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.
Review by manicureVIP 4BlockedParent2023-02-07T09:30:47Z
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.