Binge on This - Dark: Intense Time-Travel for Germanophiles

There is a really cool characteristic that time-travel fiction has in common: They tend to generate endless discussions regarding "what if ..." Since characters can go back into the past, and change things around so certain events will never have happened, they may as well go back again, and again, fixing their undoings repeatedly in order to get the perfect scenario. Often times life's irony likes to throw a big monkey-wrench into their plans, worsening the situation, or having the character cause precisely what they've been trying to avoid. While virtually all time-travel shows deal with these concepts, most of them don't go too crazy on too many time-jumps. Maybe it would make the story too confusing? Or it might open the possibility to a wide range of plot-holes they would be forced to fix... or ignore. Not so with Dark, which I consider THE best time-travel series I've seen.

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Presenting A Realistic German Setting

Dark is an original Netflix production, filmed in Germany, by Germans, featuring German actors, speaking original German, which I feel I should emphasize. This means an accurate portrayal of not just the language but the overall culture. Its three seasons were released between 2017 and 2020, making it contemporary, but since we're dealing with a time-travel topic, the story is set in our present, as well as the 1980s, the 1950s, and previous (and future) points in time, always 33 years apart.

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This one aspect is actually kinda important for me, as I grew up in West Germany of the eighties, so each tiny bit of detail would immediately capture my attention. One such example is the Raider double chocolate bar, which became the Twix we're familiar with today. Though I realize that most of these details would pass over the heads of anyone not familiar with the eighties in Germany, I must acknowledge that the series pays a great deal of attention to small details, executing the show very well. Though I have no idea about the fifties, and I can only speculate about contemporary Germany, I can imagine that the same thing applies there too.

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A Four-Dimensional Look at All Characters

The other thing I really enjoyed about Dark, is how it introduced each character, not only in their relationships to each other, but also how they changed over time. The spatial setting of the show is a small town in Germany, where everyone knows each other. As characters make temporal jumps, we get to know them how they used to be in the past, sometimes spanning three epochs. Seeing the cop and the school principal being high school sweethearts back when they were teens, is already quite cool. Seeing them from the perspective of their son makes it even more interesting. But this is just the beginning...

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As the story progresses, and characters start getting involved with each other from different times, things start rapidly becoming quite complicated. If my friend's brother actually went back in time to become my father, that would make his sister, who's my girlfriend, really my aunt! But careful: trying to undo this mess could discontinue my own existence... In fact, I just might run into myself!

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This is when hardcore fans get out a pen and paper to start making time diagrams. It can be fun, but I would still recommend using a pencil instead. After all, changes happen all the time. People's relationships change, or a different nature of their relationships are revealed. Eventually, towards the later seasons, we even get to know characters who live outside of time all together, even though they are tightly related to the rest who have their "home" times.

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All Loose Ends Tied Up Neatly

My final reason for recommending this TV series is something I consider such a luxury, that I usually don't even count on it. This time, however, they made sure to provide one: a clear and definite ending, providing an explanation to all possible questions. If you think about it, this is not even that easy for a normal mystery show, let alone one with so many traps for inconsistency.

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Nevertheless, Dark does have a proper ending. Its revelation may be shocking, but it's well thought out, making it seem like it had been planned all along. Unlike many shows, where the ending was obviously cobbled together, only to offer a semblance of resolution (while actually leaving just as many loose ends).

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So if you like complex mysteries, spanning various decades, and enjoy binge-watching three seasons, I can highly recommend Dark. If you find it's up your alley, you may even do as I have, and re-watch it right away from the beginning again, as soon as you've reached the end. Following the loop nature of time, presented in the show, it may actually be the most natural thing to do. Take a look at the trailer here, if you've gotten interested:

Take a Look at the Previous Posts in my Binge On This Series:

Twin Peaks: The Show That Changed Everything
The Man In the High Castle: What if the Nazis Had Won?
Lost: Mystery With Addictive Potential
Babylon Berlin: Sociopolitical Tremmors in the Weimar Republic
Rome: A Realistic Sandal Series
Carnivàle: A Throw-back to the Thirties
Weeds: The Hillarious Alternative to Breaking Bad
Mr. Robot: Hackers, Freedom, and Mental Issues
Das Boot: A Real German WWII Series
Black Sails: Pirate Lore Galore
Twelve Monkeys: Time Travel and Pandemic
The DocsMX 2020 Film Festival