered this Pandora's box leads to the creation of a new timeline, and even if this were the case, how would he or she have known what was happening in the loop? so this is just not a possible scenario.
The second way (the one given by the series), is that at some point in the loop, someone had an emotional and logical change in their way of thinking and decided to change things. How would she have known what was happening outside the loop? If her change had taken place, why wouldn't it simply have created a new universe? As mentioned in the series, every event in the loop has to happen and can't be changed, so how is it that this Claudia managed to change that?
And how the hell did this guy lose his eye/arm?
So many questions remain unanswered...
But that doesn't matter, it doesn't diminish the masterpiece of writing that this series is.
I would have liked to have an ending (with an extra episode or two) where when Jonas and Martha arrive in the third universe in front of the car, the accident happens because of them. That would have explained the start and end of the loop, and with one more episode we could have seen what happens in that third universe to explain how it all began.
For me, that would have been a more logical ending.
Before concluding, I'd like to say that there have been a lot of annoying and uncomfortable things that have happened in the series (such as the priest being both the grandfather and the husband of the mute girl), but the worst thing is the hateful character of Hannah who is everyone's genealogical source, it's disgusting to know that.
But this fact alone proves that it's physically impossible, since if we take the mute daughter as an example: if we assume that a person receives half the genes of her parents, she could never have been the exact same person as her grandmother (herself), since she couldn't have had the same genome.
To conclude, this series is one of the best in the time travel theme (for me, the two anime Steins;Gate and Higurashi: When They Cry remain the two best in this field). It must have been a real headache to conceptualize and produce it.
For those who had the courage to read my review till the end, and for those who only read the conclusion, I highly recommend to watch this series!
Season 1 and 2 - 31 March, 2020
Season 3 - 30 June , 2020
"Everything is connected, past, future, present and every single family tree in Winden" lol. It's an overrated PSA on why incest is bad. And not a single character is slightly likeable. Cool actors, though.
Fantastic epic time travel tv show.
Splendid actors throw 3 generations.
Pretty much Stranger Things if its creators were obsessed with Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve instead of Spielberg and Zemeckis. It’s a really cool idea for a mystery/sci-fi melodrama, but also a very demanding show to watch. That’s not a flaw, but you should know going into it that this isn’t the type of show where half watching and half texting will be a rewarding experience. I think there’s just the right amount of handholding, but its puzzlebox quality and plethora of characters don’t make things easier. Still, it’s a lot of fun to watch once you get what it’s doing, with plot twists and character writing being among its major strengths. The emotional peaks that are reached here are quite impressive, though the melodrama can occasionally lead to the use of cheap, overused tropes. There’s also not a single weak link in the cast, which is quite impressive when you have multiple people playing the same character. The directing is pretty amazing, there’s almost a David Fincher-esque quality to how this show builds atmosphere through the constant rain, fog and forest shots, which is often enhanced with its ominous, droning, Villeneuve-esque score. Sometimes the show will just stop and give you these beautiful atmospheric montages (often paired with a sad song), which are among my favourite scenes. They really spared no expense in regards to production, the sets and production value are consistently impressive and don’t have that typical ‘made for streaming’ feel to it. Overall, it’s a pretty amazing, intricate show that’s easily recommended to people who are fans of mature science fiction. Sometimes you have to give a little leeway with the logic, but that’s almost always the case with stories about time travel. You’re bound to run into issues of causality, paradoxality and memory once you have the same people from different timelines interacting with each other, but this show handles it about as well as it could.
S01: 8.5/10
S02: 9/10 (drops most of the cheap tropes; only held back by some bad VFX work)
S03: 8/10 (completely sticks the landing, the new plot device introduced at the end of s02 doesn’t break the show. The VFX continue to be an issue, and this season could’ve benefitted from a few more additional episodes)
without a damned doubt one of the greatest "Web Shows" in a foreign language (the very first one for me) that I watched and since I don't have "Netflix", then luckily for me about 3 and a half years ago I found a website called "o2tvseries.co" where it had the whole series to binge; but unfortunately "Season 2" isn't dubbed.
Absolutely phenomenal show. The only problems I had with it were the migraines I got trying to wrap my mind around the insane plot twists.
IMHO one of the best and most perfectly wrapped up shows in existence. Well worth multiple views to pick up on the nuances you missed the first go round. Honestly the more I've watched it the more I realize just how perfect it is.
MY favorite time travel fiction
I am not sure about this. I completely loved the first two seasons, but the third one just messed a lot with my mind. I think I only understood half of it. Nonetheless it is one of the best ideas I have seen on television.
A very well-thought-out story that can get quite complicated very quickly, but will eventually make sense if you stick it out long enough. There is a lot that the writers had to juggle in this show without losing sight of the end, and I believe they did an amazing job.
I like that the show is called "Dark", as the brooding and depressing mood is exactly what made it different from other sci-fi shows with mysteries like "Lost". Although it does feel like it's trying to imitate American TV shows, there is still a delightfully European touch which makes it slightly different than the other Netflix products.
It was hard to keep track of so many characters over multiple timelines at first, but the pacing is slow enough to prevent people from being left behind. I struggled to recognize some faces, but the main storylines are pretty easy to follow. There are times people would act out of character or make illogical choices, but it's mostly tolerable. The second half of the second season worked as the emotional climax for everything that has been carefully constructed up to that point, and although things got a little out of hand in the final season (more on that later), it's been a nice show to watch. Even when the big reveals were pretty obvious, the execution was mostly solid and tonally consistent.
Although the stereotyped post-apocalyptic scenario introduced at the end of the first season could have killed my interest, the show kept being set mostly in the "present", with the small town where everyone feels like they know each other always being the center like in Twin Peaks. On the other hand, I was bothered by the decision to add multiple dimensions to the mix at the very end of the second season. “Dark” dealt with time travel using the "egg or chicken first" paradox as the main drive for the narrative, meaning that the characters can’t change the past, present, and future because they already did without knowing. Their actions are already reflected in the timeline, resulting in a loop where people often end up being the cause of their own tragedies. Those changes pretty much killed the whole concept and turned the show into yet another generic time-travel flick. I also noticed a tendency to rely on soapy twists instead of exploring the full potential offered by paradoxes and time loop theories.
The third season supposedly gave most of the answers we needed, yet I couldn’t be more confused. The problem is that they spent too much time re-introducing and exploring characters and situations that in the end have no real purpose in the story. At the same time, characters that had extensive story arcs in the first two seasons got mysteriously abandoned or killed off for no reason. More than a lack of time, it felt like the time they had was poorly managed. The solutions provided in the end almost came up out of nowhere, and we don’t even get to see how people came to those conclusions, nor how the “villains” became the people they are through time. Things got so convoluted and contrived that all we could do was trust the writers without questioning further.
There’s not a huge gap in production value or direction between seasons, but it just felt like the whole show was poorly plotted, leaving too many contradictions behind. The biggest one is definitely the role of destiny. At this point, it’s clear that no matter how hard a character may try to change things, destiny will fix everything so that the loops can repeat as always. Yet, we keep being shown characters devoting their lives to making sure that each loop goes as it should have. Maybe I missed the whole point, but the writing feels more confusing than cryptic.
Shout by DeletedBlockedParent2017-12-03T21:55:36Z
Intelligent, twisting, gripping, well written and well acted. Definitely worth a watch. Netflix gives you options - mine was the original German with English subtitles. That’s my recommendation.