I need to alert you to the fact that you may have missed an epically awesome TV series that dropped on Netflix last year. So, you’ll need to drop everything you’re currently doing and get comfortable immediately in order to binge on ten episodes of Netflix’s German-language series, Dark.
Season 1 of Dark dropped some time ago now on Netflix. As Indie Wire points out, it was a surprise hit for the streaming service. The Verge likened Dark to Twin Peaks.
However, personally, I think it goes beyond Lynch’s original masterpiece. While there is plenty of mystery to be had, the answers arrive at some point and not everything is a potential decoy.
With Season 2 of Dark arriving at the end of the month, now is the perfect time for those who have seen it to binge the German equivalent of Stranger Things.
And, for those who have already watched this series, now might be the time to have a refresher course because things get messier in Season 2 — but in a totally good way.
Netflix supplies the following synopsis for Season 1 of Dark.
“Dark, a family saga with a supernatural twist, is set in a German town in present day where the disappearance of two young children exposes the double lives and fractured relationships among four families. In ten, hour-long episodes, the story takes on a supernatural twist that ties back to the same town in 1986.”
From the synopsis, you can see where the tie into Stranger Things occurs. However, this series is so much more than that.
In fact, if you are also hankering for Doctor Who to return, or are lamenting the fact that HBO’s Chernobyl was only five episodes long, Dark is a series that can also fill those holes.
Season 1 of Dark explores not only the disappearances of the children but spans three timeframes and shows many characters at different times of their lives over these three timezones.
Viewers might have had a hard time working out who is who, except Dark uses split screens at the start of the series to match up generations of the same characters.
Although, for those who are truly paying attention, there are some characters who don’t match up perfectly and it is only much later in Dark that it is revealed why — and who they really are.
As Season 1 unfolds, it becomes apparent that time travel is involved to some degree, hence why I think Doctor Who fans will also love this series.
In addition to that, Dark is set in a small town that is reliant on nuclear power as a source of employment. Is this somehow mixed up in the mystery surrounding the disappearances? Well, you’ll have to tune in to find out.
However, I will say that the children all went missing near a cave that is suspiciously close to the power plant. So, there is that…
While I could gush on for days about how good Season 1 of Dark is and how Season 2 has the potential to be even better (I have only viewed four episodes of Season 2, so far), there are some faults with this series.
Dark seems to be set in a town filled with miserable people. There is barely a smile to be cracked or a happy moment to be had. Mostly, the characters like to stare off into the distance rather than get involved in something fun.
And, seriously, the township in Dark is beautiful. They are surrounded by visually stunning landscapes and all they seem to do is mope about or create drama.
The characters are also not very likable. In fact, I am very hard pressed to find a character that I liked through all of their generations shown in Season 1 of Dark. A lot of this probably falls down to small-town stereotypes.
There are husbands cheating on their wives and manipulating women. The kids in the 80s are horrible to each other and it is no surprise because the parents desperately need a lesson on how to parent.
Surprisingly, though, it is this last downside that actually adds an extra layer of depth to the series. Some of the children I loved turned out to be horrible adults, and vice versa. All the while, the reasons they have changed is obvious because the viewer has seen it unfold over the course of the season.
Finally, it may seem tempting to go with the English dub version of Dark that Netflix assumes you want. However, ignore the urge to leave the setting as it is and switch over to English subtitles.
The English dub is bad. So bad, in fact, that it makes the rest of the show look equally terrible. And, this is the main reason I watched half an episode when the series first dropped and forgot about it again until recently. So, do yourself a favor and switch those settings now!
Netflix supplies the following synopsis for Season 2 of Dark.
“Jonas finds himself trapped in the future and desperately tries to return to 2020. Meanwhile, his friends Martha, Magnus, and Franziska are trying to uncover how Bartosz’ is involved in the mysterious incidents occurring in their small hometown of Winden. More and more people are drawn into the events orchestrated by an obscure figure who seemingly controls everything that is connected throughout different time zones.”
Season 1 of Dark is currently streaming on Netflix. Season 2 will drop globally on June 21, 2019.