In the era of peak TV, it feels next to impossible to keep up with the shows you already watch, much less try to start extra ones. I get it. I blog about TV and even I can’t keep up with as many shows as I would like.
Even with that in mind, I will pitch one I think should be high on your watch list. Dark, the weird and twisty time travel show that landed its third and final season on Netflix this week. It’s in German rather than English, which may put some off, but having watched its full three seasons, I can confirm it’s worth your time. With as little plot giveaway as possible, I will explain why I like the show.
What is Dark About?
Dark takes us to the small town of Winden, Germany, where children are going missing without a trace. The show centres on a handful of families that have lived there for a long time, all that goes on in their lives not quite what it seems. The series is conceptually dark, full of ugly secrets, grotesque killings, and dead birds falling from the sky in a hail of limp, twisted bodies. Set across different periods thirty-three years apart, we’re given a window into how these families have developed over the decades. Mix in the time travel and you have a recipe for a show that intrigues and mesmerises in equal measure.
Why is Dark a Good Show?
The Acting and The Characters
In any normal show characters matter, a heavy burden placed on the shoulders of the leading actors to fulfil and bind the storyline together. Now imagine three different actors playing the same character, spread across three decades. Characters determine events and events determine characters in Dark, everything and everyone intertwined. There isn’t a single major character in the show who you can’t empathise with on some level, which makes all their multiple interactions and conflicts even more engrossing. The casting is spot on, younger and older versions of the lead characters scarily accurate doppelgangers. Consistency and the strength of the acting holds the show together; it would have been so easy for storylines to fall apart at their weakest performance.
Trusting the Viewer
Let’s be honest here, Dark is a confusing show. As established there are multiple actors playing characters at a variety of ages and in different decades. The viewer is lost who is who, along for the ride, trying to work out what is happening. Often this is deliberate, an episode ending with a spliced up screen illustrating that two characters you’ve met are unknowingly the same person. The show demands more investment and attention from its viewers than most, time travel stories by nature are a tangled puzzle. Dark leans into that. There’s even a companion website dedicated to untangling the story for the viewer, I wish I’d discovered it before finishing!
Dark is concerned with determinism and free will, as so many brilliant time travel stories are. If something has already happened, can we can stop it? If you have free will in a time travel story, you can alter the past and change the present. But this creates a paradox — because if you change the future, then where did the version of you who wanted to change the past in the first place even come from? That bring up the concept that there is no free will. We are all trapped by time. The show’s preoccupation is whether we’re doomed to repeat past mistakes. Deep, right? Dark asks a lot of its viewers, but gives back a lot more in return.
Knowing When to End
In television there is immense value in telling a complete story from beginning to end, and not just letting a drama series run on fumes. Yet so many still get this wrong, ending in a forgotten fizzle than a breathtaking bang. Lost, Dexter, Prison Break, Game of Thrones and a plethora of others show high promise in their early seasons only to go on far too long. There is a power in Dark’s decision to end after three seasons. Clear from the get go is that the creators of the show knew exactly what they wanted to do, where they wanted to go and importantly where they wanted to end it. The outcome is a show that leaves you craving more but satisfied in its conclusion. Is it one of the best shows I’ve ever seen? Definitely. This is a top five show. From the haunting setting to the ominous soundtrack weaved throughout, Dark feels like a cult favourite anyone who watches won’t forget in a hurry.
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