German series Dark which aired on Netflix last Christmas was officially renewed for season two some time ago, after becoming one of its ‘most-watched non-English shows.’
It likely that 2019 will herald the arrival of season two and a return to Winden.
Dark season two is as yet a mystery, but here is the low-down on season one, to whet your appetite….
The premise is enticing and attractive to viewers of similarly mind-bending shows like Twin Peaks, True Detective or Lost: When two children go missing in the small German town of Winden (pronounced ‘Vinden’) the double lives and broken relationships among four families – the Kahnwalds, the Nielsens, the Dopplers and the Tiedmanns – are revealed as they try to make sense of the disappearances of children.
The show opens in 2019 with Michael Kahnwald, (married to Hannah with a son, Jonas) leaving a note saying ‘not to be opened until 4 November at 10:13pm.’ He then (and this first scene I felt was too graphic) takes his own life. The camera cuts to the case of school drug dealer Erik Obendorf who has been missing for two weeks. Overseeing the investigation is police officer Ulrich whose brother Mads was reported missing in Winden 33 years ago.
Alarmingly for Ulrich, his son Mikkel, who was with Jonas, disappears one night without trace, but the following day an unidentifiable boy is discovered wearing 1980s regalia with a Walkman in his possession. He has suffered severe burns to his eyes and burst eardrums.
Mikkel then emerges from the wormhole in this strange cave in the woods – but it’s 1986. This initial foray into the 1980s caught me unaware as I had not read anything about the show, and it reminded me of the Calvin Harris tune ‘Acceptable In The Eighties.’
The action shifts between three eras – 1953, 1986 and 2019 and this allows for an element of intrigue as the characters encounter younger versions of themselves through the interweaving of the threads.
Dark is psychologically menacing and perfectly ‘bingeable’ with its themes of grief, guilt and time related confusion, amid the unlit settings and faltering light, but it gets complicated. Indeed, some people have devised family trees online, which I have referred to, because at times I can’t remember who’s supposed to be with who.
Although Winden, where it’s constantly dull and always seems to rain, does indeed exist in Germany, an article in The New York Times suggests that the show’s town is fictional. However it could be that the creators have been inspired by the real Winden; after all it’s situated near a heavily forested area on the country’s western border.
Dark has a mesmerising soundtrack, especially the opening theme, and the European art-house acting is superb. And, most importantly, you get to bask in the ambience of the native German audio which is supported by (often lightening speed) English subtitles. I must admit, it reawakened my joy of German at school. Wo ist das Krakenhaus, bitte? The Krankenhaus does indeed feature in various scenes. Then there’s the looming image of the nuclear power plant under the management of the Tiedemann family, its suitably grey flumes rising above the town in the many eerie stills.
The show’s main element of course is the supernatural time travelling. Just when you thought this theme had been put to bed with The Time Traveler’s Wife (book: 2003; film: 2009), it resurfaces again, but this time it’s brash, frightening and thought provoking with sinster undertones. The plot reminds me of the Enid Blyton novels with their many fairytale elements. Didn’t we all as children fantasise about disappearing off to one of the Magic Faraway lands? But this show, filled with dreary images of post apocalyptic wastelands, is cleverly written for adults. And just as Scandinavia has risen to prominence in the world of literature, there’s scope here for Germany to become America’s big brother. There’s good news too as apparently Netflix will be showing a second series.
The opening scene is fired like a gun and off we go on the addictive time travelling journey, wondering, pondering, maybe even believing that this is something we will be able to do in the future.
